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Hi Marq,

I'm taking my time on this project and just completed removing all the trim and taped off the trim I can't remove. Now I want to sand down the car to smooth level before I paint.

I started using 150 grit sand paper. I didn't wet sand. I just went over the entire car with the 150 grit to smooth out small imperfections in the paint. My question is how perfect do I have to do this initial sanding? There are some sand paper marks on the paint now; I intend to wipe down the entire car with mineral spirits and just roll paint over the sand paper marks.

Will the paint level out those small marks? Or do I have to wet sand it down real smooth with 400 grit paper first before I paint?



I would sand down to at least the 400 grit... to remove the scratches from the coarser grit that you initially used.

The paint will attempt to fill in some of the 'valleys' from the initial scratchier sand paper... but the layer of paint is THIN and so it won't be able to fill it in. At the same time the paint will be accumulating to the peak of each of those scratches. So the valley and the peak are both rising at almost the same rate with each coat.

So by using a 400 to try to cut down the scratches even more, you will be able to get a smoother and shinier paint job in the end.

Take the extra time and effort at the start of the project and it will pay big dividends during the project and at the end of the project.

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