The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Ready to start blocking. What to wash with?

After months of aligning, banging and cussing, I feel that I have the panels as close as I can. There is a lot of dirt and grime all over the truck so I need to wash it down before I start sanding. It has a coat of epoxy right now so it is not exposed steel. What type of soap should I use? I don't want to leave a residue that will be ground into the epoxy.

Thanks.

Michael, Usually you don't worry much about washing it down, but if you feel you must..... Warm water and Dawn Dishwashing liquid is the best.

After washing, mix some Dawn in your bucket and wet sand with the solution. Normally, the sanding and Dawn, washes and removes everything on top of the primer.

Frank Cox
Cox Custom Cars
Cox Custom Cars Photos

I would rather not have water anywhere near my truck, so are you thinking just wipe down the entire truck down with a degreaser like PRE?

What's the issue with water? Wet sanding is far superior to dry sanding and you can't wet sand without water. As Frank said a few drops of dish soap help the effort.

I would use a prep solvent which will degrease as you wipe it down.

Hank

The issue with water is rust. The water will collect in the exact place I forgot to paint. Here in Florida, water doesn't evaporate as fast as say, Nevada, my home state. Though it is a mute point since I went ahead and washed the truck with water and soap, then used my compressor to blow out as much water as I could out of the nooks and crannys, then wiped it down with a towel, then wiped it down with a wax and silicone remover. Overkill? Probably. But all I care about is starting the sanding process, yeah!

What are the reasons that wet sanding is superior to dry? Less clogging of the paper?

I wash with as hot of water as I can stand, with dawn in it. Then use wax and grease remover. No such thing as over kill, when it come to prep work before paint. I would then wet sand with 400, on the epoxy primer, then put on 2-3 coats of blocking primer, then dry block sand it, then more blocking primer, and more dry blocking. Once I had it as flat as I think I can get it, then I would wet sand it agian with 400 to 600, then spary my sealer then the BC/CC or single stage, what ever you choose. but that's just me.

The short answer is yes but it's more than that. Since the water keeps the sandpaper cleaner, sanding is much faster. Also, as the dry paper loads up it has a tendency to trap pieces of the abrasive which leads to scratches in the sanded surface. Usually not apparent until you put the topcoat on. By then it's too late and a wet sand/recoat is necessary. Finally unless it's going to be a garage queen it'll be getting wet anyway when washed and rained on.

Thanks for the advice. I still have some areas that need some light filler so I am going to dry sand, apply light filler where needed, sand some more, then apply another coat of epoxy. After that I will follow up with some wet sanding. I noticed that you all say Dawn dish washing liquid. I used a generic type, Palmolive I think. Is there something different about the Dawn brand?
Garage Queen? As much as humanly possible! I guarantee I won't be driving it to work in the summer here in Florida. Every afternoon the skies open up in Biblical proportions. And I work a block from the Atlantic ocean so salt is in the air as well. Am I being paranoid?

Thanks for all your help!

I don't think the brand is important. I never used soap, just water. I've seen some using soap these days but I can't say whether it makes any difference or not. Maybe someone who's done it both ways will comment.

Garage Queen? As much as humanly possible! I guarantee I won't be driving it to work in the summer here in Florida. Every afternoon the skies open up in Biblical proportions. And I work a block from the Atlantic ocean so salt is in the air as well. Am I being paranoid?

It is physically impossible for salt to be in the air. In ocean spray, YES! Air, NO.

It's amazing, some people on here have been painting cars for years, I've been building and painting cars for 43 years, yet some people still have to argue with us. If those of you (not pointing at you Tiny) who still want to do it your way, then don't ask for advice.

We have been wet sanding cars for years, right down to the bare metal. We have also been washing them down with Dawn since it came on the market. It cuts grease, grimes and oil. But there will always be someone that will state," Well I wipe mine down with grease and wax remover also just to be safe." I also wipe down a car with alcohol and water just before I lay down my first coat of base coat. I don't use Grease and Wax remover. If a person paints less than one car per year, I don't think they're qualified to give advice on how to paint a car.

Frank Cox
Cox Custom Cars & Restorations
Rio Vista, Texas

Cox Custom Cars

I heard vinegar works well. Not sure how the recipe goes but I,ll " assume " its used with HOT water.

Wow, Frank what are you so upset about? Ok, lets call it ocean spray. I'm one block away from the ocean and anything metal is rusted, be it handrails, metal framed windows, etc. I don't think I was arguing with anyone, where did you get that?

You may want to consider that there are a bunch of driveway restorers on this forum that have a lot of advice on HOW to restore a classic in the driveway. Doesn't mean that they are not qualified to give advice. I listen to everyones opinion, try the ones that make sense, some work, some don't. That is the journey, that is the fun.

I have a family so working on my truck is 1 hour at a time or 2 if I am lucky. So I can't just wet sand to bare metal and leave it for a week before I get primer on it. But if you read my responses, I will take the wet sanding advice once I get through the filler and a coat of epoxy.

Thanks for the advice.

I do paint more than one car per year so maybe Fank will let me post. LOL, If your wanting to block sand, epoxy is not the primer you need. Get you a 2k blocking (sanding) primer. Epoxy is a good sealer, but sands like crap.

57blevins,
You're right, I used epoxy after I sandblasted. I aligned all the panels and got so excited I forgot that I still have some filler work and some minor welding yet to do. So I kinda jumped the gun when I said I was ready to start block sanding. Anyway, I will spray some 2k after I'm done with the final filler. And your right, just trying to scuff the surface of the epoxy is not that easy. But by doing it I can see where the highs and lows are.

I was stationed at Eglin AFB in NW Florida, the vehicles on the edge of the ocean took a beating rust wise, the ones that stayed on base did ok. Part of restoring a car is painting EVERYTHING; leaving nothing to chance. If you think you missed something you might want to go back and check.
I wash with a good strong solution of HOT water and simple green and rinse until there can't possibly be any soap left on the vehicle and then rinse it twice more the same way. Water eveaporates fast enough; we waited for a day or 2 after washing to mask off and paint; but first we blew out all the places water could hide with compressed air and a rag to catch any water that showed up, then dried the area with the compressed air. I'm not sure how car builders paint THEN assemble but they do; all we can do it the best we can.
Not washing a vehilce you are about to sand (that has sat for any length of time) is taking a chance you'll grind some crap into the paint. Some one ALWAYS leans on the vehicle and leaves grease of some other junk that will cause problems, always wash before sanding.

Not pointing at you Frank, but advice from some people that paint hundreds of cars a year wouldn't be worth the air it consumed to utter the words.