Originally Posted by disruptfam
You should almost always sand before you paint to both remove any gloss that might prevent bonding and/or to "scuff up" the surface so the paint has minute channels and ridges to bond to. Unless it's a burly etching primer I would always give a light sanding even if the can said you didn't have to. Another good thing sanding does is remove any hand grease, contaminants, etc. which might cause a bubble or lack of adhesion...Another good way to clean the bare metal is to give it a nice toxic wipe with some lacquer thinner, MEK, or other solvent. This might screw up any existing coatings if you aren't quick but if it's bare metal it should clean off any of the grease, but you'll still have to sand at least a little. Don't worry about sanding it's not that hard.
As to the water based car paints, yes they do exist. I actually just used a "moisture cured urethane" (Gulf Coast Chemical Coatings i think...) which uses the moisture in the air in order to harden. I sprayed it on light switch and electrical outlet plates and it dries hard as nails....
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