I'm going to be painting my xj once I have a free day and I'm thinking about using something like 220 or 300 grit to prep before spray paint. I'm wondering if one of those would suffice just for a rattle can. Also should I do a couple stages of sanding or just once? Like start at 120 then go up. And just remembering that it will be spray paint not show floor quality

 

First step is wash thoroughly then wipe down after it dries with prepsol or enamel reducer. Then you can start sanding. If you have scratches that you want to fix or sand out, go with 120 then move up to 220 and finish with 400 wet for best finish. If you want to go with 600 it will make it even better, but for rattle can it's not going to make much difference.

 

hit it with red scotch brite. you just want the spray paint to stick. if youre clear coat is pealing feather it out with some 320. if you're removing entire coats for a spray paint job you're doing way too much. scuff it up good with the scotch brite and it will stick as well as spray paint can

the biggest factors for a nice rattle can job will be paint choice and whether or not you can spray worth a crap. look up some tutorials on youtube then practice. its easy to run paint or make it look blotchy

I used rustoleum industrial enamal and really liked it

 

I thought about the scotch brite pad but I figure using a sander would be easier. And ya I was planning on just scuffing up the clear coat. And the paint I am buying is from a army restoration website and is supposed to be better than regular spray paint

 

Here's the color I'll be buying http://www.rapcoparts.com/336tancsucud.html

 

120 for hard stripping, finish/prep with 180 or 240 (unless you want a high-gloss finish, which you won't do with a spraybomb.)

Yeah, you can do 320 if you want, but it's not really worth the effort. When I was a sandman at Hiler's, I usually used 180 to finish pre-paint, unless we were doing a show car...

Wipe down with a "tack rag" (clean rag dampened with mineral spirit, acetone, or denatured alcohol) five minutes before you spray. This will remove any dust that may have accumulated, but the five minutes will allow all of the solvent to evapourate. Generally, the denatured alcohol is best for removing dust & fingerprints - mineral spirit or acetone for oily environments.

 

That's what I'll probably do then. I might just hit it with 180 then clean it with alcohol and paint it

 

that grit is too sharp. use 240-320 to smooth out the rough patches and feather the peeling clear coat and scratch up the rest good with scotch brite. if you're going to be removing layers of paint you might as well just tape it off and have maaco put a real coat of paint on it

the goal is to get the spray paint to stick. not cut sand scratches all over and cover it up with paint. anything more than a good scuffing and you're spending too much time on it

 

So just use a scotch brite and scuff it up then clean and paint

 

is your clear coat peeling? if so, gonna have to smooth that out. but other than that, yeah I'd just scuff the clear coat up and spray. no need to remove coats of paint or put deep scratches in it with 180. but maybe call maaco, never hurts to have a solid layer of paint on there. ask how much they'll charge just to spray color and clear

 

well I already have the spray paint so that's decided lol. But my clear coat is only pealing in a couple small spots. So i'll just sand those spots with 180 or something

 

ok go for it