How To Clean Car Before Painting

Floyd Andised · Sunday, November 14, 2021

cleaning body before paint?

I have been block sanding out my mistakes on the sealer coat (entire car bad orange peel). I have a huge box of the cloth cloves with rubberized bottoms I recently bought. After block sanding all day with same pair on I discovered that one glove has a oily film almost saturated ( I thought it was just persperation). I have no idea what happened to the glove, but realize the entire car is probably contaminated with the oil. Should I go over the car with grease remover? Then maybe soapy water? What is the best way to clean the car before paint? The grease remover seems to be to strong, it wipes away the primer/sealer. Is there a particular product that I can purchace on this site? Thanks
I use dish washing soap a lot, like "Dawn" or "Joy"
It sure is the best for removing contaminates like wax and
silicones. If I can wash it with that, it's my first choice.
Wax and grease remover works real good "IF" it's done properly.
If not, you end up moving the contaminates around.
It takes a lot of clean towels.
With soap and water it's all rinsed away.
If I can wash it with Dawn, then I don't use anything else before I
paint, except a pair of clean cotton gloves to handle the panel,
(if I need too) and a clean rag to dry it.
Don't leave the water to dry on it.:cool:
I use dish soap FIRST, then I use a wax and grease remover, then I use a good blue tack cloth. So yes you can use dish soap. Rinse it VERY well though.
what kind of primer/sealer are you using? and i have diluted the wax/grease remover before with water to keep it from evaporating so fast 75/25, i live where its nothing to get 100 during the summer.
Degreasers

Actually, I sealed the entire car and I am about to complete sanding it with a 400 grit. I was going to then juct wash it down with clean warm water from the hose , tack it and shoot it. Should I still buy some degreaser?
in my opinion, yes you still need to wash it with w/g remover to avoid potential problems.
When we paint we usually wash the vehcile with soap and warm water one time and use grease and wax remover at least twice before we start spraying the top coats.
there are two types of cleaners. a wax and grease remover and
a precleaner.W&G removers can sometimes be strong and wipe off certain
paints or sealers.Precleaners are used just before the paint stage
after you have washed or used W&G prior to sanding then you can again wipe
the car down W&G to clean off sanding residue or wash it with soap and
water. then just prior to applying paint use the precleaner.
Spray it on and then wipe it off with lintfree rage.then tack clothe and paint.
you have sealed the car and had to sand out imperfections but some cleaners
will remove it so get a mild precleaner and test it in a spot that will not be noticed.
They even make waterbased cleaners that won't effect the paints.
Depending on the Brand paint your using your jobber should be able to
reccomend the right cleaner.
Originally Posted by JeffsCustomPaint

there are two types of cleaners. a wax and grease remover and
a precleaner.W&G removers can sometimes be strong and wipe off certain
paints or sealers.Precleaners are used just before the paint stage
after you have washed or used W&G prior to sanding then you can again wipe
the car down W&G to clean off sanding residue or wash it with soap and
water. then just prior to applying paint use the precleaner.
Spray it on and then wipe it off with lintfree rage.then tack clothe and paint.
you have sealed the car and had to sand out imperfections but some cleaners
will remove it so get a mild precleaner and test it in a spot that will not be noticed.
They even make waterbased cleaners that won't effect the paints.
Depending on the Brand paint your using your jobber should be able to
reccomend the right cleaner.

In our shop "precleaner", "G&W remover" and "solvent cleaner" are all the same thing. Even the suppliers we deal with send us the same type of product no matter which name we use. We use solvent based cleaners but there are also water based cleaners that I have no experience with it.
Some of these products evaporate faster than others but I've never had one harm or remove paint although I guess it could be possible. We use our precleaner PRIOR to the application of sealer or top coats because the surface contaminants that may need removing should be removed before spraying sealer to top coats.
Well it depends on what brand of paint your using
I know Dupont has a wax & grease remover then a precleaner that is ued prior to paint.I'm not 100% sure but iI think PPG does to.i know they have the DX330 cleaner and i think hink they have others and or the
waterbase cleaner.I use Advantage brand solvents and cleaner
cause it's cheaper then the PPG and it's just about the same and
it works excellant with the PPG paint.I'm sure the other paintlines have different cleaner s not just one.but i do know for a fact that there are some solvent cleaners that will wipe off some of the sealers and even soften the base. i can't rremember the brand it was cause i no longer use it but i had it happen to me doing some custom painting where i had to tape off graphics
after laying down base and.wanted to wipe it down before painting the
next stage.I also had it remove some sealer. Sometimes it's best to stick to the cleaners to what brand of paint line you using cause the are designed
chemically to work with each other.
But there are different types of cleaners wether it be W&G or a precleaner
this i do know form many years in the industry working at different shops
and using different brands of Paint.They all serve the same purpose to clean off contaiminents,
but have different chemicals and strengths.
Maybe your brand of paint has only one type