Hello,
I want to put my car in primer and paint it in the future: Should I sand bare metal or just take off a little of the base coat?

 

Just priming your car is usually not a great idea. Primer is porus therefor it will let moisture get to the metal surface eventually causing rust. If you prime your car plan on painting it soon after.

I personally sanded the entire surface of the car, & left most of the original primer. Back in the mid-late 80's they were experimenting with a sealer/primer and this stuff works better than most any aftermarket primer you can buy. The downside of it is, with Blue, grays & white Paints the sealer will brake down with UV rays. They essentially did not use primer because of the sealers expence. Since they do not need as much pigment like Reds & Yellows.

I don't know which year they started to use this system on our cars, but I am 90% positive that my 87 has it. My first car came from the Ohio Plant.

My second car from the California plant and the paint does not hold up very well because they used a waterbase paint & they used conventional methods when painting it. I will problably sand more of the paint off before painting that car.

Hope that is a help.

In short, I would not recommend sanding to the metal if you do not need to, and I would plan on painting the car soon after you primed it.

John

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G O D BLESS AMERICA

http://www.3rdgenformula.com
87 Formula 5.1 TPI Auto Modified (Yellow/Black)

87 Formula TPI (5 Speed) Yellow/Gray STOCK

14.8sec 1967 Buick Riviera
1990 Buick Riviera (driver)
83 Camaro
83 T/A

 

What sort of condition is your original paint? It its just faded, then yeah just sand off the clear coat and rough up the paint with 320 grit wet sand.

If your original paint is peelng and flaking off like mine is/was, your best bet is probably to go down to the original primer and get a new coat of primer/sealer like I'm doing. But like said before, if you go this way, paint ASAP.

In short though, bare metal is just asking for rust.

 

Bare metal not a problem if you use some ZRC...

http://www.zrcworldwide.com/galds.htm

(should be) Available at any local welders supply.

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I didn't go all the way down to the metal completely, that is to say that only parts went down to the metal, but I used DP-90 primer/sealer. That is got to be the best product on the face of the earth. It is an epoxy primer, and it will stick to anything. It seals what ever is under it to prevent any damage. I liked the satin look of it so much, that I don't know when I'm actually going to paint it. I'm not afraid of water, and leave it out in the rain. It looks even cooler wet.

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'82 Firebird, dead stock, 9 bolt disc rear, over 200,000 miles and still going strong, more to come...
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