The best thing for general sanding is a Dual Action (DA) pneumatic sander -
get a 6" disc size.  I've done many a Home-Car-Boat-or-Office with this,
and it reduces hand sanding of edges down to a palatable amount.

This type of sander will float with compound contours and not leave
swirlies or dig in..... BUT it will not sand nicely in sharply concave
areas.

Be careful when doing a fiberglass bumper - the plastic is pretty soft, and
you might go into it farther than needed.

You can buy rolls of 100 discs from an auto body place, or a major supply
house - McMaster-Carr, Grainger, etc.

Leave the pad free to orbit as opposed to spinning, and don't be afraid to
change the paper often.

These units chew through air, though....... get a big enough compressor, or
wait a lot while it cycles.

That's the deal.

Randy Bergum
1990 Carat

> [Original Message]
> From: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Date: 10/7/2005 11:26:37 AM
> Subject: What sander would you buy?
>
> I'm negotiating with a body shop to do some light repainting on my 90
> Carat. They can take care of the two small crunches behind the sliding
> door, but they really don't want to mess with the fiberglass bumpers or
> else they are being very honest telling me that I could save big my
> doing them myself.
>
> I can handle the small amount of fiberglass backing and filling no
> problem. The real time-consuming part is going to be getting the layers
> of paint on the front--that have been chipped up by stones--down to a
> smooth level or else filled in and level even with the top surface of
> paint. Once sanded, they will do the whole bumper cladding spray job
> for $150.
>
> My question is, if you had to pick one good air sander to do a job like
> this with, what would it be--inline, mini-inline, orbital?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jim