This may or may not be a tip for most of you, but hey, I'm a little late to the party. I just discovered the joy of a 1/4" mini-angle grinder with an attached sanding pad. The sanding pad or disc closely resembles the green side of a 3M scouring pad. I purchased both the angle grinder and some of the pads at Pep Boys for less than $40 total. You can spend big $$ for an angle grinder but this one works really well.

The angle grinder sanded down through many lays of paint and primer and then through Bondo on my hood. I was following some cracks I found down to the metal where little road map-like surface rust had started to appear. The angle grinder went through everything including the rust and then stopped at the metal. I couldn't believe it! It stopped at the metal and polished it up so I could apply primer. No scratches in the metal. Polished up very, very nice.

It did go through the discs pretty quick but well worth it in my opinion. The only other draw back is that it is small so the works doesn't go very quickly. Hope this helps someone.

Dan Latta

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1970 El Camino
Student, Santa Monica College
Santa Monica, CA
ACES #5204
SCCC #416
Watch the "progress" at:
http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/ElCaminosandChevelles/lst

If there bondo under the paint, just use a heat gun and a putty scraper. The heat gun can actually bubble up the bondo.

Aircraft brand paint stripper. It'll soften up filler too.