Hi, I'm sort of new to auto painting, but i'm doing my best . My question is about priming. I am trying to repaint a hood on a very old car, which was extremely rusted. I took off all of the paint and rust (using a wire brush, sander, and paint stripper), and the hood is now down to bare metal. Before I start painting, I wanted to know if and/or what kind of metal primer I should use. I have used Rust-Oleum’s High Performance Rust Preventive Primers in the past, and I was pretty satisfied. Also, do I need to sand the primer before I start applying the base coat? If so, which sandpaper should I use? 1000? 1200? Thanks in advance.

You can treat the rust you can't remove (and it exists, be sure) with a product that contains phosphoric acid. You can coat with epoxy which is a great sealer, or use self-etching acid primer. Search this forum, it's been discussed a lot.

Thanks Abberant; I'll try using the epoxy. From what you say, I should get good results. This project isn't really that important, so i'll definitely try some experimenting. I have another question; when should I start sanding? After the first base coat? After the epoxy? I appreciate your help.

You should start sanding after the phosphoric acid. I use duponts metal conditioner and I found that if you don't (and they tell you not to!) then your adhesion will suck. Hit the metal with 80 right after conditioner, and right before sealer. Put the surfacer on with the sealer and then block wetsand that up to 400. I'm of the opinion that if you need to put MORE primer on a this stage then you didn't do your bodywork good enough.

Ok...I'll try that. Thanks again for the help!