Painting Question, Pointers for me you might have Options

[celicaboy04]

Hey boys and girls,

I am going to be undertaking the task of painting my car by next week, and I am looking for some pointers.

I cannot afford 4000 for a body shop, and MAACO for the most part is a very big risk, so I feel that at the very least, I can do a better job doing it myself.

I have read a do it yourself book (very good by the way goes over most everything) however I have a ? it really didnt focus on the book.

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The book tells how to do a complete paint job working from bare metal. However, the surface paint on the car now isnt horrible, just looks like crap. I guess I mean it would be a good smooth surface to build the new paint over. There is a few dents I need to body fill, but I was thinking that I should be able to get away with only sanding down the existing paint so that the new paint has a good surface to adhere to.

Would this be alright, just sanding down the old paint enough to build on top of?

I figured I would do the body filler in the places I need to, and sand the whole car with 200, then go over with 400 and 600 grit sand paper.

From there I plan spray a sealer over the old paint to avoid bleed through on the new.

After spraying the sealer, primer the whole car and do all the fine tuning sanding, and then my base and clear coat.

For those who have paint experience let me know if this sounds alright, I dont want to have to spend the countless hours of sanding down to bare metal if I dont have to, but I also dont want my time and money go to waste if the new paint has bleed through of the old or chips and peels off.

(and yes, I will be doing all the typical dewaxer and degreasing between each stage and ensuring that the surface is as clean as possible for all aspects of the job.)