Sanding solutions for car body processing (2024)

High-performance and high-quality sanding solutions are required to prepare the body shell for vehicle painting. Defects on the vehicle body can thus be detected and removed.

The preparation of the body shell and subsequent vehicle painting require the highest precision and are constantly evolving. There is an increasing demand for more efficient and high-quality sanding solutions that are perfectly tailored to the changing requirements of the automotive industry. With its Norton brand, Saint-Gobain Abrasives offers the industry's largest range of technically advanced sanding solutions for all bodywork processing requirements - from preparatory work to the final paint finish and spot repair. In addition, the technology leader offers a wide range of non-abrasive consumables such as masking films and adhesive tapes and provides individual product solutions that are precisely tailored to the respective sanding process.

Body-in-white refers to the process in which the body shell is assembled before painting. If existing defects are not recognized and eliminated during this process, imperfections can be amplified or paint defects can be caused during the painting process. "Such defects are usually found on hoods, roofs, doors, fenders or trunk lids," says Dr. Axel Schwechheimer, Sales Manager Automotive at Saint-Gobain Abrasives. Norton offers high-quality sanding tools suitable for all necessary steps of car body processing: from fiber discs, flap discs, flap sanding rotors, belts and non-woven products for rough sanding to paper, film and mesh discs for intermediate and final processing.

"The body-in-white process can basically be divided into several steps. It starts with identifying, removing and reworking imperfections on the surface," explains Dr. Axel Schwechheimer. "This is followed by the removal or smoothing of metallic burrs, noses and imperfections in the area of windows, doors and trunk openings as well as excessive weld seams." Due to the complexity and high removal rate of this process step, it is imperative that the user performs a continuous movement when smoothing excess material and uses suitable abrasives.

Any weld spatter on the surface can then be removed using a mini angle grinder in conjunction with conventional or non-woven quick-change discs. These are specially designed for blending, edge breaking and removing parting lines and machining marks. The next processing step, the sanding of roof joints - which occur when soldering between the door and roof - is largely automated using robot-supported sanding machines. Norton offers specially developed non-woven compact wheels for this purpose, which are characterized by their long service life and corresponding cost-saving potential. Only surfaces optimally prepared in this way allow subsequent high-quality painting - including a convincing end result.

Painting is one of the most critical areas of vehicle production, as it is the only way to guarantee lasting protection against corrosion, spray water and UV radiation. To achieve the highest surface quality, several steps are also necessary here, for which Norton offers optimally coordinated solutions. The first step is the electrocoating process (e-coat), in which the body shell is immersed in a galvanic solution and a film is created using high voltage. Following this, layers of primer, colored paint and clear coat are applied by spraying.

"Each of these steps poses different challenges for the tools and abrasives used. It is crucial that imperfections or defects are detected and removed before the next process step. Accordingly, we have developed optimized sanding solutions for each of these processes specifically for surface treatment. We thus offer car manufacturers and paint shops a high-performance portfolio for the entire painting process from a single source: from the removal of e-coat defects to the processing of primers and spot repairs for minor defects in the final coat of paint," says Dr. Axel Schwechheimer. (OM-11/24)