Sanding existing paint

[WALM]

re-spraying the van. The paint on there currently is factory and in good condition, no rust. Etc... I'm sure this has been answered but I couldn't really think of the words to search for.

How far should you sand back the paint in prep for a new colour. And best techniques for getting into the tight spots without going too deep.

From very limited knowledge I had planned to sand the flat panels with a random orbital with 300g paper. And scotchbrite the indents/tight spots.

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. As I'm sure my assumptions are way out.

 

[ajlelectronics]

If the paint is in good order, then Scotching the panels after cleaning well, should suffice.

 

[steveo3002]

sand until its uniformly dull , pay extra attention to high impact areas like arches and bonnet etc

you could red scotch the whole thing with some soapy water , if you have a da cut them into circles and use it on the da

id be inclined to whizz off some off the original orange peel too , so 400 on a da , 800 wet n dry ...that would help the new paint job by not painting on top of peel

 

[norsa]

Top advice but I would personally use grey scothbrite in the indents and swage lines especially if its going to be a metallic finish. As Steveo said, any orange peel will be amplified by subsequent coats so the flat panels I would block with 800 wet, but if time is against you or you are confident with a sander 400. Panel wipe, panel wipe, panel wipe.
Nick

 

[WALM]

thanks for the input everyone, interesting that you are all correct about orange peel that the factory spray job has left. i guess you get what you pay for, its no rolls royce thats for sure.

 

[steveo3002]

do you have a da sander? if so use an interface pad under the abrasive

 

[WALM]

Hi Steveo, I'm not entirely sure what a da sander is?

 

[WALM]

I have a random orbital

 

[steveo3002]

da = dual action so yeah same thing

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/INTERFACE...049527?hash=item25b1d0edb7:g:O3wAAOSw7VBTw0vi

one of them with some 400 pads on it , red scotch the edges and bits it wont reach

 

[WALM]

Ahh! That makes sense. Perfect. Thanks for that.

 

[WALM]

Top advice but I would personally use grey scothbrite in the indents and swage lines especially if its going to be a metallic finish. As Steveo said, any orange peel will be amplified by subsequent coats so the flat panels I would block with 800 wet, but if time is against you or you are confident with a sander 400. Panel wipe, panel wipe, panel wipe.
Nick

Panel wipe? Are we talking tac rag?

 

[steveo3002]

degreaser /panel wipe ...wipe on with a clean wet cloth and dry it with another cloth , repeat a few times to be sure its clean

then tack rag to remove dust

 

[WALM]

roger that. again, i'm sure this has been covered somewhere. Is there a recommended primer to use on existing paint or would it be completely dependent on top coat type.

 

[the snooper]

roger that. again, i'm sure this has been covered somewhere. Is there a recommended primer to use on existing paint or would it be completely dependent on top coat type.

if the original paint is sound, no primer is needed, you only need primer on any bare metal

 

[WALM]

Ok, well that is fantastic news. Thank you.

 

[WALM]

More time to spend on getting a nice consistently smooth surface.

 

[the snooper]

Less work is good

 

[steveo3002]

if you rub through to bare metal in the odd place wait till its masked up ready to go and dust on some aersol etch on the the metal areas

 

[MG David]

If there is no need to prime you may wish to go finer on the rubbing down.

 

[steveo3002]

id stick with 400 on the da ...perfect key and wont take too long , could do 500 but no finer as you need the key