I usually buy tools because I need them for a specific project. When I’m trying to decide what to buy, I look at the options from piece-of-junk, I’m-throwing-this-away-soon quality to overbuilt, use-it-for-the-rest-of-your-life quality. People can be very opinionated about buy cheap vs. buy expensive. I try to think about

1. how big the price difference between the options
2. how much the quality difference will impact the results
3. how much the tool will help me immediately
4. and how much I’ll use the tool in the future

My point is that I initially bought a couple cheapie sanding blocks. After spending some time using them, I went to an auto body shop (Wesco) and spent a little money on good quality sanding blocks (and paper). The results were way better with the higher quality blocks and paper, and they were only a few bucks more. Even though I don’t use them everyday, my advice here is to buy some decent sanding blocks!

Hand Tools

Here’s the collection of sanding blocks that I found most useful and produced the best results for prep work. (I have another collection of blocks for wet sanding.)

Long Board

The long board is great for leveling large areas.

Medium Board

There are places where the long board is just too big to be effective. Edges and curves in a panel will help you decide when to use the medium board.

Short Board

There always seem to be spots that need a small block.

Power Tools and Attachments

Sample of useful power tools for surface preparation

Drill

It doesn’t matter if it has a cord or a battery. I found a couple different attachments useful for removing paint, along with an “eraser” wheel that worked wonders on adhesive left behind from some removed trim. Do your eyes and lungs a favor when your are tearing paint off your rig: Use safety glasses and a dust mask!

Abrasive Pads

These attachments are made out of a material that is basically a Scotchbrite pad. I tried a couple of these to remove paint and eventually gave up. However, they did work pretty well for scuffing glossy surfaces to give primer or paint something to grab on to.

Wire Wheels

Wire Wheels are usually made out of brass or stainless steel. You can find wheels that have wire that is attached in a radial pattern or at a slight angle to the chuck, in the shape of cup. I used the more aggressive stainless steel wheels shaped like a cup because I found it was faster, especially on a fender that had been repainted improperly and was badly cracking. I did use the “radial” wheels for body line creases.

Orbitals

An orbital polisher/sander with a course sanding pad removes paint fast. Don’t use one unless you want to remove quite a bit of material! If you have a decent compressor, you can pickup a pneumatic sander cheap. But if you don’t have the air supply, a variable speed electric polisher/sander is a great choice. You’ll need a polisher for the final buff-out.

General Suggestions

1. Treat each panel separately.

Some areas may require more work than others. There may be rock chips on the hood or behind the wheels, rust on the fenders, and clear coat problems on the roof, but the doors are just dull. Don’t make more work for yourself by over prepping panels that are in decent shape. If there is solid factory base to work with, chances are it’s got good adhesion to the metal, and a little scuffing with a Scotchbrite pad and a shot of wax remover and degreaser is all it needs.

2. A prepared surface doesn’t have deep scratches.

You can save yourself some work if you lay down some high-build primer over the top of your body work, then sand a little with 320 or 400 grit sand paper. If you’re not painting over body work, don’t worry about this.

Rust Removal

Rust can cause all kinds of problems down the road, possibly ruining the work you put into your paint job. Even though Rustoleum is a rust-inhibiting paint, removing obvious rust spots is cheap insurance. Use rough sand paper (something like 36, 60 or 80 grit) or a wire wheel to remove the rust. This is the time to use your electric or pneumatic sander to get rid of the “tin worm.”  If you don’t have power tools, use a small-ish sanding block to concentrate your efforts on the rust without doing a ton of extra work.

Shaping

The amount of time you spend shaping depends on how straight the body panels are. If you have dents and dings that are deeper than body filler can hide (around 1/8th inch), you need to do some metal work. There are specialized tools to push and pull metal back to its original shape, but that goes beyond the scope of this site. We’re trying to get results without expensive tools or paying someone to use their expensive tools.

When the body panels are mostly straight, you can use body filler and putty to even things out. The general idea is to fill in the low spots, building a small area that is higher than the surrounding area. Then you sand the newly created high spots down to be level with the surrounding area.

Smoothing

The paint you will use is self-leveling, but that doesn’t mean it will hide 80 grit sanding scratches! I know this because I tried it. To test the limits of “self-leveling” for Rustoleum enamel, yeah that’s it…. just a test! The amount of smoothing you do at this stage depends on how much color you want to remove later. I learned that dry sanding with 320 grit before you start on color coats is a lot easier than wet sanding all the color off, only leaving paint in the scratches. Very artistic, but not what we’re after!

Scuffing

For areas that didn’t require any body work and have solid paint (no cracking, peeling, clear coat failure, etc.), you can just scuff the surface with a Scotchbrite pad. Don’t go crazy with the scuffing, just take the shine off. Agressive sanding of solid paint just makes for more work.

There are two ways to mask and reasons for each.

Remove the Parts

If the pieces are going to prevent you from accessing edges and areas that you want to paint, you should probably remove them. Rollers don’t blow paint into all the hard-to-reach areas. Unless you don’t mind having visible edges, you need to get paint in there with the roller or a foam brush. In addition to being able to easily apply paint in those areas, you can be sure that you won’t end up with paint on the parts you want to keep clean.

Masking Tape

Door handles are a prime example of something that can be easily taped. Just carefully lay on some tape to cover the handle and rubber gasket and you’re good to go. Window seals are another great place to use tape.

If you are doing a quick job with a similar color, you may even be able to get away with masking off the weather stripping around doors.

Body Work?

It took me a while to realize what body work was all about. There are two simple goals:

1. Get the shape you want
2. Make it smooth enough for paint

Shaping

The amount of time you spend shaping depends on how straight the body panels are. If you have dents and dings that are deeper than body filler can hide (around 1/8th inch), you need to do some metal work. There are specialized tools to push and pull metal back to its original shape, but that goes beyond the scope of this site. We’re trying to get results without expensive tools or paying someone to use their expensive tools. Check out the Shape It page for more info.

When the body panels are mostly straight, you can use body filler and putty to even things out. The general idea is to fill in the low spots, building a small area that is higher than the surrounding area. Then you sand the newly created high spots down to be level with the surrounding area.

Smoothing for Paint

The paint you will use is self-leveling, but that doesn’t mean it will hide 80 grit sanding scratches! I know this because I tried it, just to test the limits of “self-leveling” for Rustoleum enamel. The amount of smoothing you do at this stage depends on how much color you want to remove later. I learned that dry sanding with 320 grit before you start on color coats is a lot easier than wet sanding all the color off, only leaving paint in the scratches. Very artistic, but not what we’re after!  Check out the Make It Smooth page for more info.