Body work Newbie

As far as sanding down to metal some like to just use some 60, 80 or 100 first and go down to the metal in gradual steps to protect the metal from to many sanding marks. Then I know others that just go at it with a heavy grit like 40 and go straight to the metal. I prefer using the 80 method, myself. This step is important, but not as important as stepping up when you are priming and filling going from a 80 and up to 200 or even 400, before the actual sealer and color is applied.

As far as cracks go that is hard to say without pictures to have something to judge by, it could be stress and it could be an underlying rust problem. The Foxes are common to have stress fractures around the strut towers, especially if there is also a rust issue.

For the dents, depending on how bad they are, your best option is a stud gun, that welds stud onto the car so you can then use a slide hammer to pull them out. Then once the dent is pulled you grind off the stud and have a clean repair for primer or minor filling.

I suggest that you check out www.eastwoodco.com. They are a great resource for tools, video, and forums, to get all your answers.

sand to bare metal w/ 80 grit, once you do that shoot it w/ 2 or 3 coats of epoxy primer. Any painted sufaces just go over w/ 220 then epoxy prime