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Hand sanding.


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Make sure you get a sanding block, a finger board, a long board, and a little piece of 2x4.

 

I'd try to help you out with a technical write-up, but I learned by watching, it's a little hard to put into words (at least for me).

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A long board and 40 grit to start. Its a bitch and it takes a ton of labor to get it right. You might want to get a cheapo body hammer set especially if you need to do a truck bed wall. You want all the high spots knocked down a bit but need to maintain some area with original form to work from.

Prepare for sore shoulders!

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Unless it's really mudddy I wouldn't worry about washing it as you'll be sanding all the dirt away anyways.

 

Hold the sander so the long edge is horizontal. Move you sander in a cross hatch pattern about a 45 degree angle from the body line. Don't sand the body line edges.

 

You can use a round dowel wrapped in sandpaper for a sander inside the concave indentation that runs along the body. Again stay off of the edges, as you can sand them away in no time.

 

Once you get the hang of it, it's a fairly easy process. Time consuming and a workout but easy. :)

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i have to disagree with not washing the car before sanding. the things you should do are. wash car thoroughly twice. dont forget in the wheelwells where the fender curls over. also where the door sills curve under the car. you have to remember that dirt has grit in it if the grit is bigger than your sanding grit you will have a big scratch that will have to sanded or filled.the next thing is thoroughly wipe the car down with wax and grease remover. if you ever used armorall on your that is very important. i do it 2 or 3 times just in case. if you have ever had to fix fisheyes you will know what i mean.as to grit size it depends on what you are doing 36 to 40 i would use for roughing in bondo. if you are just repainting over an existing paint job. with no major bodywork 80 grit is where to start. you have to remember that you have to sand in stages ie. 80 ,180,320 etc

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you ust also sand until the area is scratched evenly. especially between grits, so if you went from 220 to 320, you need to get all the 220 scratches out, or youll see them later. if you are putting primer down, use 220, if you are putting single stage paint, use 320, if you are going all out and doing base clear, then sand to 600 wet. put a little soap in the water when wet sanding to help the sand papaer stay clear. problem is everyone has there own method, and youll learn yours, we could all talk about body work all day long and youll still be confused.

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One trick I learned a long time ago, is when your ready to switch to a lighter grade of sandpaper, shoot a really fine coat of black primer paint and let it dry. Once you pick up where you left off, you'll know when all pin holes and scratches are gone if no black paint remains.

 

Of course, you can go overboard on this if the pits are below the surface of your stopping point. The trick is knowing when to stop sanding and add a little more filler before continuing, which isn't that difficult.

 

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, you can use rubbing compound to remove old wax and other crud. Since it doesn't contain wax, it won't be an issue for painting later.

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One trick I learned a long time ago, is when your ready to switch to a lighter grade of sandpaper, shoot a really fine coat of black primer paint and let it dry. Once you pick up where you left off, you'll know when all pin holes and scratches are gone if no black paint remains.

 

This is a good thing to keep in mind. Using a guide coat is great for spots that you are unsure about. Imagine going through all of this work to notice a slight bump/pit/dent after you paint the car.

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