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What Happened To My Clearcoat?

  • Thread starter Thread starter IIGood
  • Start date Start date Apr 17, 2016

IIGood

Founding Member
Aug 1, 1998
4,252
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224
Churchton, MD
Apr 17, 2016
#1
  • Apr 17, 2016
  • #1
Reference the album of pictures linked at the bottom of this post...these fine scratches and hazing have only happened on the hood and roof of my GT. The paint on each area is only 6 years old from a repaint of the entire vehicle; no other flat surfaces on the car are like this. The trunk lid is fine, the tops of the bumpers.

Granted, the car is parked outdoors all the time. I unfortunately do not have the ability to store it in a shaded area away from the sun (I live in a townhouse with an open lot for parking). I haven't been quite as diligent with waxing as I used to be...I've been lucky to wax it once a year as of late. I believe this started showing up just over a year ago. When I do wash it, I am pretty picky about it...only certain soft cloths, no terry towels, only cloths or sponges designed for the job. I've used Zaino's car wash. If the sponge hits the ground while washing, it gets trashed. It gets dried with an Absorber.

It's hard to really see how bad it is from the pictures. There's actually some hazing even going on above the windshield and rear window, and also along the tops of the fenders and in the middle of the hood.

Is there any hope this can just be polished out? Or is the clear toast and I'm looking at a respray?

Pictures
 

Gearbanger 101

Straight Outta Locash
20+ Year Stangneter
Aug 10, 2002
9,457
1,377
234
Ontario, Canada
Apr 17, 2016
#2
  • Apr 17, 2016
  • #2
Looks toast to me. Where did you have it done? Most reputable shops offer lifetime guarantee on their paint. Get it redone, on their dime.
 
R

revvv

Member
Mar 26, 2016
31
5
18
Apr 17, 2016
#3
  • Apr 17, 2016
  • #3
The paint actually appears to be wearing off of the car. That's different.

My assumption would be that a cheap paint was used. To further complicate the issue, the clear was not applied thick enough (I'm speculating). Due to the lack of UV protection of both clear and proper maintenance (waxing) the result is a blue that is losing its pigmentation.

I could be wrong. Its hard to tell with a photo. The clear could be coming off. That is caused by bad prep work and cheap paint.

Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
 

IIGood

Founding Member
Aug 1, 1998
4,252
1,214
224
Churchton, MD
Oct 6, 2016
#4
  • Oct 6, 2016
  • #4
Here it is, 6 months later, and I just got around to having my shop check it out. In person, those pictures were pretty bad, but I believe it's gotten worse since then. The entire roof is practically dull, the hood is nearly equally dull..the front bumper has the clearcoat "separating" from the paint and so on.

The guy that runs the shop couldn't believe what he saw. He initially had no idea what was going on with it, and he went around the car and found even more stuff wrong with other spots that were repainted...stuff I didn't even notice before. He has offered to fix it all up for me under warranty and he'll be arranging it with me in a few weeks. After looking at it, he thinks maybe the clear got sanded down too thin before it got buffed out.
 

Moosee1955

Active Member
Sep 30, 2016
267
55
38
Oct 6, 2016
#5
  • Oct 6, 2016
  • #5
It's possible or they didn't apply enough clear.i apply 3 good coats over base coat. The other possibility is they color sanded with too gritty of sand paper. Again I use 2000 to 2500 grit. Well at least your guy is re painting for you for free.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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