The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop You paint experts?

Been working on the 52 Chevy Coupe I bought last August. Did some body work on one side, ended up sanding the door and rear quarter down to bare metal. It looks like the car was painted with enamel over the original lacquer. Should I sand the rest of the car down to bare metal or would just roughing of the remaining paint be OK? I want to shoot it with basecoat- clearcoat as a finish? What grit paper would I rough it up with? Thanks, Coach Frank

I'm no expert but I would get rid of all of the old paint. There could be some rust under some of that paint. I normally use 80 grit on the bare steel with a DA then a few coats of epoxy primer to protect the body. Then I block sand the primer with 220 then 320 then paint. Some people go as far as 1000-1500 on this but I never have it it's always looked great. But I don't do 100 points trailer queens either. If you choose not to strip you can use some sealer to prevent any reaction between the differnet coats. You can always try a small section to see the reactions also if not sure.