DIY Owners Facing Clear-Coat Failure Repair Decisions
Peeling, flaking, or sun-damaged clear coat and paint: is it fixable, buff or blend or full respray, what will it cost, can I DIY it — the repair-path decision for failing paint.
SOURCES (60)
That's a better match than most the chit I've seen on here.. Good job!
“Thank you, here’s a shot from just now, it’s been about a month and a half since I painted https://preview.redd.it/ilqov7lyadlh1.jpeg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a2ccf9d324261cdb214a4ac550846dc732ea82d”
“Yeah I really meant to do the roofline better. That bottom line however couldn’t have come out better, very hard to see it in person.”
“If you have a go again, I would suggest rolling up the tape. Like the area you plan to paint, flip the edge of tape up and away. Gives a softer transition.”
“Since I’ve seen so many posts asking about fixing clear coat issues, thought I’d post mine. I very unfortunately somehow never took a before picture. The clear was burned through on the rear quarter and peeling so bad I stopped washing the car because it made it peel faster. First I watched a lot of YouTube videos. I like this guys video in particular. https://youtu.be/Hj9VqSnT-bs?is=sGq-SLDAVuEPBlU4 Essentially I wet sanded down to feather out the clear until all the transitions were smooth. Th”
“You know the drill, clear coat is peeling or cracking what do blah blah The best way to resolve this I assume is to multi stage wet sand the entire panels (roof, a pillars, back hatch, hood) down to base coat and 2k clear on top. Not sure if theres a machine wet sand option or if it has to all be done by hand I've been looking into pappy's patina as a less burdensome plan and honestly the results look pretty good. Not sure if there's a better product based on the same wipe on clear c”
“Clean well with car soap, get loose debris off it, then clean with isopropyl alcohol to dry it well, then vinyl wrap it.”
“Going to need some info on the car to help with paint colors, what is your budget as a two tone paint job is more costly as additional labor and paint materials are required.”
“I need to repaint, because the clear coat is flaking. My question is about which color to go with. It is a two tone color scheme, white on the top and silver on the bottom. I think it would look much better with black on the bottom, even if I'm not a fan of two tone paint jobs. But there's the practical side, I'm reading that silver hides dirt and blemishes, while black accentuates them. Granted I want a more satin black, not super glossy. This ain't no Ferrari or Lambo. So, if e”
“That’s fine, I was just considering nipping these current “breaches” in the bud by keeping them covered from the elements. Given their location and where I used to park I’m pretty sure they were all started by bird droppings being left for too long which I’ve been more diligent about now so hopefully I can keep the rest of the body panels in ok shape for as long as possible. Otherwise the paint has held up pretty well for a car that as far as I know spent a majority of its life in the Texas sun.”
“2010 Scion XB. Hey, luckily my roof and hood are in decent shape but I have a couple small spots elsewhere where the clear coat is peeling. I’ve read up a bit and know that redoing all of these panels is gonna be a pain in the ass and having someone else do it is going to be ridiculously expensive for such an old car so I was wondering if covering these areas up with a well applied bumper sticker or something similar would protect it from getting worse? Maybe the stickers would look tackier init”
“Hey all, Recently redid my headlights with 2k clear coat. Wet sanded with 400, 600, then 800 grit. Both sides looked great after I finished but now one side is filled with moisture completely. Any idea what would cause this and how to fix it? They were exposed to moisture after 24 hours which shouldn’t have happened but it didn’t happen to both sides which is the confusing part. Any help is appreciated. submitted by /u/lpl1888 [link] [comments]”
A can a spray paint is the cheapest “solution”, if you consider it that.
“Originally I was planning on just wrapping the roof myself but noticed that the paint damage is beyond just the roof panel. What’s the best, most cost effective solution here? submitted by /u/pizzacompleteza [link] [comments]”
“They appear to only be affecting the clear coat and there’s no texture. submitted by /u/pak256 [link] [comments]”
“Tape off the glass+rubber. Sand the roof down to bare metal. Find a black bare metal primer, and coat it. Rustoleum makes a wide “turbo nozzle” that makes spraying large surface areas easier. It won’t look professional but it’ll be fine”
“Doing mine with Raptor paint - very long lasting, 5 times cheaper than wrapping ( but i am doing the whole process by myself - lots of preparation work before - no previous experience)”
“Oh i forgot an important thing. I dont know where you will spray the bumper. Mounted on the car or dismounted. Dismounted its way easier. For the effectlayer it is highly highly recommended to place the part in same position like its mounted on the car. That enforces the metallics / pearls to lay down on the surface the same way like on the rest of the car. I learned it the hard way and had to respray again parts because the colorshift was horrible.”
“And dont forget... a metallic / pearl need a effectlayer to become really the right color. That means you apply basecoat in a fully closed and wet layer, two times. Let it dry, there should be no wet spots anymore. Then spray a thin layer of light moisture on it. Two times. Let them dry 5 minutes between the two layers. Now it have the right color and look.”
“I disagree. Ive used rattle cans before and the final product looked good. The key is the clear; its gotta be 2k.”
“Yes that’s a thing but just like the person you replied to I am also interested in ops definition of blending.”
“Anyone who recommends sanding/scuffing base before clear without reapplying base has never painted before. Sanded base after clear looks like sanded base, shitty. The clear delam could be caused by incompatible products.”
“Thanks 👍🏻 I've heard different takes on scuffing the base. What would have caused the peeling then? I sprayed the base, let it dry for an hour or so, then sprayed "Spray Max 2K clear"”
It’s a respray, also you don’t sand/scuff BC before applying clear.
