sanding old paint

hey guys, i wnt out today and got a new 6" DA sander. 100 pack of 80 grit paper and a 33 gal compressor set up. 300 dollars home depot, good deal. came with alot of air tools. anyways, i hooked up the sander and it ate through the paint big time. should i used a finer grit paper. like 150. i dont want to get it down the metal, just in some spot, if i continue, i will mess everything up with the 80 grit. where the paint is good, i just want to scuff the surface so primer to stick right? please help. oh, and paint will cost 560 plus 200 for primer, does that seem high to you? its good paint, i beleive PPG. what you think

Tape off your windows , mirros and anything else you don't want painted and prime it yourself for like 20 bucks...
Oh yeah , just try using 100grit , 80 is a bit excessive and 150 will be a bit on the fine side. if you find 100 to still be too rough then go with 120.

Oh yeah , if you have an air compressor and a crap load of air tools , go pick up a gallon of auto primer , take the ride off get a paint sprayer that hooks up to air and blast that thing. Do your paint too , It will turn out just as good as long as you do it in quick strokes and the passes aren't too long. Car paint sucks when it starts to runa nd it's a bitch to fix and hide.

80 grit? you'l go right through the metal in no time with that shit.. If your only tryin to scuff it, Ide use 150 grit or 180 grit

yeah, the a**hole tood me 80. im going to bring the pack of 100 back and get 120-180. if i use the 80, ill have to use more bondo. oh yeah, the bondo i got was called zibra. he said that was good stuff. is that true? you say tape everything and primer it for 20 dollars. where can you get that for cheap. he told me 200. thats me doing it. i forgot what kinda it is. whats a good primer to use, im taking some down to the metal, but must just scuffing the old paint. the guy told me that i have to paint the car within 3 days after i primer it. is that true. if so, i cant do anything body work utill i get money for the paint plus the primer. seems to me that i have to find someone else to buy piant from.

the guy also told me that i can get the cheap omni paint. he said that its cheap and it will not hold up after about 3 years. meaning it will lose it shin b/c it has no UV protectors. is this guy screwing me over and just trying to get me to buy the best of the best. i mean, hes just a guy that works at a paint store, hes not the owner. who knows. what you think guys?

Employees are professional trained in screwing customers over. Just go to autozone or whatever and get four cans of spray primer. That will work plenty good enough , I did it on my dodge stealth and it held up for over 2 years with out any flawing.

80 grit!?!?!?!?

220 at the lowest and even after that you need to go over it with 320 before you prime it cause the scratches from anything else are way to deep for the primer to fill.

$200 for primer..... if it's a gallon of PPG DP epoxy primer with all the catalyst to mix that gallon say 2-3 quarts of catalyst then that is a fairly reasonable price. If it is this is a very excellent kick ass primer and although it is mad expensive I higly reccomend it. Also prime and then use body fillers then primer over those spots. Helps to sal any moisture in the filler between the expoxy paint.

This is your first time painting so here is what I would reccomend for materials. I would stay away from one-stage jobs which can look very good but take an expirenced hand cause you need complete coverage in 2 coats 3 only if you must and there is no steps between to fix mistakes.

So for a two stage job in PPG brand I would roll with PPG DBU for basecoat this is the most user friendly basecoat PPG makes with excellent quality!

For clear I would use Omni's AU clear. Don't listen to what that guy says Omni's clear is used by many quality auto body places as there premium clearcoat. Also for you it is much more user-friendly than PPG's clear and the results for the PPG clear are minimally better if any.

Next do you have a gun? are you buying one? Honestly you see how much paint costs and you will make mistakes while learning which will cost you in more materials. Using a quality gun can save you from problems and your gonna need all the help you can get trust me! You can use a cheap gun for primer though

But get that sand paper one pack(5-6discs) of 220 and 320 for ya DA and that should handle a whole car no problem. Get back to us I'll try to help you through each step as much as possible.

80 grit!?!?!?!?

220 at the lowest and even after that you need to go over it with 320 before you prime it cause the scratches from anything else are way to deep for the primer to fill.

$200 for primer..... if it's a gallon of PPG DP epoxy primer with all the catalyst to mix that gallon say 2-3 quarts of catalyst then that is a fairly reasonable price. If it is this is a very excellent kick ass primer and although it is mad expensive I higly reccomend it. Also prime and then use body fillers then primer over those spots. Helps to sal any moisture in the filler between the expoxy paint.

This is your first time painting so here is what I would reccomend for materials. I would stay away from one-stage jobs which can look very good but take an expirenced hand cause you need complete coverage in 2 coats 3 only if you must and there is no steps between to fix mistakes.

So for a two stage job in PPG brand I would roll with PPG DBU for basecoat this is the most user friendly basecoat PPG makes with excellent quality!

