What grit sandpaper do I use?

[skokie]

What grit sand paper do you use if you want to smooth out some scratches and repaint? Also what grit is good for overall paint removal? Not talking all the paint just enough to primer and repaint.

Thanks

[19673ontree]

I have used 36 grit to remove paint for years it makes your work stay after you are done , the thing about priming and painting over old stuff is that the newer paint lift it and then you have wasted your time and money and have to start over , strip it and be done with it !!

[skokie]

Will 36 grit be good enough to strip down a column to bare metal? Also should I use a grinder or a sander?

[Brock]

I used one of those hand held orbital "mouse" sanders, started with 50-ish then went to 120 then finally 300-wet (no sander, just elbow grease)...now If I could ever get around to painting other than primer it would be great. Good luck

[69chevybmx]

how deep are the scratches? if they are just light scratches (fingernail scratches by your door handle) and not down to bare metal or primer you could try to wet sand them first to see if you can totally avoid repainting. For deeper scratches try using 100 grit on a DA to get the majority of the scratch out. then just go over it with 220 to feather out the area around it. hit it with primer and block sand it down and you should be ready for paint.

unless you are doing a complete paint job, you don't have to take it down to bare metal. Just make sure that you paint an entire panel (ie. entire door, bedside, hood etc). You will likely run into flaking and peeling paint if you try to "blend" new paint into old by only painting a portion of the panel. not to mention it is a lot harder to match the color of older paint that way.

[skokie]

The scratches are down to the metal. What is wet sanding?

[Ace in the hole]

I used the stipper mentioned here- http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...6&postcount=15

works great!

[dfosh]

When wet sanding you use a few drops of dish washing soap i a container with water .Let your sand paper soak for mabey 20 min use a block to wrap your paper on and keep dipping it in the water as you sand dont use a lot of pressure and use a x pattern dont just go back and forth .this will keep it all even . not a real detailed explanation but hope it gives you some idea. i am sure more on this site can explain better than me . hope it helped .

[bad6772]

Originally Posted by skokie

What grit sand paper do you use if you want to smooth out some scratches and repaint? Also what grit is good for overall paint removal? Not talking all the paint just enough to primer and repaint.

Thanks

for just some small scratches i would use.220 or 320
if your taking down to bare metal i would consider. 80 grit or 50...depending on weither or not your are going to use a filler primer....just my 0.2 tony

[Sweet72]

Originally Posted by dfosh

Let your sand paper soak for mabey 20 min

No one mentioned that wet sanding must be done with "wet or dry" sandpaper.

[piecesparts]

WOW, my thought would be--36 grit is pretty tough stuff. Unless you want to go deep and do a lot of metal finishing later, I personally would not go below a 60 grit. I for the most part use 80 grit, for heavy work and then follow up with 125 to 320 grit for any paint prep for a repaint. This is all through using my D&A sander. The paint sticks to scratches better than a smooth finish, but you don't want it so bad that it shows through the paint as it shrinks to the car. Many body shops will do this to get the job done quicker and most people will trade the vehicle in about a year, so they don't see the paint scratches under their high dollar paint repair. There is nothing I hate more than a high dollar CHEAP job.

If I were going to do a lot of body filler shaping, then I go with a 60 grit, on a sanding board, to get the shape and then go to finer paper to get the finish. Remember the more scratches you put in, the more you have to remove after the work is done.

Some people use wet sand paper to get paint ready for refinishing and that is no bad thing. The Wet or Dry sand paper is used with water to keep the paper from filling up with paint material, as you sand the body piece. This is simple and easy to do. I use wet or dry paper for many things, including prepping aluminum material for polilshing.

For wet finish sanding (after the paint has been applied) I usually start with a 600 grit and work my way to 2500 grit, then I start the task of polishing or buffing out the paint finish.