And I am just curious as to how long it should take us.
We have two sanders:
1) Craftsman 5 in. Random Orbit Pad Sander
Has a 3 amp motor and 13,000 opm for rapid stock removal and smooth finish. The spin control feature provides control of no load rpm to protect finish.

2) Craftsman 5 in. Random Orbit Sander with Case
2.4 volt motor, 12,500 opm; counterbalanced, dust collection system, 5-in. diameter pad, spin control.


If we are using these about how long do you think it should take us to sand the car to the metal. It doesnt really have that much paint on it now, but the whole car needs to be sanded down. We are trying to create a time table for everything but neither one of us has sanded a WHOLE car.
Thanks
Brian

 

Took me about an hour to do the back area... with rust... You doing a smooth paint job with two people..

So figure a 1/2 an hour to do that rear firewall.. multiply the size of that by about... 12

6 hours?

 

Thats about what we were guessing. We figured if we worked on it for two hours after work everyday, we should have it done in less than a week(work week).
If we do a good enough job, we are going to do the same to my car then shoot it ourselves. We are going to shave his door handles, and take off all the side molding. Should give us some good experience.
Thanks
Brian

 

I thought my car was straight...But I started wetsanding and doing small nicks...And 35+ hours later my car was ready to paint...

 

if your car has several layers of paint on it then it's gonna take a long time. I don't think 2 people will get the gfx off and the car sanded to bare metal in 6 hrs. i think it took me about 6 hours with a DA just to sand the hood to bare metal. if you have rust, that'll take a long time with a sander. if it's bad, might wanna use a grinder. also if there's rust, then you got body work involved after the rust is sanded off. doing the door jambs can take quite a bit of time because there isn't much you can do with a sander. most has to be done by hand. also depends how in-depth you're getting with the car. is the windshield coming out? if so, that little area takes forever to get the old seal out and sanded to bare metal and it has to be done by hand. are you doing the fender wells? if so, then you got the time involved in chiseling off the old undercoating, sanding in there (can't do alot with a sander). Taking off the front and rear bumpers? My advice would be to make it a large timetable and make sure you got somewhere inside to store the car until it's done. it would not be good at all if you had part of the car down to bare metal and it got rained on. plus dew at night...... It's not a real small job.

 

Two words...


"Paint Stripper!!"


Then sand some...

 

Amen to that...I used that on my bumpers and all the stickers on my car!

 

hmmm. i tried paint stripper on my hood and wasn't really impressed. better go buy a 5 gallon bucket of it if you're doing the whole car with it. did help out alot in the area where the louvers go but i still had to sand some of it by hand. plus paint stripper smells horrible and is kindof hard on the hands. wear gloves.

 

sorry this is so long but
1- paint stripper or media blast to remove paint with the stripper use a good aircraft stripper and dont brush around alot also dont use in sunlight it dries before it can work ,give it time to lift off paint when you scraped off all you can use a red scothbright pad and a SMALL amount of laquer thinner like you were wet sanding to remove whats left. i tape up edges a1/2 inch in and sand that off when done less clean up in jambs that way. use some drop cloth i will run down the sides when clean be shure to to use some kind of etch primer so everything sticks to the bare metal also they make strippers just for flexable parts regular striper can warp these
2- media blast they can do the whole car will not hurt the rubber or glass

on windsheild or any glue in glass try to leave factory finish on lip that the adhisive goes or even bare then a urethane brush on primer with th right adhisive you are depending on that bond to hold the glass in case of an impact
hope it helps some

 

Be careful when using those sanders. If you leave them in one place too long and cause heat, it can ripple the metal.