88 Porsche 844. White (I'm going to have another question about that later). I bought the car as a project - one of the prior owners let his kid "paint" the car. Well, I think my 4 year old twins could do better. I don't know how much prep went into it, it was peeling in some places, etc. He didn't mask much - stickers were painted over, black parts of lights were painted over, black door handles were painted over. Just a really, really BAD job. Oh, and of course, it was a very dark blue.
Regardless, I have the blue off, and am hoping to lay some DP, then K36 this weekend. I know that a lot of cars from the 80's had this clear, rubbery stuff sprayed on them on the rockers. I'm not sure what it is called, but it seems to be there to prevent chips from rocks, etc. I've seen it applied on a NASCAR edition Monte Carlo (mid/late 80's with the sloped glass) that was undergoing a full restoration once. It was applied before the paint, and I'm told that they are all that way. The lack of a crisp edge seems to reinforce that.
Okay, so I was able to get most of the blue off by using a little bit of stipper, just enough to let it flash, then wire brushing it off, followed by a lot of elbow grease and lacquer thinner (stripper only got through the clear, and left most of teh color there). The guy I bought the car from did some body panels the same way, and it worked well (the OEM paint has shown no signs of distress 1.5 years since he did that).
So, what I really need to know is how do I prep the paint that is over that rock guard? It's pebbly texture precludes normal sanding techniques. Is there a trick to this, or is this something people have to either strip off entirely, or risk feeling, or what?
Any and all help appreciated.