Prepping my car to get painted, and was wondering if I wanted to sand everything myself, what I'd need. What kind of sander, or should I just go it all by hand?

I have a replacement fender that I wanted to sand the surface rust off of (Arizona junk yard) and prime/prep, but I don't have a compressor or a paint gun, and getting a crappy setup for a panel seems like a waste of time and effort. I was wondering if anyone can recommend a primer from a rattlecan? If I go to metal, I should use a self-etching, a high-build, and a sealer, right? Dupli-color makes a rattlecan primer sealer, as well has self-etching and high build for smoothing. For the rest of the car, just sanding it down before I take it in and keeping it out of the rain would be good, wouldn't it?

Also, can anyone recommend a place to find a front nose? New or used, I just hear that these noses like to "sag" and I have no real idea what that is or what it looks like. Some people were saying that they usually sag more if they're kept on a shelf like a NOS GM part. Which has me worried about buying NOS.

Thanks for any help from anybody.

 

you need to get a Dual Action sander (DA) for to sand the car ..

if you have to go to metal use 180 .. but if its good paint and you just want to prep it for paint, then DA the whole car with 400 grit (or greater)

as for the fender .. either sand it to shiny metal, or get it sandblasted

the rust will never "stop" when you paint it .. so you want to get it ALL off before painting

rattlecan primer will "work" .. but your paint job is as good as what is underneath it ... so it wont last as long as if you used a good 2K primer out of a spray gun

 

Paint is pretty good. So I wanna rough it up with 400 on a DA? Aren't they the same as variable speed random orbit sanders?

I know I need to take the fender all the way down. But it's a good fender, so I'm gonna use it. It's only a bit of surface rust, I could probably knock most of it off with a brush, but I'm gonna sand it all the way.

It just sucks that I'm limited to a rattlecan primer because I can't afford a compressor and spray setup.

 

Go to an autobody supply store and get a high quality primer in an aerosol can. We use Upol brand at the shop for some of the little things ... good stuff.