Im going to have my car painted and earl sheib but want to prep it myself so it turns out better. What are the steps to prep it before paint?

1...Start removing anything that can be removed that will not get painted, like the bumpers, emblems, chrome trim, lights, and stuff like that.

2...Wash your car.. Use a grease fighting dish soap like dawn

3... Block sand your whole car with 220 wet sand paper. Block sanding will not only keep your surface smooth and level, but will also provide tooth for the primer to come, and show you were the low spots are “dings”

4...After block sanding and finding your dings ### they will be the only spots left shiny, use a marker or chalk and mark them by drawing a circle at least an inch around them.

5...Get a drill and attach one of those plastic grinding discs, and grind those spots down to metal. you can use a da sander too

6...Clean off the area, it’s important that it is free of dust and oil

5...Proper your filler and apply it to the area, then wait for it to cure.

6...After curing, block sand the body filler with 80 grit dry sand paper until it’s level with the rest of the body.

7...Clean off the area again, and check for pinholes in the filler. Also clean off the area were you have rock chips

8...Use a 2 part glazing potty to fill any pin holes in your body work, and the rock chips.

9...level out the glazing putty by lightly block sanding it with 220 wet sand paper.

10.. wash your car again

11..Roll your ride into your paint booth (or garage, shop, plastic enclosed carport or anywhere else you plan to paint it in)

12.. start masking off your windows, and anything ells you don’t want to paint that you couldn’t remove.

13..jack up the car and remove the wheels, and leave it on jack stands

14.. wipe down the whole car with a tack cloth to remove any dust

15..wipe down your car again with wax and grease cleaner, and let dry

16..as the cleaner is drying, start mixing up your high build primer, ### we have some bodywork on the car it is always a good idea to cover it up in high build primer.
17..spray a spot pass over you body work first before spraying 2 to 3 coats of high build primer over the whole car, waiting 10 to 15 minutes between coats for it to flash.

18..After spraying your last coat, make sure you clean out your gun before doing anything else.

19..carefully remove all the masking on the car, and let it sit overnight.

20..roll out your ride and begin block sanding with 400 wet until it’s nice and smooth

21.. Open up your doors and remove any weather stripping, and plastic moldings, as well as your door panels, and anything ells in the doorjambs that you don‘t want to paint.

22.. wash your car again, and roll it back in the booth and mask

23. wipe down the car with a tack cloth followed by cleaning it with wax and grease cleaner.

24. Mix up your base, and spray at least 4 coats of your base, waiting 10 to 15 minutes for it to flash between coats.

25..Clean out your gun and mix up your clear

26..spray one tack coat of clear followed by 2 to 3 wet coats of clear. You won’t be able to tell when it flashes, so it’s a good idea to wait between 15 to 20 minutes between coats, or do the touch test.

THE TOUCH TEST....find a spot in the paint that will not bee seen when the car is finished, about 15 minutes after spraying your clear, touch this spot with your finger, if it feels sticky or tacky then your ready for the next coat, but if it stringy and some if it clings to your finger as you lift it, then you still need to wait.

27.. Clean out your gun

28..wait at least an hour before removing the masking, then let it sit over night

29. The next day, open up the doors and begin masking out the door jams. Mask off the whole car as well as anything that may get overspray.

30. Scuff up any over-spray that might have got on the jams threw the cracking in the door.

31..clean the jams with a damp cloth, followed by wiping them with a tack cloth then clean with wax and grease cleaner

32.. Mix up your base, and spray at least 4 coats of your base, waiting 10 to 15 minutes for it to flash between coats.

33..Clean out your gun and mix up your clear

34..spray one tack coat of clear followed by only 1 wet

35.. Clean out your gun

36..wait at least an hour before removing the masking, then let it sit over night

37.. the next day roll out your ride and let it “bake” in the sun for at least a day

38..Now your ready to cut and buff, start by block sanding all the orange peel, and any debris or bugs that may have gotten in your clear off with 1000 grit wet sand paper
39. Now lightly block sand again with 1500, followed by 2000 if desired

40. Wash the car, and towel dry

41 Start machine buffing with a medium cutting compound and a heavy whole pad

42 Now switch to a fin cutting compound and a fine whole pad or foam pad

43 buff again with swirl mark remover or machine polish with a fine whole pad or foam pad

43 wash the car, and towel dry

44 hand polish DO NOT WAX, APPLY A PURE POLISH ONLY

Best reply I have read in a long time! I'm not doing this or anything but hey-zues man, talk about a detailed reply!