I'll be starting this in a few weeks, but i'll only be doing the prep/prime work, and let a pro paint it.

I understand there is some kind a sand sponge that you wet and use as sand paper to remove the paint?

If it's not too much trouble, I would like to know a simple step by step and dos and dont dos, maybe even a tool/chemical list.

I really just want to get it all primed in a black primer, with all my ground effects off. I'm not really worried about the engine bay, I'm not looking for a 6k paint job or even a perfect car 5 years down the road.

I searched for this awhile but turned no results, any help would be appreciated.

thanks in advance

 

maybe my project from last year will help you. Search for " project resurection" there are multiple parts combined into three posts. it does a step by step with questions and answers from great members here. then if you need more just post again and ill try to answer.

biggest thing is what is the condition of your current paint. is it all chipping and have rust spots? or is it just faded out. if its not pealing or cracking you can skuff it smooth and blast the primer and then wet sand the primer with a guide coat to make it all nice n smooth.

are you stripping the car to metal?

jeff

 

yeah, the paint is cracked and the body is rusted, i have a bit of bondo work to do. The hood is so bad off i'm just going to get an after market hood before i start.

 

ok so a d/a air sander and alot of 80 grit would do the trick on striping the car, you could go courser grit if you wanted. Grinder for the rust areas get ride of all of it. if any is left behind it will come back. watch ebay for hoods i got a new one with minor shipping damage real cheap. it had two dents to fix. easier than rust.

jeff

 

Funny you asked this question.... i just finished doing my 1st body job on my own car and had a pro paint it. check out my firebird page 4. There it shows pics of the process.
Good advice will come from the guy your getting to paint your car ask him how he does things.... you dont want to make the guy cranky by not useing compatable products or giving him a junk body job to fix,,, thats why alot of paint guys will insist on having them do the whole job plus they make the profit. But your guy knows what works best for his paint jobs. I talked to my paint guy and he wanted me to buy the urathane paint dupont (he uses alot) and he wanted me to sand the whole car with 320grit. For the problem areas i used a grinder and fill with bondo then sanded down the fill with 150grit and then worked to 320grit, sanding blocks are best but slow so some times i used the air da sander. Some ppl say to sand the car to a 500grit or so but my painter like to use a high build primer and then block it smooth (witch he did all for me) that way a 320 grit was fine to use.
I used a dual action air sander with 3M hook-it sanding disks,, for final sanding and 150 grit for smothing the fill flat. I first bought 5 each sheets of 150 and 220(didnt use it anyhow) and 320 grit, and a 50pack of "Crystal bay" (i think) 3m hookit paper for 40 bucks or so and that all i ended up useing oh and 5 more sheets of 320 paper,,,, but i didnt used the 220 anyhow. I also already had some 150 grit hook and loop disks anyhow (maybe 30 or so) and thats all i used. depending on the car it ganna be different. I probably could of used more 320 disks but didnt want to go get another whole box. I also got a tube of scratch/pin hole spot putty for tiny tiny spots problems where fill was too bulky to fix,,, or to fill bondo pin holes,,, it was easy to sand but only for tiny jobs as fill is more for stronger.
The 1st day took me striping the lights and door panels off and plastic stuff like door jam vents, rubbers, plastic inter trim.... stuff like that. And i think i used about 3-4 good full 8 days just body work on the car. You will want to go around the car with your hand moving over the body to fell the high and low areas....closeing your eyes will help also.
and if you screw up you can always re fill and try to reshape with bondo. Thats the thing about body work you can always fix your mistakes..... untill you sender off to paint. Maybe let your painter go over your work and prime and block it the final time he'll probably get some things you missed. Make sure you take your time and leave the hood till the last as its the hardest and most important. Also never sand a flat area with your hand... always use a block or the sander laying flat (not on its corner) when doing flat areas. On rounded panels sand in a x patern (not a +) if your on a convex () or concave )( area. Also dont leave any bare metal open to the rain (if your outside) or it will rust in a day....... i spot primed the bare metal after each day, and my painter just washed it off after he got it anyhow. I dont know what else to say but it worked out really good for me the painter did a wicked job and said my body work was pretty good nothing that bad at all. It was only one week ago today i got it back from him painted.