- 1). Sand the damaged area with 180-grit sandpaper to remove the paint down to the bare metal. Body filler only adheres to bare metal and any filler on top of old paint will eventually crack and peel off. Sand any dents and up to three inches around the entire dent to remove the paint.
- 2). Look and feel for any high spots on the fender. High spots are any areas that are raised higher than the surrounding surface of the fender. Use a body hammer to gently tap the high spots until they are level or lower than the surrounding fender. If they end up lower, treat and repair them like a dent.
- 3). Use a squeegee to apply a thick layer of body filler on any dents. Apply enough filler to fill up the dents and leave the filler sitting higher than the surface of the fender. Let the filler dry for an hour.
- 4). Sand the filler with 220-grit sandpaper until it is smooth and level with the surface of the fender. If the filler covers any part of the body line in the fender, make sure to sand the filler into shape. The sandpaper can be folded to create a sharper edge to shape the groove for the body line.
- 5). Use 400-grit sandpaper on all areas of the 2001 Ford Focus fender that have been sanded. The 400-grit sandpaper smooths the deeper scratches left by the 220-grit sandpaper.
- 6). Spray a thin coat of primer over all of the repaired areas. Let the primer dry for 30 minutes. Sand the dry primer with the 400-grit sandpaper to smooth the rough primer surface.
- 7). Apply three to five coats of paint to the repaired areas. Hold the spray six to eight inches from the surface and spray left and right. Keep the coats thin to avoid runs in the paint. Wait five minutes between each coat. Add two or three coats of clear coat paint on top of the color paint. Wait four or five hours before handling any of the paint.
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