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Mon Jul 12, 2004 12:39 pm

I'm final sanding my 66 beetle and I was originaly intending on going to 600. How High a grit should I go for a nice smooth finish? I've only used two grits 320 and then to 600, sould I use 400 in between.

Thu Jul 15, 2004 7:08 am

As long as you work the 600 good enough to take out your 320 marks, there is no need for the 400 grit. Have fun!

Thu Jul 15, 2004 7:00 pm

I been in a discussion in another forum about this. The general consensus is that 400 is fine for the final sanding before paint, 500 if you are really fussy. Beyond that, you risk having it so smooth that you may have adheasion problems. By the time you move up to 1000 grit, there is nothing left for the paint to really stick to.

Thu Jul 15, 2004 7:12 pm

It all depends how far you want to go. I've been in the "auto paint" industry for a while ( 6 years with BASF, and the last 9 with Meguiars), and 600 gives you great adhesion and baby smooth surface. Just remember that paint is like your skin, it has pours the the paint / clear adhears to. As long as it is scuffed properly, you won't have ANY problems with 600. I wouldn't go as far as sanding your primer with 1000 or finer, but I do sand between top coats single stage, base or clear with 1500 - 2000! Good luck with the project! Darrell

Thu Jul 15, 2004 7:32 pm

I'm pretty much saying that 400 is absolutely safe and 1000 is definitely asking for problems. In between could be iffy but doable. Since single stage takes just short of forever to fully cure, you could sand it glass smooth and, if you recoated within a week or 2, still get good chemical adheasion.
If the "pores" were sufficent, the paint manufactures would not demand that you scuff fully cured surfaces.

Sun Jul 18, 2004 4:51 pm

Remember when all the solvents evaporate there will be some shrinkage and sand scratches that can show. So 600 is better 400. For sanding with 1000, why do you want to work so hard?