Body Work...

i'm ready to start the body work on my truck, anyone know what grit sandpaper to use to ruff it up? Im going to use a DA sander, but I need to take it down to the steel on the hood to get the rock chips out, and just ruff up the rest. I got like 4 door dings that I need to take out. Any good advice would help, i'm a first time body guy.

 

Depending on how much you want to take off, start low and keep progressively going to a higher grit. If you really want to do some damage, something in the 400 - 600 grit will do a number on paint. If you're just doing minor prep, I'd start around 1000 and work up from there. What exactly are you trying to do, are you using a filler to fill in dents or are you trying to sand to remove scratches and paint dings?

 

Yeah im using body filler to fill in the dings, but im painting the rest too, so I need to sand it to the point paint will stick well.

 

IMO i would use a 60 grit disc on areas you plan to use filler,(more scratches=better adhesion)then after the filler is dry, use lighter grits (on a block) up to around 320 grit . anything you plan on painting over you could use 400 grit on a DA just make sure you feather the edges down in an area at least 5 times the size of the bare steel so you dont get dimples. also be sure to use a good primer/filler and wetsand with 600grit before paint.

 

If you're just sanding so paint will stick, you don't need to rough it up much. Depending on the paint job, 1,000 - 1,500 grit will rough it up enough. You don't want it rough because automotive paint won't cover like say rustoleum and will show the marks from the intial sanding if you used something like 400 grit. I should clarify, I'm not an expert by any means, my experience comes from repainting a motorcycle. I learned a lot of valuable lessons about paint!

 

if you are stripping the hood down to metal id go with some air craft stripper...then use some 80 grit to hit any rust then a good epoxy to seal it then filler then sandable primer paint etc

 

+1 for aircraft stripper. That stuff is magic on metal painted surfaces.

 

http://www.autobody101.com/forums/index.php?&sid=b35b3b63b4c4d153d50f9804f9881e36

 

I have heard the aircraft stripper is good stuff, I think I will use it.
I'm doing a lot of prep hoping it turns out good, today I removed the brush guard, grill, front lights, drivers side mirror, door panel, weather striping, ext cab window glass, inner fenders, fuel door, tailgate and rear pumper. I plan on taking the bed off tomorrow, and doing the passenger side, and front bumper, along with the back glass. We will see how much I get done before dark, at sunset the bugs here and big enough to fuck chickens...

 

while hand washing my truck this weekend (needed to check for new rock chips to touch up, i have been using the gorilla touchless wash for the past many months) I found some spots on various panels that need some work, mainly behind the rear mudguards and inner wheel wells where the splash guards and wheel moldings fasten to the metal.
I am going to get it looked at and estimate from local 'Toyota authorized' body shop
i will come back with the estimate and perhaps somebody on TW can beat that estimate

 

180- 220 grit to start. Anything over 800 is for Color sanding. If you are sanding body filler in a large area usually 36 then 80 then high build primer. I worked at a body shop for 10 yrs

 

Yeah, start with 120-180. Like parodice said, anything higher than that, the filler won’t stick correctly.

 

When i put my flaps on my 07' dodge 2500 cummins I bought some of that clear peel and stick, can't remember the name, to take the wear of the flap rubbing on the panel with paint. I hate rust,, I sold the truck last year, shouldn't have best truck yet, and it still looked good. I think I got it from one of those online shops like Jegs or something along those lines.

I just made a template out of poster board for the correct footprint size of wear the contact, it was fairly thick and was invisible once installed.