is 800 grit wetsand good enought to get down to the base coat because im preping my car for paint and i was told to just sand down to the base coat so is 800 grit wetsand to much or to little or is it good to start then work my way up? please help need to know asap
180 and a long board file. Ive been doing mine and from my research most shops in my area prep using 180 as the final sand before paint. it has enough texture so u can get good adherence, plus you dont have to sand very hard to get it done.
just grab some aircraft remover…
are you kidding me??
id say yes. lolol
its so much fun though… that way you can find any surprises that might be hidden under the paint.
180 is pretty rough for the final prep, that can’t be right :shrug: As far as I know, after primer 400 is the final grit used.
So to sand to base coat, start with 180 and work your way to 240, primer, 320, 400, paint. (repairs in between of course).
if ur just prepping ur car to be repainted. Use 400 grit, and if u want, goto 500 grit. Thats enough.
180 is way to course to sand a car with, ur just gonna go down to bare metal.
Ne thing under 400 is only used for body work when using bondo.
well i was using bondo. but 180 seemed to do a great job on the rest of the paint. cut through the clear and left a smooth surface in the base. If you are hand sanding 180 seems good IMHO. of course if you are using power tools it would be too coarse.
well if ur just trying to take off the clear, just use 400. 320 is pushing it but u can use that too if u want it done alil faster.
id never use 180 if i was just prepping a car for paint. My boss would kill me if i sent over a car done with 180. If someone sent me a car done with 180 id send it rite back and tell that fucker to finish it with 400 atleast.
using 180 is unnecessary, its just a waste of time, money and effort. If u use 180 and u get bare metal spots, ur gonna have to primer it.($$) Now primer is a different color than the rest of the car. Now u gotta seal it, so u dont see the primer through the base(more $$) Then u get to put base on. Hmmm in a shop thats atleast a 2-4 hours of wasted time, which ur paying for.
yea i was told to take off the clear until the base coat looks faded and there is no need for bondo work on my car and i am painting it the original color milano red
Actually that stuff does work, if you want all the paint off of your car and it down to the bare metal 
if ur gonna rebase then clear go with 400.
if ur just gonna reclear 1000 wetsand.
rebase+reclear
then start with 400
cuz the last thing u wanna do is sand through ur base to primer or bare metal, then u gotta maybe reprime, then seal. Cuz if u dont seal, theres a really good chance that u will seee that spot that u sanded.
grab the back of a 3m sandpaper pack and it will tell you what each grit is for. iirc, the steps are 400 > primer > 800 > base coat > 1000 > clear coat > 1500 > 2000 (optional, to speed up rubbing) > rubbing compound > polish > wax.
so by working backwards, if you just want to expose the base coat, 1000 to remove the clear. a little 800 if it seems to be going slow, then 1000 to take out the scratches the 800 left.
Painting your car
When refininshing a car in most cases you do not need to remove the clear. It is a good idea to tape around the parts of the car you can not remove to avoid scratching them. You will need to sand the car with 500-600 grit wet sand paper and make sure to get all the grooves and cracks and bodylines until the surface of the vehicle has no shine. If you sand with a rough grit paper 80 -320 you will be able to see the sand scratches through the new paint even if you seal it first. If you sand with finer paper 800- 2000 there will not be a deep enough scratch for new paint to adhere to. If you have MINOR very small chips and scratches some two part putty is good at getting these.anything large would rewuir sanding a priming and possible body filler application. After sanding and doing repairs wash the car with soap and water being sure to get in your jambs and wheel wells real good . Dry vehicle with compressed air and tape off everything you do not want paint on. Be sure to tape inside the doors and under the hood and trunk paint will travel in all the cracks and leave overspray on them and it is very hard to remove and usually needs painting to make them look 100%. After taping 1) wax and grease remove painting surface **this removes wax,grease, and body oils from touching car 2) seal car with automotive sealer **this process keeps your basecoat from soaking in to the old paint and promotes adhesion 3)apply basecoat **this is the color of the vehile This product dries flat with very very little shine 4) apply clearcoat **this makes the color shine and gives the basecoat durability.
To get the best results all steps in applying the actual paint should be done in a automotive paint booth to keep dust from falling in the clear or even bugs. If you do get dust particles you can take 1500-2000 grit sand paper and lightly sand being sure not to sand off all the clear if you do it will require sanding and painting the panel again. You can tell you sanded too much if the water around the area goes from a white color to the color of the car but by then it is too late and you must repaint. After sanding with 1500-2000 use an air buffer or electric and buff with rubbing compund with a wool or foam buffing pad. After compound polish with a foam or wool polishing pad and polishing compound this takes out the compound scratches and swirl marks and as a final step a hand glaze is applied like you were waxing the car.
After 3-6 weeks depending on weather hotter shorter colder longer you can wax the car and enjoy your fine ride
