Priming your Car: Part 5 (Sanding)

5. Sanding (4 hours):
- Sandpaper
- Orbital Buffer
- Respirator Masks






1. After Masking everything off, apply sandpaper to the car body by rubbing it in a backwards/forwards motion. Depending on what kind of sandpaper and shape you use, it may apply differently, I used an electric orbital buffer with a 5" diameter sander.

2. When sanding the body down, start in one area, you do not have to go all the way down to the metal, but I decided to just to make sure there weren't pitted areas or any hidden bondo/rust spots I missed.



3. If you get areas down to bare metal do not let it sit naked for too long, I would highly recommend sanding a car in an enclosed environment.

4. Continue sanding the car down to either prime or paint, depending on what condition your car is in, optimally you want an even level surface to paint on so I just went through the entire car with the sander with my friend (he got to use the orbital while I was sanding by hand...lucky haha).

5. Once you have finally sanded the car down to an even state, take some shop rags and wipe the dust away. Allow the car to sit for a while and take a break. There's probably small dust in the air and you need to wait for it to calm down before continuing to the painting stage.

*Note:
It will get very dusty if you are in a non-ventilated area, keep this in mind before you paint the car to let the dust sit or escape in whatever means possible. Be sure to wear a respirator mask while sanding your vehicle down and possibly protective goggles as well. Also make sure to check for pitted areas and any small hidden rust spots or bondo spots that need to be pulled out or filled in.