I have been reading through the threads for hours & still ain't sure if I know that i have it all right or not. I'm starting to get confused reading to many threads.
I will be leaving the factory paint on the car cause their is no rust & other than some paint chips, scratches & other little things (which are not too deep) the paint is in pretty good shape. So, I do not need self etching or epoxy primer, that is what you use for bare metal right? Should I use high build primer over top of the existing paint? Then sand to make sure it's all even & smooth, then again if needed? What grit for this? Then prime again & not sand the final coat? Then do I need to spray primer sealer after that? How long do I have till I must get it painted before it will start to flash rust?
Thanks if anyone could help!

 

primer is what goes on under the paint, it protects the bare metal and also makes it alot easier for the paint to hold to it, also covers small knicks or such and makes for a glass blemish free surface after you apply several coats of paint (depending on where you take it to get it painted) in any case i wouldnt think you need to reapply some primer to the scratch or whatever you are trying to fix up, if its dented a bit get some bondo and fill it in, sand it so its even, and paint over it.. in any case its not going to turn out picture perfect (for very long if it even does at all) without spending some money on it to have to professionaly done

 

I'm not reappling primer to a scratch, I'm applying it to the whole car. We will be painting the car ourselves. I didn't think I neeed to take the paint off to bare metal since the existing paint is not peeling all off & in real bad shape. From what I have read on this board it that you don't reallywant to paint over other paint because it may not be compatable & can lead to problems.
***Maybe JeffW can give some tips***

 

if you aren't going down to bare metal, you don't need self etching primer. Even then, you don't *need* to use self etching primer, that's just one way to do it.
Epoxy primer is waterproof, but you can't sand it usually. It's like a primer sealer.
I think you should sand it all down with 180-220 grit. Grind out any rust or other things like that. Put on fiberglass reinforced filler on baremetal, and regular filler on other small dings and imperfections. Sand it smooth again.
Hit it with a high build primer. Primer surfacer that is. Most primers will fall into the category that you can use here.
Sand it with 220 grit or so. Long board.
Once you think it's perfect, say if the primer is grey, use the cheeepest black spray bomb you can, and just mist it on. Spray it from a distance back so it's going on dry almost. Then sand it with 320 grit or so on the long board. Any high or low spots will show up. More high build primer or filler (depends on how deep), then sand again with 180-220 grit. Rinse and repeat sorta thing until it's as smooth and perfect as you are satisfied with.
Then you base/clear coat paint.

If you want, you can use primer sealer in there to prevent the old paint from reacting with the new. You can sand what you have now, and then do sealer, then do a skim coat of filler over the whole thing, then sand and regular primer and more sanding etc.

fiberglass reinforced filler, epoxy primer, and primer sealer are waterproof, and will keep old/new paint away from each other. I would recommend a coat of primer sealer in there somewhere, if you're concerned with the paint reacting.

 

So no more than 220 grit on the existing paint? I don't have any rust or anything major at all to worry about so I can skip the grinding part. I do have a few dings to fix though. I understand about the guide coat with the black spray from you guys's posts I read through all day. I never knew about that. That was alot of help! Thanks!

 

well, first wash the car like crazy. Then wipe it down with wax and grease remover. Then power sand it 180grit to start. You can use 180grit without too much stress.
180 and 220 grit are pretty similar, but I think 180 grit is a good starting point. After primer you can use 220 grit if you like.

 

ok great & is prepsol good to use?