Real Paint people, what paper for last block?

Ok, I have searched "blocking" more than once, not a lot on here other than one thread that does a lot of talk about priming over 80 grit, (I am down with priming over 80 it is most excellent), but there are a few folks (real painters and paint sellers) on here I want to hear from about the last block.

I just finished the 360 block on the body of my 39 today, and I want some INFORMED opinions on how much further I should take this.

Without advise, I was going to block to 400 and then shoot a Chroma Premiere base, but I have been wondering if it would serve any benefit at all to go to 600?

I haven't looked at the can to see the directions, and all in all I would likely follow the directions unless I get some better advise here.

Thanks in advance!! (Please, no popcorn on this one! )

 

I like using 400 but alot of guys I know are using 600 ,Before paint

 

ive been painting for 12 yrs, i like to finish mine off with 600, it makes for a nicer job and you know you wont have any sand scratches showing up when you base it. but it can also depend on the color you are shooting, high metallics show more scratches.

 

For a slick job use 600 on base/clear coat paint jobs. For enamel 320 is fine

 

dude, i have done it several ways. i like to prime over 120-180 because primer like to **** back. i like to paint over 400-500g with a sealer, cause of the same thing. it's all about prevenative maintenance. if you want to prevent future mess ups, you will take the extra steps to wipe down, to put that last etch of finer paper. plus when your dealing with metallics and pearls and candy? it never hurts. so you got a 39 huh, check out our latest 39 ford standard at rosevillerodandcustom.com. good luck

 

you should be fine with 400. that's generally where I stop--and on quick jobs I stop with a maroon scotch brite pad, but as mentioned above you can finds the occasional scratches or swirl showing through. if you're looking to win a best paint go for the 600--or finer.

 

I usually finish mine with 500. It wouldn't hurt to go over it with 600 if you are spraying a light metallic color. If you are using a solid color and going to seal it you should be fine to stick with the 400.

 

You don't want to prime over 80grit it will shrink back on you. At least 150 to 180 grit for a good job finish up with 600 wet.

 

The further you take it 400, 600 or on up the smoother and cleaner appearing the paint job will be. 1200 would be like a full blown show car job

 

you got to be careful with too fine of a grit. i have been involved with several show cars and have never gone above 5oo grit. when you get too fine you question the adhesion. put it this way 1200 is in the steps of polishing?? your not going to get a great adhesion, but will it stick?? ya it will stic but for how long.

the thing is everyone has there own methods of doing things, so there are alot of right ways and a lot of wrong ways!! just don't wetsand your bondo like some dumb *** my buddy used to work for!!

 

Prime over 180, wet sand primer with 400, then wet sand with gold scotchbrite or 1000.

 

1200 is a little excesssive and the paint won't stick. I color sand starting at 1200. 400 is as far as you need to go gives the paint something to bite onto and you find you will have no sanding marks. Go with at least 3 coats of base and at least 3 coats of clear,if you plan on color sanding then i would put 6 coats of clear on so you don't break through by accident.go 1200 then 1500 then finish up with 2000 then polish.

 

Not to hijack my own thread..... but..

LOL,

yea, and I have a 55 Capri too...


Small world...

 

High mettalic colors like bright silvers and golds I will go 600. Otherwise you do risk having some sanding marks show through the clear where the metallic follows the sanding lines. Microscopically the metallic can act just like when you magniflux a crack and accentuate the sanding scratches. But if you go too fine, like 1000 or 1200 then you will lose adhesion and get excessive chipping with minor impacts and bumps. If you are going a dark color or a solid color 400 is cool though.

oh, and we are talking all wetsanding paper here too.

 

It didn't ocour to me that metalic would make a difference, but it makes a lot of sense.

The car will be a dark blue solid color.



Thanks everyone.

 

i always go to 600 before base, no finer.

 

4,5, or 600 grit won't matter if you put a nice even coat of a good sealer on it before your base coat.

 

I will be sealing with a high quality sealer. Damn, I should have included that in the first post too..

 

Another vote for 600 final for paint anything finer and you may run into lifting problems because there is no tooth for the paint to latch onto.

For color sanding while buffing 1000-1200 because there is no longer worries about adhesion.

 

I'm going thru this now. Great info!

 

Great info.

 

if your using a sealer and with that color, you can use 400 and you will be fine.

 

ditto

 

When I was in auto-body school one of our textbooks claimed wetsanding filler was an OK thing to do

 

Things are pretty well covered here for a simple question. I'd recommend you prime over 150 though. I'm guessing you're using a regular grade primer/surfacer, right? What brand? 80 will show. Not in the 1st blocking, not in the sealer, and not in the paint...until it's been done for a while. get it good and hot and you'll see the lines, but maybe that doesn't matter. The only way to stop it some (not completely) is to use a really high grade primer like PPG 3055. Twice the cost of conventional surfacers ut shrinkage is nearly non-existant. 150 is your friend before prime. The other advice is good regarding opaques vs metallics, and on rare occasions I've gone to 800 for really fine metallics colors. There's more to it than that but I'ma keep it out of this topic. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the info! I did use DuPont's "best" primer, (premiere) on the first two blocks. then I used Featherfill 2 on the next 2 blocks.

I am looking to go back to the premiere primer on the next two blocks, (it was going to be one more, but since I am going to 600 now... ) but if there is a problem with this someone let me know!

I did look over all of the feathefill threads I could find on here before using it, hoping I didn't miss something important....

 

Great info!

 

600...

 

Depending on the paint and color. I, 99% of the time will use 400 before a color coat.

 

There's a problem with this, at least to me there is. I read it twice and I'm getting that you primed, featherfilled, and now prime again. In essence what you've done is spray the work in an acrylic based primer surfacer, then sprayed liquid bondo over it (Featherfill is a polyester primer, bondo is a polyester paste), now ready to prime again. I don't know how thick you have it but for what I've been seeing lately you're on a course for possible disaster. Why? Consider the mil thickness you could possibly have. I'm only guessing here but before your 2nd prime I'd bet you have 20-30mils. Now there'll be another 10mils of primer as well as another 6-8 mils of paint. The best case for topcoats is try not to exceed 20-25 total for full custom stuff. Overlays and complicated airbrushing can exceed that easily if you're not careful. Also, polyester primers are like a sponge, just like polyester fillers (bondo) and if you have multiple coats of it over primer that stuff will absorb and retain the solvents from the primer going over it, get under to the acrylic primer below it and trap those solvents for quite some time, even months in extreme cases.

As a disclaimer to all of this, I'm happy to confess I'm a total pain in the *** when it comes to finishing things to high standards. I hate bondo and poly primers in all but the absolute worst cases. Poly primers are also best applied over bare steel properly prepped for adhesion then sanded to within a whisker of it's life BEFORE primer surfacers go on. None of the potential issues will surface until it's been done for about 90 days and it gets out in the hot sun at a car gathering. The next day when it cools down the ghosts of excess film build will come back to haunt you. In a recent extreme case the engine heat on a black car done in a similar fashion peeled away from the metal like old shelf paper. I measured the broken off chunks and I got a minimum of .070 and a max of .090. The hood was made out of .045 steel. Why did it happen? 1000 bonus points for the correct answer...

Don't think I like being the prophet of doom, I'd just rather see you finish it once and get to playin.