okay guys, i spent a couple hours yesterday, and 11 hours today with my girlfriend wet sanding with only 400 grit so far. i'm having a couple problems that i'm sure you guys can help me with.

when the paint is all dull, how am i supposed to see where the door dings were so i can fill them? haha. it seems like as soon as i sanded off the clear, the dents went away. (not possible) i called the guy from the paint shop, and he said to spray windex on the dry panel and put a shop light opposite me at the other end of the door. then to look down the door and see and blemishes in the reflection. is this true?

i've sanded quite a bit off, but i'm still getting a reflection of the sun. i mean, i'm hitting primer in a lot of flat spots, but the paint surrounding the primer is still partially shiny. am i done in those spots??

also, it seems like there is two layers of primer under the base coat of white. the bottom layer is like a dark grey, then there is a lighter grey coat of primer over that, then is the white. is this correct? i just want to make sure i'm not gonna hit the metal too much.

the black on my roof seems like it is a differant type of paint than the white. the 400 grit won't even do anything to the paint. it still shines like a mother. the guy said to use 320, then 400 on the roof, but i'm a little shaky going with any lower grit.

i should definately go with base clear, and not single stage paint right? because the painter told me that there's a new, more expensive enamel that gives a very high gloss finish very similar to base clear, and is still cheaper and a hell of a lot easier to use. i'm not too concerned with pricing, i just want something shiny and smooth.

how many hours did you guys spend sanding your cars??

thanks for all your help, i just want to make sure this paint lays as smooth as possible.

>when the paint is all dull, how am i supposed to see where
>the door dings were so i can fill them? haha. it seems like
>as soon as i sanded off the clear, the dents went away.

You're right, I couldn't find my door dings, but a paint professional can easily find them. If you run your hand over the entire panel, you should be able to feel little dips. I could sometimes, but even when pointed out to me, I couldn't feel some of the dings that my painter found.


> also, it seems like there is two layers of primer under the
>base coat of white. the bottom layer is like a dark grey,
>then there is a lighter grey coat of primer over that, then
>is the white. is this correct? i just want to make sure i'm
>not gonna hit the metal too much.

I'm not sure how much you are sanding, but you don't need to sand off the paint. That is going too deep. I'm assuming you still have your stock white paint. What will happen is you get rid of the clear, but your white base coat will still be there and act as a primer in a way. If you went past that white, then the shop will need to primer that area, and then you will have to wet sand again before painting ideally.

>the black on my roof seems like it is a differant type of
>paint than the white. the 400 grit won't even do anything to
>the paint. it still shines like a mother. the guy said to
>use 320, then 400 on the roof, but i'm a little shaky going
>with any lower grit.

Use lower to help yourself out. I even used 220 on some parts to get rid of stuff faster.

>i should definately go with base clear, and not single stage
>paint right? because the painter told me that there's a new,
>more expensive enamel that gives a very high gloss finish
>very similar to base clear, and is still cheaper and a hell
>of a lot easier to use.

Enamel sucks. Period. That's why it's still cheaper than a 2 stage paint. Think of it this way, with a base and clear, the clear acts as a layer of protection. It also helps the paint have depth and shine a lot better.

> how many hours did you guys spend sanding your cars??

That's hard to say, but I would say I spent a week prepping my whole car's outside, and another 2 whole days sanding the insides (under hood, door jams, trunk). Look at 1 to 2 weeks to get it fully done. This includes bondoing and then sanding it down and also spraying a gel coat primer over the bondo areas. I didn't spray anything myself. All the work was primarily done at the shop.

I spent a long ass time .... everyday after work for about 3 or 4 hours then about 10 hours on the weekends for over 2 months.....(but I had never done bodywork before...but I learned alot and would be able to be much more productive..) that also includes fixing my fiberglass front end.... welding shut and bondo-ing the holes from my old wing .... misc door dings, scratches and rock chips..... take your time and be thorough.... once you think you have it done with 1000 grit (or whatever you finish with) do it once more..... take a break if you can.... its real easy to get burnt out on doing the body work, and miss something..... concentrate on one area at a time.... first the fenders then the doors..etc. dont just try to do the whole car at one time... itll help you from getting burnt out... Its not neccasarioly how long you sand for its how far your getting.... PEACE

i also spent hours wet sanding mine down. But i was using 600 for everything except some area's with fiberglass and on that the lowest i went was 400. It's a lot of work but when the product comes out it will be looking sweet and well worth the pain and sweat...

so marcus, you think the paint shop will have that gel coat that gets sprayed over the bondo? it would be a really good idea, because that stuff is nice to work with. i've got a coat on my VIS rear bumper, and i can really sand the hell out of it until i get it perfect. you can see scrathes, etc... i'm gonna ask him. also, i'm gonna take some digi pictures today, and have you guys let me know if you think i'm doing ok with the wet sanding.

Hey, the gel coat is not really like the gel coat on the bumpers. It is really just a thicker primer, that is gray in color. It goes over the bondo and kinda soaks in. They call it a gel coat, I don't know what the official term is. Just think of a thick primer that goes over bondo (looks kinda like a more foamy layer or something).

oh..the wealth of information. i'm planning on cutting and welding a new 1/4 panel on the gsx in the next week. i just might prep the paint for the shop too. couldn't be harder than welding on a new 1/4 panel. :)