Spent 10 years sanding body filler with 80 grit before a painter told me I was ruining his day

I was at a shop in Phoenix back in 2019 and a painter I respected grabbed my hand mid-stroke and said "you're leaving scratches I have to fill twice." He showed me how 180 grit gets the same flatness without digging trenches into the filler, and I felt like an idiot for a decade of work. Anyone else have a basic technique they learned embarrassingly late?

2 comments

2 Comments

wrenh655d ago

80 grit shows you where the real problems are.

caleb_stone5d ago

You ever been the guy making someone else's job harder without knowing it? I did the same thing with my DA sander for years. Was using 40 grit to strip paint fast, then jumping to 120. All I did was leave deep swirls that never came out right. My buddy handed me a block of 80 grit and told me to actually feel the scratches. That changed everything. Started spending way more time blocking with 150 and finishing with 220. Paint laid down flat after that.