i didn't sand it or anything.. look at my sig for my members link. but i just used Clorox wipes and wiped it down really good and used a scotch bright pad and went over it a little bit to get any stuff off of it. and then sprayed 1-2 coats on it i think. wasn't much work at all. my buddy is really good at doing nite-shade. he did my tails awhile back but now the shade is disappearing so i'm gonna be clear coating them and stuff sometime.