The wife’s 72 Chevelle is green. I had to sand down to bare metal to remove the glue that held the vinyl top down. The new color she wants is also green (different shade) and all paint materials will come from my local PPG store. It appears there is only
one coat of paint on the car. It does have a shine (lacquer?). I do not want to strip the car based on what others are saying in another post. I am using 320 sandpaper and I get about 5 very small (1 foot) passes on the
on a panel before the sand paper loads up. This is dry sanding by hand. The result on the old paint is a lot of dust and when cleaned looks like it will have be sanded even more.

Is this sand paper good enough of should I
drop to 220 or even lower?

Thanks in advance.

I just stripped my car and would never do it again if I could avoid it unless I was ready to spend some serious time with body work, details, etc. Now instead of driving I am hurrying to get it in primer before it gets cold! Good call with not stripping (unless you are prepared to spent the time and extra money) For some things I used a DA sander which will save tons of time and sand paper! I used 80 grit for most of my paint removal and rough work.

Nick

To give the 320 a little extra life, try wetsanding and using two buckets of water. One bucket of clean water with dishwashing liquid in it, this is what to dip the paper in before sanding. Another bucket with just water for cleaning/rinsing the 320 after you've used it a bit. After it's in the water, rub your thumb over the paper to unclog it. Then dip the paper in the clean soapy water and sand some more. This also reduces the dust factor. It might help.

[This message has been edited by Glenn1018 (edited 10-08-2002).]

If you are just going to "sand and seal" the 320 wet or with a DA would be fine. If you need for some reason to prime it, you could drop down to 220 or even 180 to make the sanding easier.

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1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

Thank you for the advice. I do plan on priming before I paint/clear coat since I have to etch prime the roof anyway. I think I will drop to the 220 or 180.