[smotheredsteak]

i got this a few months ago, put a new clutch, slave cylinder, starter, clutch lines and a few other odds and inns and now it runs like a dream (well.. not quite) but anyways, youll notice in the picture that the car has sat outside for many many years (the interior is very nice though due to tinted windows) and the clearcoat is nearly boiled off the car.

pretty much over the entire body there are little clearcoat bubbles.. about the size of a pin needle (worse on the hood and roof and trunk. the worst spot is in the picture shown) and my concern is that those will show through to the new paint. i have decided to not sand down to bare metal, or even primer in most places, but my question is, is what can i do to keep those from showing up? go over it with some bondo? lay down thick paint? or what? the very bad areas (hood, as seen in the pic below) i am going to sand down to the old primer just to get all the crap off of it.

i will be using a sealer before paint, will that keep those little bubbles from getting worse over time?

thanks for reading

 

[Josh]

My two cents.. if you're going to go through the effort, you have to do it right.. I would suspect that there's not a magic bullet to get rid of that mess other than sanding down until you get to something solid and smooth.

 

[aralfa8589]

You absolutely need to sand off that clear!

 

[jcslocum]

Bust out your orbital sander and a box of discs and sand it all off. You really need to get that clear off. If you don't it will look like ****e.

 

[Opiwan88]

Any ridges that you can feel with your hand needs to be sanded smooth. I can't imagine any filler, bondo or primer, that will cover that up. And even if you do get them to fill, you will have adhesion issues later if you don't properly sand before applying the bondo or primer. All that basecoat and clearcoat is old and damaged and will not provide a proper surface for the new products to grab onto.

There are products that will "look" like they solve your problem, but nothing works as well as technique. Sand that entire thing, you will thank yourself later

 

[smotheredsteak]

dont get me wrong.. that clear is COMING OFF! and its certainly gonna take a rotary sander, i tried doing it by hand last night and it took too much effort. my original plan was to get it through the clear, except on the sides where the paint is fine (minus the little dinky bubble things every now and then) and give that a light sanding to give the paint something to stick to.

 

[aralfa8589]

What you need is a DA (double action) sander. Air sanders are best because you can safely wet sand with them. The water will keep your discs from loading up so you get more mileage out of them. You can also use an electric sander and dry sand, but change your disc as soon as it quits cutting.
Your old paint with defects removed will be a good base for the new paint. On the sides you may not need to remove all the clear, but don't wimp out-if there are areas with even minor pitting/bubbling sand them out.

 

[Opiwan88]

Thats true, you don't have to sand everything off. If the old paint, clearcoat or primer is sanded, it will make for a good base for new products. The idea is to sand off any surface contaminants and the scratches from sanding provide a better grabbing surface than a old, rough, dull unsanded surface. You will be surprised what imperfections can show thru multiple coats of primer and paint once everything is dry. Oh, and use wax and grease remover or it could be possible to sand those contaminants into the old paint which would cause fisheyes and bubbling in your new paint as soon as you spray. Professionals wax and grease remove before sanding and during different stages of preparation.

 

[nick56]

your car is in very bad condition. pls sand it off for good paint work.

 

[lgbalfa]

update on the paint job?

 

[Alfisto Steve]

Just had my bud JJ redo hood and bed cover on my Dodge Ram truck and he had to sand off clear coat and reseal even smoothly sanded base coat as he had to go down to primer under base red coat in places to get smooth finish and then repaint base coat to get color match with rest of truck.

 

[lgbalfa]

Just had my bud JJ redo hood and bed cover on my Dodge Ram truck and he had to sand off clear coat and reseal even smoothly sanded base coat as he had to go down to primer under base red coat in places to get smooth finish and then repaint base coat to get color match with rest of truck.

color match came out perfect?

 

[Alfisto Steve]

color match came out perfect?

Yes he is pretty good at doing that.

 

[smotheredsteak]

whats a good way to avoid deforming the orignal shape (on corners etc.) while sanding??? im trying to be gentle, but theres still the concern.