Lol i thought i mentioned something about that in one of my posts but maybe i just thought about it and never did
.
Generally speaking if youre going to take whatever you are working on down to bare metal (or what ever the substrate may be) 80 grit is a good place to start. For the most part 80 grit is the recommended, bare minimum size scratch you need for mechanical adhesion for materials like your first coat of primer and body fillers (whether it be normal lightweight filler or long strand kitty hair). For fillers you can go as deep as 40 grit scratch.
Either way you obviously need to get progressively finer.
Now, ill just explain the necessary steps for both stripping the hood to bare metal and if you just want to scuff it and use the old paint as primer (
only use this method of the paint is in good shape i.e. not cracked or peeling etc.)
If you are going to strip the whole hood you can either use 80 or even your 60 will be fine but i wouldnt do it by hand because its gonna take a LOOOOONG time to do it that way. If your budget allows try to find a decent 6" DA sander. Im using Snap-On but if you dont wanna spend that coin you can use paint stripper.
Orielys or you local automotive paint store should carry it in gallons. Its just Aircraft Quality paint stripper. It smells terrible and it burns the fuck out of your skin so wear a respirator and some thick ass glove. Before you put the stripper on duct tape about 1" around the whole outside edge of the hood so the stripper doesnt seep to the underside of the hood. (you will have to just scuff the under side of the hood by hand for the most part if you want to paint it at all). Scratch the hood bit with keys or a knife or something randomly on the hood. These scratches will give the stripper a good starting point to get underneath the paint and make it strip faster. Put the stripper on generously and let sit for like 20min or so just to make sure it has the time to work and cover it with a giant sheet of paper if you can. Not a big deal if you cant.
After its done you can simply scrape the "melted" paint off onto the ground or into a garbage can and then
THOROUGHLY RINSE WITH WATER The water nuetralizes the stripper. Then you can feel safe to not wear gloves. Take the duct tape off and that paint you can hand sand away, but it shouldnt be to difficult.
At this point you can fix any dents you may have. ( i can explain proper filler uses later if you like)
Method 2 if you deem that the paint is in good enough shape you can DA sand the whole thing with 180 grit. Fix your dents with filler if they arent too deep. Spot prime the areas you put filler and then you should be ready to paint.
When youre there, i can also explain sanding progression in the primer stage as well.
