What grit to finish with before paint

Alan8n

Member
Stripping my 8n before paint using various methods. I don't like using a wire wheel as while it does remove the paint and rust it does seem to leave a smooth shiny almost polished finish. Using 80 grit flap wheel on all the red cast iron body parts and it seems to do a great job but it does leave some scratches. Some red parts are not cast like the tranny cover so I am not sure if the scratches from the 80 grit will show thru. I will be using an epoxy primer and then a single stage urethane enamel top coat. So will the 80 grit scratches show thru or should I go to a finer grit ?
All sheet metal will be done differently so I am not concerned about that right now.
Thanks
Alan
 
80 will show thru big time. try and work up to a 320 grit before your epoxy coat, follow up with a 2k powerfill primer, block sand , reprime if necessary, then final prep it.
 
You can use 80 grit if you like but the scratches will show unless you go over the epoxy primer with a filler primer prior to using the urethane. If you think there may be imperfections in the metal it might be a good idea to use a filler primer anyway. It may fix some spots you didn't know where there. Some people use what is called a guide coat where you use two different colors of primer alternating the color with each coat so when you sand you can tell where the high and low spots are in the surface. The high places will sand through easily.
 
No such thing as to much sanding or to fine of paper when it comes to painting just depends on how much time you want to spend and if your painting a show quality trailer queen blue ribbon paint job or an old farmhand loader you?re just wanting to look a little bit better and will still be used every day.
 
Yes

Any scratches will show. That's one thing about automotive type paint, it just loves to show what's under it. I'd use 320 grit before painting.
 
on the sheet metal what I do is 320 before primer then after you have 3-4 coats of primer then wet sand with 400 grit. then before the last coat of paint do wither 400 and I have used 800 grit depending on what I wanted for the final finish after paint.
 
80 grit scratches on metal before primer would be ideal. 80 grit scratches on existing paint before primer would not.
 

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