Tailgate Paint Preparation and Central Rib Repair

Hi All, I'd like to prepare and paint a bought-in tailgate as part of a soft-top conversion. As you can see from the pic, the central rib is dented and warped; couple of questions:
1. I've beat out the big dents and smoothed the edges as best I can so good to go with prepping the panel (I think!). What do I need to do on the panel, in terms of sanding/smoothing and selecting the primer (or whatever), etc?
2. For the rib, I probably should remove it as I've spotted replacement units, so what is the best way to tackle the spot-welds? Maybe a big rib that I can rivet over this one!
Thanks
T.

They are nearly all like that,been dropped onto the ball hitch.Spot weld remove bits available on the fleabay. If you side hinge the tailgate it wont happen again.

tottot said:

Spot weld remove bits available on the fleabay. If you side hinge the tailgate it wont happen again.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that; I'll check out the bits and was actually planning to side-hinge it.
Cheers