Sandpaper Grit ? Z31 Paintjob

[NissanFairladyZ32]

i want to sand down my paint to primer .. my paintjob looks 20 years old and bad

what grit sandpaper should i use ?

and wet or dry ?

any help would be appreciated

[evildky]

is the existing paint cracking? loosing the clear? if the clean is pealing it's important to get all the clear off, if the paint is cracking it's imprtant to get all the way down to bare metal, if the paint is simply faded and you want to repaint you don't necesarilly need to remove the paint, you can scuff and paint on top of the existing paint

and do you plan to do your sanding by hand or DA?

[NissanFairladyZ32]

Well the hood has major oxidation from sun damage

and the front fenders the clear coat is peeling off and from the doors back the paint looks good

( rear bumper has oxidation as well)

im useing a sander to do the job, im not sanding by hand i started doing it with 60 grit on the hood and went to far to the metal so i stopped

[evildky]

holy crap 60 grit! yeah thats a almost metal shaping grit, you are usign a "sander" what kind? a DA (dual action air powered body sanger) is the right tool. I wouldn't recomend using woodworking electric sanders on a car

something along the lines of a 120-220 should handle what you need

[AZ-ZBum]

i want to sand down my paint to primer .. my paintjob looks 20 years old and bad

what grit sandpaper should i use ?

and wet or dry ?

any help would be appreciated

Stop with the sandpaper.

Use Aircraft Remover. Find it in the paint aisle near the thinners and acetones of Home Depot.

Takes paint right off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_DE96qt5CI

[evildky]

with aircraft remover, the aerosol works a lot better than the brush on, and you have to strip each panel completely, and you'll have to rinse presp and primer immediatly after

[minnesotazcar]

If you already have the sander and thats the route you want to go here are some suggestions. Start out with 240 grit take down the spots with the peeling clear as far down as you can everything else really can just be scuffed out using the 240. After your done with that my recomendation is to go back over everything with some 400 just to smoth it all down cut down on swirl marks and whatnot. Then go to a really good etching primer maybe think about laying a thin coat of body filler over the entire surface your planning on painting. Then sand sand sand till its all smooth and even.

[NissanFairladyZ32]

im just gona go with the paint stipper spary can stuff i tried that and it works well

(im just doing the hood for now)

[Perrenial Badass]

Well, the way I redid mine was to get a DA sander and sand all the clearcoat off. You know the clearcoat is off when the dust is colored. Avoid edges and sharp curves. Then I wetsanded along the edges and curves by hand with wet or dry 220 untill the clearcoat was off.

From here, you can get a sanding block with even more 220 grit paper, and feel along the dry, clean body with your fingers. Use the sanding block to get out any uneven areas. Once this is done, you can paint. If you are painting the car something difficult like black, you will want to put some 600 on that sanding block. Wetsand the edges and sharp curves with 600 by hand, then sand the rest to match with the sandling block. Try to overlap the block area over the hand area (to reduce sanding swirls/fingermarks/that fun stuff).

If you are really anal-retentive about it, you can repeat this process with 1000 and/or 1200 grit paper.

If you strip it to the metal, you need to prime it very well so that the exposed metal won't start rusting under the paint. If you are changing paint types (say, respraying with urethane paint), then it is best to get all of the clear coat off. If you aren't taking the trim off, put the masking tape over the edges and use an X-acto knife to cut it to fit. After painting and while removing the tape, pull away from the paint and if possible, go along the edge of the tape with a knife to prevent any lift.

I'm really tired, but that's the gist of it.

[northstar ninja]

aircraft remover??? I'll have to look into that- beats sand blasting my car any day...

[S13_love]

400 grit.

Edit: Assuming that you are goin to use a DA.