92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

Sorry if this has been answered already, but I was unable to find a definite answer on here. I'm in the middle of shaving the door handles, locks, and antenna of of my 92 RS. I have to replace the driver's side door and the passenger side fender, and I have everything welded and ready to go, but I'm not sure if I should strip them to bare metal before I bondo the patches and paint them or not. While sanding down to bare metal to weld the patches in, I found out that there is between 5 and 10 layers of paint on them. There are no areas where any of it is peeling, but I am not sure if it is better to bondo over roughed up paint, or bare metal. Also I'm worried that this many layers is going to make it too thick when I finally paint the car. I don't want to have to come back a few years after I paint it and redo it all over again because I didn't do it right the first time. I don't have the $$ to pay a body shop to do the prep work, so I am doing it myself. I've got lots of experience with mechanical repairs and electrical work, but not so much with bodywork. Mostly just small rust patches in places that aren't easily noticeable. Any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

Kevman

irockid86

just follow the instruction on the can of body filler. if it says to sand away all paint then i would. as for painting over 10 layers of paint, i wouldnt do it. especially if you are going to have to hole car repainted. put in the time and money in to the prep work and bring it some place for painting.

RebornFromAshes

The body filler will make a stronger bond to the bare steel.

If there are no issues with the paint I would give it a good sanding to take off a few layers of paint. You will need to do this anyways to feather in the repair if it really has that much paint already.

The *only* reason I wouldn't strip back to bare steel is that it is a bit tricky to prepare the steel so that it doesn't start rusting. The average person will use a rattle-can primer and cover it with cheap paint. This almost always traps moisture on the steel and will cause surface rust in a few years time. Rather than dealing with any more bare steel than you must you can just try to thin the paint a little and live with the fact that it hasn't gone wrong yet.

Another way to look at it is that this is just one section of the car that has too much paint. Why risk rust when there are so many other body panels that could, and would be more likely to, have cracks and flaking.

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

Thanx guys, I think I'm gonna thin it out like Reborn said. I don't want to strip to bare metal if I don't have to. I actually talked to the dad of one of my best friends last nite(ran into him while buying body filler), he used to do bodywork for a living, and he suggested to just let it go. He said that I could strip it if I wanted, but its not necessary, I only need to take off the top few layers of paint and if the paint is still solid, ie no cracks/lifting then it should be fine to paint over as long as it is primered and sanded properly. I am only going to rattlecan primer it for right now because it probably wont get painted till summer( have to weld the front clip back on first), but I will strip all that stuff off and use the good stuff on it. Again, thanx for the help.