How to Paint Muscle Cars & Show Cars Like a Pro. Tony Thacker

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       You’re going to need a selection of sanding discs to use with the various sanders and grinders. The discs are available from local and online paint suppliers.

       Sanding Blocks

       Amateurs tend to use their hands as sanding blocks, but your hands are not flat and, despite what you think, they can leave small, finger-shaped grooves on the surface. Professionals, on the other hand, use a variety of sanding blocks, many handmade, to affect a flat surface. These blocks can be as simple as a sandpaper-wrapped paint stick or as complex as professionally or custom-made long blocks that work on large flat surfaces. Remember, when using long blocks always use both hands to evenly spread the pressure. Using one hand in the middle of a long flexible block will only work the center of the block, wasting your time when you are trying to achieve a flat surface.

      Sandpaper

       You won’t believe how much sandpaper of various types you will go through when repainting a complete car. Dry paper is used for the initial sanding stages to remove old paint, cut back filler, and so on. This paper would be in the range of 40-grit being the coarsest to 220-grit being the finest used on body fillers. You can see here that the body guys have cut the paper into more versatile sizes.