Effective ways of sanding down a car.

Topic: Effective ways of sanding down a car. (Read 1637 times) previous topic - next topic

Effective ways of sanding down a car.

May 19, 2008, 04:17:06 PM

I am currently involved in a project of stripping down a car. The paint on this car is terrible and I was wondering if anybody had a quicker way of sanding a car. I am currently using those sand pads that you can buy at Wal-Mart or auto parts stores that stick to any normal drill. They start off well then exponentially faid off and are worthless in about 10 minutes or after about a foot by foot area. Any ideas would be awesome. Thanks

Effective ways of sanding down a car.

Reply #1 – May 19, 2008, 04:50:55 PM

a small 1/4 sheet vibrating sander works well you can get them at most home improvment stores pretty cheap if you are ttrying to strip the car i would use 80 grit sheets untill you get it close to where you want it to be then switch to 120

Effective ways of sanding down a car.

Reply #2 – May 19, 2008, 06:08:55 PM

A truckload of daylaborers would be my first choice, but if that isn't an option, try a paint/body supply for decent work materials. Wallyworld only sells worthless .

Effective ways of sanding down a car.

Reply #3 – May 19, 2008, 06:23:04 PM

they sell what you need at home depot. You can get a ryobi grinder ($40 or so) fairly cheap and use the blue abrasive paint removal pads.

the best way would be with a variable speed grinder with 60 grit set at a low rpm.
You have to be careful not to heat the metal up to much or you'll see waves in the panels as you look down the side of the car.

the 60 grit will give something like epoxy primer to get a good bite and never come off.
A couple of coats, and some high build primer, some block sanding, it will look great.
If your afraid of the 60, use 80 grit or those blue abrasive pads. don't stay in one place long.
You should be able to strip an entire car in about 8 hrs. time.

Effective ways of sanding down a car.

Reply #4 – May 19, 2008, 10:09:48 PM

Are you talking about the Pain remover discs?

What I use now is a 7" DA Orbital Sander. (Thats what she said)
I went through all the stages.
Hand sanding, then Bigger block sanding, Square Random orbital sander that you buy at Lowes, HD, etc.

The Square Random orbital worked pretty good, but it would chew through paper pretty fast. If it wasn't tearing the paper, it was gumming up. I finally chunked it when I broke the retaining spring.

I have a pretty good compressor so I bought a DA Orbital sander from Harbor freight. I'll NEVER go back. Its a 7" stick on and I use 80 grit discs. Aside from being loud, it rips.

It eats paint, bondo, even my finger tip all without gumming up. I only ever really replace the discs when i fray the hell out of the edges (I like to use the edges to shape and cut through paint to bare metal so I can lay my filler).

I would suggest spending a little more on your sander than the 30 I spent on mine. Maybe even electric. It goes through air pretty quick and I have to work in the same room as the compressor.

As for roughing up a whole car down to bare metal....that might take a while no matter which way you go. I might have different feelings if i was removing all the paint. The DA works great for spot and flattening out large areas. It will work through paint but isin't very good for getting into small areas. It tends to leave pretty good scuffs in the metal (good for bondo, bad for paint prep).

If your a little more adventurous, you might try Aircraft paint remover. They sell it at auto parts stores and its pretty caustic stuff. Never tried it myself.

Maybe you would be better off with one of those small sand blasters?

Effective ways of sanding down a car.

Reply #5 – May 20, 2008, 12:02:52 AM

Aircraft stripper is the harshest stuff you can use. It will take everything off.

A DA with some 80 grit works for getting big areas knocked down, it you wanna remove paint quick use a 7-8" DA with some 36 grit. Thats what we use on all panels at the Body Shop. Its alot easier to just sand it smooth and apply paint over existing finish, and comes out cleaner. If you have to do some metal work then take it all off, filler wont stick to paint well so you will have to take that part to bare metal and feather edge the paint and filler then prime.

Depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Tell me that and I can tell you step by step exactly what to do.

Effective ways of sanding down a car.

Reply #6 – May 20, 2008, 12:09:17 AM

Quote from: cougrrr302;219844

Aircraft stripper is the harshest stuff you can use. It will take everything off.

yeah i used that stuff on my 77 F150 and it made the hood look like a brand new piece of metal straight from the factory.

Effective ways of sanding down a car.

Reply #7 – May 20, 2008, 12:25:25 PM

Between a DA sander and aircraft stripper, theres no paint you can't get off. Of course if you do'nt have a healthy compressor, a DA is not an option.

Effective ways of sanding down a car.

Reply #8 – June 05, 2008, 07:05:31 PM

anyone try soda blasting?

Effective ways of sanding down a car.

Reply #9 – June 06, 2008, 11:29:26 PM

Quote from: HAVI;222272

anyone try soda blasting?

Somebody saw Trucks lately.

It looks like it would take foooooreeeeeeeeeever. Supposedly easy on the environment though.

Effective ways of sanding down a car.

Reply #10 – June 07, 2008, 01:09:20 AM

lol, well it takes the paint off, leaving the rust behind so you can see where the repairs need to be made. There's been a discussion on the FTE site that I'm on.

Effective ways of sanding down a car.

Reply #11 – June 07, 2008, 09:32:03 AM

Soda Blasting is good but the biggest problem with it is that you can get flash rust if you don't dry it off right after. It does come out very smooth though.