boooosted

Im in the process of prepping my car for paint, but do I have to sand to bare metal before primer or can i just scuff up the paint? any feedback would be appreciated. thanx

rmodel65

1st step is wash the car with a good grease cutting soap not one that contain wax then wipe down with silicone wax and grease remover take the gloss off the paint than prime!

posnick

no need to go to metal unless your applying bondo. make sure wipe down the whole car with a good cleaner/wax remover before spraying primer or it wont stick. good luck to ya

JD1969

Do you want to do it right or is this just a quicky cheap job? To do it right you need to scuff it with at least 200 grit and then put a sealer primer over the existing paint, this will help keep the new paint from lifting the old, after that a primer/filler needs to be put down and this block sanded with a fine (6-800) grit. In the case of body work a lot of people will tell you to go down to bare metal and then put your filler in, I don't like this as it can lead to moisture problems. I sand with 80 grit and then put down an etching primer and then my filler, this minimizes the chance of mositure seeping threugh the filler and rusting the metal behind it.

vfast

and you need to prep the metal for paint went going to bare metal....bonda still sticks well to a paint surface.....the primer filler is a must....what we do is print it with like grey primer then lightly spray black over it to block sand this way you see low spots(grey primer) and can fill them in then spray primer filler like JD said

BraMas

V I'm also teaching myself to paint and I like your idea about the grey primer and then black primer my question is that way easier and cheaper than using the black powder (not sure of technical term) to find the low spots?

JD1969

Thats the best way to find high/low spots. It's called a guide coat. One caution though, make sure you are using compatible paints (ie do not a spray bomb can for your guide coat) you don't want compatiblity issues or for the paint to start cracking/checking/peeling after the job is done.