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Old timer told me to never use a DA sander on aluminum panels, thought he was full of it
Tried it anyway on a 2015 F-150 tailgate last Wednesday and sure enough ended up with a wavy mess I had to skim coat twice to fix. Anyone else learn that lesson the hard way or am I the only dummy who didn't listen?
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the_gray2mo ago
Laugh my ass off, that's exactly what happened. I had a guy tell me the same thing back in '09 when I was fixing up an old Chevy van, and I thought he was just gatekeeping his secrets. Took me a whole weekend with 80 grit and a block to hand sand that panel flat again. Lesson learned, and I bet you won't be making that mistake twice either.
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luna_wells5719h ago
Read this thing online a while back about how some people actually prefer the orange peel texture? Crazy. They said it hides imperfections and makes the paint job less likely to show small scratches. Makes sense I guess. But man, for a smooth showroom finish you definitely want to wet sand with 1500 or 2000 grit. Doing that by hand after 80 grit though. That's just painful. Your arms must have been dead by Sunday night.
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faithrodriguez2mo ago
People never listen when someone with actual experience warns them, then act surprised when the exact thing happens. Same reason my neighbor still grills frozen steaks after I told him three times.
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