[firstgenfire]

I was wondering what order I should take on prepping my car for paint. The car was just sandblasted, ive done all of the metal patches that need to be done as well as most of the major dents. What I am wondering about is how to go about the steps before paint. The car has some thin epoxy primer just to keep it from rusting at the moment. What is the best way to get the body the straightest. Do i lay a bunch of filler over the whole body and sand it all down. Do i spray primer over it all and then spray black on it to sand down to find the high and low spots. Then fill as needed. I really have no idea how to go about this and I want to do it all my self. I have the time and resources available. Also as a side note when laying filler is it better that the metal be bare or primered and should i scuff up the metal first to get it to grab or any other ideas? And also should i strip all of that edp primer stuff that comes on these new panels and reprimer the new metal or just leave it on there.
Thanks again

[J.D.]

i prefer to put the filler onto bare metal myself. get the metal work and bondo as smooth as you can before going to primer surfacer. if you have a lot of smoothing to do , you can put on a thin coat of glazing putty ( its like a thinner bondo ) over larger areas as needed. once in primer use the guide coat to find your high and low spots. if you did your work in the bare metal stage you should only need glazing putty at this point.
block it all out , reprime and guide coat. how many times you prime and block depends how "perfect " you want it. i painted my gto black and with all the body work i had to do , i went thru a ton of primer. but it came out dead straight. i use 150 grit on the first coat of primer. the idea being the rougher grit will cut it flatter. then 220 , or 280 . i used 600 on the final coat. some people even go to 800 .

[triathlonx13]

Sanding "green" (the body filler that is) is important for straightness. Saves huge time. Rage Gold (best IMO)

.

[PaulatFast]

Everybody has their own way to do things, whatever you are comfortable with, go with. Here's the basic procedure we use. Epoxy primer after the metal work, befor the bondo. Mudwork is first sanded with 36 grit then 80 grit once shaped propperly. 2K urethane primer is next, to the tune of three coats, it is sanded with 180 dry. Any additional low spots or pinholes are worked out with polyester glazing putty at this point, and sanded with 180 dry. Prime an additional coat, sand with 320 wet. Primer for final time, usually thin primer 20%, sand with 400 wet, followed by 600 wet. We use a dry guide coat before sanding at each interval.

I always dry block that edp off with 80 grit, it will show you the low / high spots. I don't trust the stuff enough to leave it under alot of hard work.