I am looking to paint my fiero ,what is the best way to prep the surface ,I have a lot of clear coat flaking as well as a lot of paint cracking on panels (maybe from sitting in sun for years).
I belive i should sand down panels to start fresh ,but what is the best Grit to work with on plastic panels,from sart to finish.
I just bought a snap-on DA sander ,but would think this might be to aggresive to work with.
Also what's the best paint to use on a fiero .Nasson auto paint by dupont alright?

There are quite a few threads about prepping and painting your car, but sometimes they are confusing.

I personally use 180 grit to remove any loose, flaking or cracked paint. Only sand down to a good surface and if you still have paint or primer still on the panels after your sanding, you don't need to prime.......except: If you are changing colors you might want to prime the car with a tinted primer so you don't need to spray as much paint for coverage. Some colors are very transparent and you might need to spray 6 or 7 coats of color to actually cover any bodywork. If you need to use primer, I highly recommend a catalysed primer. Check with your paint supplier for the proper stuff to use in the brand you chose.

Once you have your paint surface sanded or primed, you can resand with 320 grit paper ( I prefer dry ) and smooth out everything. A good paint will fill in 180 grit scratches and after wetsanding and polishing you won't see them, but it's just unnecessary extra work. Anything smoother than 320 grit and some paints will not stick very well and the new paint will peel.

As for paint, I prefer to use PPG Deltron. It's expensive but I feel it's worth it and my customers are very happy with the results Other painters here on the forum use some other brands and they do fine also.......it's just my preference.

There is a lot more to the prep process than what I've hit on but it's a decent start if you are fresh to the paintng scene.

Mark

Do a search for the other threads. We've covered it pretty extensively (you can search for my posts via my username). There is also a stripping tutorial that I wrote on http://www.gafiero.org/ (under "Tech Tips").
Nason is a cheaper brand of Dupont paint. It's not bad: I use it for some of my own cars that I "don't care about" (meaning I don't value enough to put much money into). For all real quality paintjobs I use Sikkens. The PPG Deltron would be my second choice.
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"

I used mainly 220 to get all the CC from areas that were flaking (basically all the top areas). Used 180 for speed were cracks were present. The rest was scuffed with red pad or 320 as surface was good. I started witgh a DA but then switched to an electrical snader. Much much less powder mess and speed was constant.