For clear I would use Omni's AU clear. Don't listen to what that guy says Omni's clear is used by many quality auto body places as there premium clearcoat. Also for you it is much more user-friendly than PPG's clear and the results for the PPG clear are minimally better if any.

Next do you have a gun? are you buying one? Honestly you see how much paint costs and you will make mistakes while learning which will cost you in more materials. Using a quality gun can save you from problems and your gonna need all the help you can get trust me! You can use a cheap gun for primer though

But get that sand paper one pack(5-6discs) of 220 and 320 for ya DA and that should handle a whole car no problem. Get back to us I'll try to help you through each step as much as possible.

ok, i am usingbase coat clear coat. yellow. and yes ppg. i have 2 paint guns i just got, i got everything i need for it. i even built at paint booth.. you say 220 grit? and only a 5 pack of disks? i got a 5 pack of 320 3m gold. i think it 3m. all i know its gold brand, she said its really good. and no its just good primer, not the epoxy/ i was going to go with that, but he said its not sandable. hey CTStang, do you have a screen name on AIM or yahoo. if so, can you send me a messege on here with that so i cant talk about this with you. this car needs to get done and done right and it starting to get to me. you seem like you know what your talking about, i said that b4. send me a private messge with your screen name. , talk with you soon

every time you post i want a bowl of lucky charms

GT STang basocally hit it on the head. Your gonna wanna scuff it up with some 150 or so grit then go back over it with a finer, 320 grit. IMO you cant really put TOO many coats of primer. After you get the car sanded, shoot a coat of primer, look for problem areas, fix them, spray more primer, and keep repeating until its fixed. Primer will fill in those little hair fine scratchs you otherwise wouldn't see until its painted. I painted BOTH my 71 Nova and recently my 69 Corvette with Omni products, (see my signature) so I can tell you from experience they are pretty good. One word of advice is when using the AU Gold omni clear (from my experience ) its best to mix about 10-15% reducer with the clear. The Omni Au gold clear dries pretty fast as far as clears go and doesn't give the clear enough time to "lay down" and reduce some of the orange peel. I would recommend spraying an "extra" coat of clear on the car. Do this so if your not happy with the amount of orange peel (this being you first paint job, expect some) you can wetsand the clear with some 1200-1500 grit sandpaper and buff the car back out to a beautiful shine. If you have anymore questions I'd be happy to answer them.. my AIM is pimpin71nova

Rob

Another thing I meant to say was (which GT STang mentioned) is try not to use the same paint gun for spraying primer and paint. I have heard from professional paint guys that spraying primer does something to the gun where its fine for spraying more primer, but won't spray the paint very well, even if cleaned. If you plan on painting alot I would recommend getting a gravity paint gun which are almost twice as much as regular guns, but worth it IMO. There are really good conventional guns and you can do just as good a job with one, it just takes a little more getting used to.

Rob

Also, if you don't already have one, get some type of a water trap or water filter for the compressor.

GT STang basocally hit it on the head. Your gonna wanna scuff it up with some 150 or so grit then go back over it with a finer, 320 grit. IMO you cant really put TOO many coats of primer. After you get the car sanded, shoot a coat of primer, look for problem areas, fix them, spray more primer, and keep repeating until its fixed. Primer will fill in those little hair fine scratchs you otherwise wouldn't see until its painted. I painted BOTH my 71 Nova and recently my 69 Corvette with Omni products, (see my signature) so I can tell you from experience they are pretty good. One word of advice is when using the AU Gold omni clear (from my experience ) its best to mix about 10-15% reducer with the clear. The Omni Au gold clear dries pretty fast as far as clears go and doesn't give the clear enough time to "lay down" and reduce some of the orange peel. I would recommend spraying an "extra" coat of clear on the car. Do this so if your not happy with the amount of orange peel (this being you first paint job, expect some) you can wetsand the clear with some 1200-1500 grit sandpaper and buff the car back out to a beautiful shine. If you have anymore questions I'd be happy to answer them.. my AIM is pimpin71nova

Rob

sweet, thanks for all this info you guys are helping me with. im going to IM you later when i get the chance. and yes, i have 2 guns, i have one witha 1.4 tip and one with a 1.7 tip.

every time you post i want a bowl of lucky charms
so go get some lucky charms. LOL. you know whats funny, speaking of name brand cereals, i went into shopright the other night and they wanted 6.29 for a box of cheerios cereal. thats retsarted, i thnought a box was like a dollars something. lol. anyway, not to get off topic.

