Hi, sanded down an old steelframe within an inch of it’s life and have just applied two thin coats of primer. It looks pretty smooth, is there any need to sand down before I put the colour on?

yes I would say – sand it down with fine paper used wet – you will get a better surface. maybe another primer and another sand afterwards. The more thin layers and the more fine sanding you do the better the result will be.

Thanks TJ, thats what I thought to be honest – I just wanted someone to indulge my laziness so I could convince myself I didn’t need to!

in that case, it’ll be fine.

Erm well if you are using Plasticote primer from Halfords the answer seems to be no!!! Wet super fine sandpaper literally washes the paint straight off (and wastes 2hrs work!) and dry superfine scratches it straight off – and that is with me being very gentle. Doesn’t inspire great confidence for the final finish – getting caught in the rain isa no no it seems!

Ideally it should be sanded down before the paint goes on, If you go through the primer to bare metal just spray a little over the area after youv’e done the rest. You only need primer though for bare metal

It depends on the primer and the paint, really. With most car finishes sanding the primer is just essential, the primer will be rough enough to be noticable in the basecoat.

I’m using hammerite for my old steelie, in tasteful bright yellow. I was sorely tempted to go with the crackle finish Rustproof, tough-ish, goes on very easily on bare metal, lovely.