“We are so far past spot paint… this is a start from scratch job. It’ll take less time to get a good result from scratch than it would be to make the existing job presentable”
“I painted this front bumper years ago, but now the 2K clearcoat has started to peel badly (I didn't sand the paint layer prior sprying 2K clear). Should I sand it down and start over, or is this worth spot sanding and blending" submitted by /u/jeevacationrentals [link] [comments]”
“Rinse it down before anything touches the paint. Dry clippings drag grit across the clear coat and that's where the marring comes from.”
“Just got this rogue with 18000km on it and after washing it I noticed that the paint on the bottom of the front bumper was peeling off. Im not sure if this is from the car wash or was previous damage but I am wondering as there should be no way the paint comes off this easily. submitted by /u/Classic-Sail-9339 [link] [comments]”
“Looks really good. I am going to catch hell for saying this, but the higher grit used to sand, the more likely the paint is to fail. Why? Because that first coat of paint is responsible for providing the mechanical bond. Sanding past 1,000 grit will not provide the first coat a rough enough surface to properly bond, especially when painting plastic. Hopefully it lasts for you.”
“It’s definitely not loose yet. Is it common practice for those to get pulled on a respray? I don’t recall them coming out on my last one but still may buy one and have ready for when it goes to paint even if they didn’t plant to pull it.”
It’s not finished until the clear coat is dry. Good luck with it, though.
“Don’t live somewhere intense sun is, or at least keep it under shade when you aren’t using it.”
“Now granted, the truck wasn't perfectly clean. It was owned by the shop guy. Also not sure how long it's been on. But still, the difference from the bumper & hood to the fender are too noticeable. https://preview.redd.it/cgnktnou7jkh1.jpeg?width=1848&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17b99d8cba17cc2a98d3d933549ddf9054ea56e0”
“I recently got this slightly rough 02 Miata. As you can see from the photo here, the clear has failed on the front fenders, rear quarters, and is beginning on the trunk. I'm thinking about trying to re-clear these areas and blend them to the factory paint, understanding the results won't be 100% OEM. My concern is that matching the factory yellow metallic paint will be very difficult, and the color difference will be more distracting than the failed clear. I have experience painting thre”
“Auto washes are absolutely terrible for your car. They will scratch the hell out of it every time with micro scratches. NONE of the fancy chemicals they pitch do anything but damage clear coat and dry your paint out. That makes it even more suceptable to scratches. Also - If the track isn't working properly it can shave enough rubber off your tire to blow out. Who knows how long it will hold and it may do nothing but the damage I've seen is a complete safety issue. Sometimes it's on”
“You don’t need to remove it from the vehicle to perform the repair. Those black strips on either side of the roof panel are removable, and you use that as your start/stop point for removing material and primer. Once you strip it down, you mask the adjacent areas using those gutters to keep the finished area clean. Then you paint as normal in the above thread. We only removed the hood for that vehicle because it was easier to do so versus attempting to do it on the truck. I’m tall, but not that t”
“Personally I'd leave it and let it develop character. To answer you question though, you could always sand it and matte black or white rattle can it. It'll probably end up looking worse than it does now though.”
“Hi all. This past month the paint job on my 1999 CRV has gone from good to horrendous. One day the roof of my car was fine save for a few scratches and one spot of peeling paint. As the month went on the clear coat became exponentially worse and started practically disintegrating if touched. What I’m wondering is, what would be the best way to deal with this? I’m a college student, so I have a rough 500$ budget and am just trying to find the best option. Assuming it’s sun and moisture damage, wo”
“i just to patch up a SMALL spot (not worth popping a whole a can) so i can bolt down the antenna and install the headliner and not paint the whole roof now. blending around the antenna wouldn't be super ugly or bad if it at least had some fresh clear on it. submitted by /u/cdoublejj [link] [comments]”
“Good morning I work at a Chrysler dealership with a bodyshop attached. I got a call that someone bought a 2027 Pacifica from a different dealership without a bodyshop They said that they have a couple flat spot on the hood that don’t have any clear coat and when speaking to the place they bought it from they told them it was a known issue with the 27s. I was wanting to know if anyone else has seen this on their 2027 Pacificas or if the dealership was lying to try and get this customer off their”
“Almost all of the rattle can 2K clears that are formulated for the auto industry are polycarbonate safe these days. Check the SDS or TDS at the manufacturer's site to find out for sure. Look to see if it contains any of the solvents listed here: https://www.ledrays.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Polycarbonate-Resistance-to-Various-Chemicals-and-Products-0219DA.pdf I've used this for a long time and it works extremely well. https://www.spraymax.com/en-us/products/product/clear-coats-and-s”
“That looks nothing like issues with the solvent to me. It looks improper prep by sanding to too fine of a grit.”
“Could you recommend a a 2k clear that has polycarbonate safe solvents? Looking for one that doesn’t soften the polycarbonate. Or a lacquer would be fine also.”
“Hood and roof are covered in these cracks, Im guessing from a long time of sitting in sun. What will it take to properly fix this? Is it just the clear coat or is paint damaged as well? Thanks submitted by /u/mouseroach [link] [comments]”
“So, was washing my car yesterday and noticed that some of the paint directly above my windshield was starting to peel. Want to nip this in the bud before it gets worse and hoping I could get some help here. I don't need the color match to be perfect. I'd like it to look passable from a few feet away, but mostly want to prevent further damage/peeling. The peel is probably about 3 inches long at this point. That said, I've read that this peeling issue is very common on Fords with this”