Ok more fun.... lol

PPG DP Expoxy primer I believe says non-sandable pirmer on it. But that does not mean you can't sand it(I know go figure?), it means that this is a primer when you spray that really don't need to sand because unless you mess up it lays a very nice level surface for your basecoat and doesn't need the physical adhesion from scuffing or sanding(do it anyway). But I have since my second paint job used PPG's DP Primer on everything and I wetsand it with 600 just to level the paint out even more every single time, and there is no problem. There is no downside to expoxy primer except the cost, it sticks to everything and rubber parts like bumpers which I would not use a self-ecthing primer on! And the paint loves to stick to it. Plus expoxy primer is really the beginner painter's friend.

As far as PPG basecoat they come in DBU and DTU(not sure). I reccomend the DBU it's easier to use in a garage, homemade paint booth set-up.

I'm not sure what type of guns you are using but I like the HVLP style for the main reason of they don't waste as much material as the conventional style gun from overspray and with the cost of what materials are it's well worth it! Also with an HVLP gun I can use DevilBiss OMEX bags which allow me to paint upside down with no sputter and clean-up is very easy.

1.7mm air needle..... wow that's big usually primer will be your biggest air needle and 1.5 is usually the norm there for an HVLP gun. Then a 1.4 is good for a basecoat/clearcoat gun. A lot of people run a 1.3 tip also for better atomization and a 1.3 is also the standard norm for clearcoat but I've used a 1.4 plenty of times so it's not an issue you may just want to crank the flow control down a bit on the gun.

If I was you I would get and old hood or something from a junkyard and get some black(usually the cheapest color) basecoat some clearcoat and practice before you do ya car. The most important thing is you need to learn technique.

You need to learn to keep the gun at 90degrees to the surface all the time, stay off the part and carry the spray all the way off the part without flipping ya wrist, keep the correct distance away from the part, watch what what you just painted so you know wether to speed-up or slow down the pass your making, and 50% overlap. The gun is going to feel very cumbersome and awkward in your hand for a while it only goes away with time and practice.

Also you need awesome lighting!!!!!! Good ligthing over ever single section of the car is so important cause something will look fine until you hit it with a good light and then your like fuck! Everyone forgets about this but you will need every inch of the car very well illuminated. At the least while your spraying...... have some follow behind you with a halogen work light so you can see what is going on with the work you just did so you can adjust accordingly.

DAMN, YOU KNOW TO MUCH ABOUT THIS. THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOU TIME. i just got back from getting paint. i talked to a local guy here in town and he knows his stuff. he painted my mustang when i messed it up. he told me that the omni is fine. i am not gooing o drive the car everyday and i will have a nice car cover to block out UV ray from the sun to protect it. as for the paint, i got alot of stuff. well everything i need. heres what i got. 1 gal. omni au MBC basecoat (chrome yellow). omni medium reducer MR186, primer is omni au 2k urethane surfacer mp182 1 gal., omni fast primer hardener MH165 1 qt., omni au- slow topcoat hardener MH168 2 qts., and the clear isomni au-high solids urethane clear MC161 1 gal. i got some 3m stikil gold disc, 320, 180. need to get some in between like 220 but they didnt have it. i got the water filter for the, the green 3m tape. just about everything i need. now all i need is either fix my fenders or get new ones. i may try to repair them. i need some sheet metal and ill weld it to the back and fill it over. i think that will be fine. anyways, what you think, is this stuf good for what i got. i know its teh cheap stuff, for the first car... you know what i mean. and i dont even know if i will have the car ina yrs or not. so it will be fine. just have to take my time.

Sounds fine... like I said I personally have no issues with Omni paint. I'm a big fan of there clearcoat use it a lot on top of PPG basecoat. Never used there basecoat except in a one-stage paint but was still happy with the results.

Just don't get frustrated, expect mistakes, and take ya time. Oh when you make a mistake or something weird happens just stop and don't goto the next step!!!! Either ask me or some you know who knows how to paint. All mistakes in paint can be fixed just stop at that step before going to the next.

Ok well if your going to put a good paint job on your car the best bet is to take her back down to bare metal, the reason I say this is because if your paint was cracking or pealing you may not get all the damaged paint off and it could continue after you put your new paint on and it would be ashame if you wasted all that time and money just to have to repaint it again now wouldnt it? My suggestion is to use the 80 to get down to the primer before the bare metal then use a 150 to get to the bare metal. Then use a 220 on the bare metal and then go over that using a 400 grit. Then primer the car and wetsand it with 400, put another coat of primer on and wet sand it again with the 400. now your ready for paint, after your first coat of paint wetsand it with 400 and do that for the first couple of coats make sure it looks good to you. Put your last coat on and once it drys and you think it looks good wetsand it with somewhere between 1200-1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper and get out the buffer and polish compound and go to town and then you will have one niceass paint job. As for the price of your paint, that all really depends on what brand, what color and so on so if its a PPG paint and maybe one of the more colorfull colors then its probablly not a bad price but if its just a plain color you might want to check around at some other paint stores.