Sanding Plastic Sidecovers

[mravery]

I think i screwed it up

My side covers have some scratches in them i was trying to sand out before i painted. I used 250 grit, it got the scratches out, but put in new ones

question: what grit do i need to use to sand down a plastic cover to get a smooth unscratched surface? what about the metal tank? I have'nt started that yet?

if you want you can e-mail me instead of posting averymoore@mbmfoodservice.com

 

[big stinkie]

I'd try some primer designed to fill is small scratches. Spray on a coat, and use 600 to sand down to the surface, which will leave primer in the scratches. You might have to do it several times to fill the scratches, but it should eventually yield a smooth surface.

FWIW, I use Dupli-Color grey filler/primer for small jobs like that. It doesn't wipe off with reducer or degreaser like some rattle-can primer does. I was doing a helmet once, and did a lot of priming like that. When I was about ready to squirt paint I cleaned it with PPG degreaser, and it removed all the primer I had applied! All my scratches were back! I was using the black, generic primer from Dupli-Color. It's the grey filler primer for me from now on.

 

[rex]

That plastic really exagerates things.I like to have 600 grit scratches or less to paint,but if it requires work I prefer to fill all that with 2 part putty over epoxy with an adhesion promoter under it.Then put a scuff coat of sufacer over it before paint.Kind of a drawn out process,but I know there will be no shrinkage or peeling.