Painting Prep?

[Toms-Celica]

Hey,

Just trying some stuff out here, I got myself an old SAAB 900 hood. I want to bring it down to bare metal and smooth it out for a paintjob. I was hoping that some of you could give me some suggestions on how to remove the old paint?

If you tell me sandpaper, what grade?

Thanks!

[redline_13000]

im thinking paint stripper

[Vitesse951]

I am removing the paint from my porsche right now for a respray.
I am using a Angle grinder fromlowes, and I attached a 7 inch sanding pad with 50 grit sandpaper, that will take it off quite nicely. When you get done, go back over it with something like a 200 grit to smoth out the sanding scratches.

[dsm69]

if you want to do it the proper way take 40 grit over the hood quickly ( dont stay in one spot to long or youll warp the hood) then apply chemical striper and cover with plastic let sit for 1hr then scrape pant off and sand hood w/ 80grit then 180 grit and your ready for high solids primer

[szw]

is this the same process that one would do, when stripping a car for repainting?

I heard you save a lot of money by doing the prep work yourself, and its not that hard if you take the time.

[dsm69]

prep is the most important step in painting a car. i would leave it to somone how knows what they are doing or it will turn out like crap. ive seen alot of people how prep their own cars and ive painted and came out like crap and they dont know why?

[Weapon_R]

Prep work is the hardest part about doing your car. The easy part is spraying it.

If the prep work sucks, no amount of skill or experience will save your paint job from looking shitty.

[ramminghard]

Spraying isn't that easy either! Much easier than the prep though.

[crxcel]

I agree with DSM that the prep work is the most important part of a paint job and most people who do their own usually end up paying to get them redone. Leave it to the pro's.

[dsm69]

Originally posted by crxcel
I agree with DSM that the prep work is the most important part of a paint job and most people who do their own usually end up paying to get them redone. Leave it to the pro's.

so true

[Toms-Celica]

Anybody know where to grab some paint for an airbrush?

[moose_8]

if you want it realy smooth go to like a 400 grit are 600 grit thats what they use for metal work in jewerly to get a good finish before you prep

[moose_8]

Originally posted by Toms-Celica
Anybody know where to grab some paint for an airbrush?

pm hobby and craft on 32

[hjr]

you have to work you way down to AT LEAST 400grid paper. Any less and i feel (and have been verified by a bodyshop) that you not getting the finish you are going to want. As stated above, the toughest part of painting is the prep. So spend as much time as possible on it. When you think you just about done, go hard again.

[5.9 R/T]

OK i'm doing this right now (I can post pics if you want), I'm not going down to bare metal though so I started off with 220 and I'm finishing with 380, but if your going down to the metal then you should probably use at least something in the low hundreds. I also recommend that you use at least three different grits with the final grit being no lower then 300, the higher the final grit the better the paint job will look but it also takes a little longer, you must decide based on the quality of the paint that is on the car that this hood is going to and what quality you want the paint job on the hood to be. I have done three vehicles like this in the past and they have all turned out really well! When you are doing your middle grit make sure that there are no more rough spots left on the hood, at this point everything should be smooth and you shouldn't feel any bumps or divits as it will take forever to get them out with 300+ grits. Also with the heavier grits, it was mentioned before but I'll say it again, don't let the sander sit in one place, always be moving it and try and keep it as flat as possible against the metal. The car I'm doing now will be the first time spraying for me, this will be the hardest part, for if I screw up now i have to start all over!

P.S. Aucklands Grainger (sp?) sells automotive paint, primer, etc. etc.