Okay I am deciding to prepare the car for a bare metal respray.

What I have in mind is to prepare all the entire car and then take it to a shop to get painted.

Basically I wan't to do all the work myself to save on $$ and then get a professional to paint the car.

I expect this to be a lengthy project so I am in no rush. It can take how long it wants. I want to have the preperation work perfect!

My next door neighbour is dent remover and he said he will remove all the dents and dings. So that is taken care of.

I do have some questions though

1. Currently the camaro is Black and I will be getting it painted black again. The problem is that one side of the car has crows feet or orange peel and was told by a few people I am best to take it to bare metal. So I figure i might as well take the whole care to bare metal and not leave any doubt. I do not have any machinery so I wanted to sand all this by hand with a block. Is it okay to just sand up and down or is it best to roate sanding direction frequently? What Grit do you recommend? The color on the car is not the original so I think it has about 2 coats of color on it at a minimum.

I could possibly buy a DA sander and hire a compressor to run it would that be better for me? Even though I have never used on.


2. The rear bumber, front spoiler, GFX, nose cone. I would also remove. Windscreen I would take out. Any other parts to remove?

3. When getting the parts painted am I better off removing the fenders and getting them painted off the car?

4. I think it is easiest to leave the panels on car for ease of sanding and then remove for painting?

5. I don't feel like using any chemicals as it can get messy, but what do you guys recommend for getting rid of the paint on the fiberglass panels like the rear bumber, nose cone? They have paint cracks and it is peeling in certain spots so best to remove all paint? What grif of sand paper for fiberglass? I don't want to run the risk of deep groves from the sandpaper.

6. How long can you leave panels prepared for painting uncoated?
I mean if I sand the whole car prep it how long can I leave it like that before rusts starts? Basically I want to get all the panels ready for paint and then give them all the panels in one hit and get them coated.

I'll be looking through the forums and saving useful topics for reference.

 

bare metal should only be attempted if it's absolutely necessary. it doesn't secure or mean you will get any better of a paintjob. often times they come out worse. make sure your painter is very knowledable on the subject, ask for his advice. i wouldn't leave any metal bare for long...

speaking from experience i can tell you that in my situation it was necessary to go to metal. would i do it again? only if i absolutely had too.

good luck with it.

 

I like to take them to bare metal that way you know whats there and you can put all good products back on. Some times there will be surface rust under the primer and you dont even know it. Use stripper it will be easier then sanding it all down but you will need a respirator. If you dont take the shield out at least take off the trim around the window and the rest of the trim on the car.

 

I have been told in my case bare metal is the way to go.

Paint stripper sounds like an easy option might take on that option especially around the lines on fenders etc.

What about GFX what is the best to get all the paint off those?

How long can you have panels in bare metal before they develop surface rust? You could just sand the rust off?

I guess the best is to get to bare metal and then as quickly as possible spray some primer on it to protect it right?

 

I'm no expert at this, but planning to do something very similar to my car very soon. From everything I've read... you don't want to do it by hand. That will take forever. DA sander would be the best approach. A lot of body people don't like aircraft paint strippers because of the mess and the fumes. Seems DA sander with 80 grit does the job very well. 80 grit will also create a good scratch for the primer to grip.

As soon as you have the metal bare, use Picklex 20. That stuff ain't cheap, but a lot of people swear by it. It is rust converter and also once applied to metal, you can have the car sit in the garage for quite some time without having to worry about surface rust. Even if when repriming right away, some people use Picklex for extra protection.

http://www.autobodystore.com <-- they have message board with very good body/paint people there.

make sure you find a body shop that will be willing to finish what you start before you actually go through all this.

 

I wouldn't recomend doing it by hand. I know you said you had time but I don't think you realize how much time it'll take. I helped a friend with his 80 camaro by hand. By the time we got all the way around we had to go back to the start to take off the rust that started forming. It wasn't a lot of rust but any rust is bad to leave. As for how long can you let it sit before it rusts. We had his in a garage it took us less than a month to sand the whole thing by hand (with a lot of hours and beers), and like i said by the time we got done the first side started rusting. But I'm in the midwest so it's kinda humid here anyways. Your arms will get real tired real quick. I'd recomend spending some money on an electric power sander, but be careful when using it. You'll get swirl marks easily especially with a rough grit. Some people like the air compressors, but unless you have a real nice one ($$$) you'll spend more time waiting for it to fill up than you'll be using it. Plus if you can't apply much preasure with a cheap one or else it'll slow down on you so it'll take a long time. When I repaired My fender I went over it with a large circular power sander, and followed with a hand sander to take out what swirls were there.

 

I agree with Crall. DA sander is the best and good electric one should work. If you go with air, you can't really use the cheaper oil-less compressors because they were never designed to even come close to 100% duty cycle. You'd need to get one of those 240V 2-stage oiled 7HP units, and I am so kicking myself now for buying craftsman 5.5 hp 33 gal instead of one of those.

With DA you will also not have to get rid of the swirls. You should be able to prime right on top of the metal and then level the primer.

 

Okay sounds like I might be best to hunt down an aircompressor and get the D/A sander like you guys say. If it helps so much and not swirl marks then I think it is a good think.

How about the GFX,Nose cone, Bumber what is best to remove paint from these?

What do you recommend for sanding down panel lines with? Like the hood has some contour lines, fenders too. Sandpaper wrapped around a sponge?

 

there are sanding sponges that work nice in curves. pick up sanding blocks and long blocks too.
i'd highly recommend an electric orbital sander. Mine was $40, no compressor needed. (black and decker I think).
and of course and angle grinder, flap wheels or fibre disks, good for rust etc.