How to prep for re- paint

I thought I would just pop a little bit of information here, because I see too many people ‘attacking’ their paintwork - causing a) more damage than good, and b) more work than necessary.

I don’t consider stripping a car body to bare metal to be the best way forward in a restoration, unless the car was manufactured earlier than the late 1970’s. The reason is that by the early 1980’s, most manufacturers were using a process which involved phosphating the surfaces under clinical conditions, after a series of submerged body washes,  followed by a cathodically applied primer done with the body submerged in a tank of the stuff, and etching and two pack primers which were then high baked - that’s 180 degrees C  plus. Unless you go for a chemical dip, to refinish, all we have are sprayed on etch and two pack epoxy primers, but they are Low baked - so up to 60ish degrees C, and we don’t have the clinical conditions, phosphating or cathodic paint application for the base layers, where the rust protection is.So, trying to maintain as much of the factory paint as possible is the best way forward, because simply prepping such a surface with a suitable abrasive is perfect to then apply your refinishing product, and you won’t be losing the factory applied rust protection.

only sanding to clean bare metal, areas which are rusty is necessary.