my car has little rust spots all throughout the surface of the paint. its nothing deep or damaged, just small spots. my question is do i have to sand the whole entire car to bare metal because of this or can i just sand a few layers off until the paint is smooth again?? i tryed just sanding the surface off and it comes out really nice and smooth. also, even though im using 80 grit and an air compressed random orbit sander it takes probably 10 minutes in one spot to even get it to bare metal. its a 69 so i dont know if its because the paint is old or what? any advice, let me know.

please help!

If you've got small spots here and there over the complete car I would definately just bite the bullet and strip the complete exterior (if you want this job to last). Mask all of the seams with masking tape and use chemical stripper. Two gallons of stripper will do the complete car with maybe some left over. I usually do one panel at a time. Apply the stripper in one heavy coat then cover with some thin masking plastic to keep the stripper from drying out. Let it set for 30 minutes to a few hours- for heavy thick paint I've also let it set overnight. Then pull the plastic and scrape the loose paint off with a thin putty knife or razor scraper- (a plastic scraper will work if the paint softens well). Once 90% or better has been removed you'll need to wash the surface with water and scrub with a red scotchbrite. Then sand the metal with 80 grit on a DA to remove the minor amounts of paint and primer and to also texture the steel for primer application. Once all the paint is removed and the steel is sanded then you're ready for some epoxy primer. It is very, very, important to get the steel cleaned well prior to applying the epoxy. Wet the surface with wax and grease remover and wipe dry- you need to do this a few times- the surface is clean and ready when you can wipe a clean white paper towel across it and see no discoloration on the towel. Apply two medium wet coats of epoxy. Bodyfiller work if needed can and is best done over the epoxy. When all the filler work is done apply some epoxy over your filler work and bare metal cut-throughs, then apply a polyester or urethane primer surfacer and blocksand to perfection.

Doing the job this way will give you a final product that is going to last for a very, very, long time.

thank you for the info. what brand/type of stripper would you recommend and where can i get it?

I've been using Talstrip but any aviation type stripper will work just fine, ask your supplier.