Simple cure for faded clearcoat

[Manhattan]

Since I've owned Bushwood, the faded, flaking clearcoat on the tops of the doors, tailgate and roof (hood was repainted by p.o.) has bugged the hell out of me.

I don't want to repaint it - then I'll be too concerned off-road. But I want it to look decent...

I've tried wet sanding, rubbing compound and a few other things. Sanding will take the clear off... but there's so little paint under it that it's easy to burn through.

So that simple cure:

Power Washing! I blasted the clear with a 3500 psi pressure washer and the clear just fades away! Then, a few days later, I hit it with clear spray paint. That's it. It looks 1000% better! Won't win any show & shine contests but a huge(!) improvement.

[woodybeone]

That's one way to do it ! Once the clear starts to lift sometimes it comes off in sheets. All depends how the paint job was prepped and applied.

[GWDriver]

I'd heard that too. Did the spray 'car wash' thing to my Suburban. Took ALL of the paint off on thre bottom of the doors. Turned out it was a poor prep job. Got a free factory paint job.................BIG GRIN!

[woodybeone]

Originally posted by GWDriver:
I'd heard that too. Did the spray 'car wash' thing to my Suburban. Took ALL of the paint off on thre bottom of the doors. Turned out it was a poor prep job. Got a free factory paint job.................BIG GRIN!GM had a problem with primer I believe in the late 80's. I've seen a lot of trucks/vans with peeling clear and paint right down to the gray primer. If everyone knew about it they could have got a free repaint.

[GWDriver]

I also had the problem with my 1970 Chevelle SS. Three repaints later and a pretend oil crisis in SoCal and I sold it for a Toyota :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[tkiller13]

wow, bringing up a 4 year old post.:eek:

[Wagonforever]

GM had a problem with primer I believe in the late 80's. I've seen a lot of trucks/vans with peeling clear and paint right down to the gray primer. If everyone knew about it they could have got a free repaint.


Actually I think all the big three had BIG paint problems in the late 80's early 90's.

[TLF]

The way I've heard it is that some of the early factory clear-coats didn't have adequate UV protection and so the sun would actually attack the primer underneath the paint, making it chalky, and causing the finish to delaminate. Oops.

[grand_wag_85]

A friend's car is peeling, BAD. Every time it rains there's big patches of clearcoat. If she drives fast enough it blows off.:lol:

[YellowJeep]

WOW! Thread from the dead!

The paint delamination also has to do with the big three being forced to use more environmentally friendly paints and painting processes that they weren't all that familiar with at the time. Like anything, it take a while for them to figure it out.

I'm driving a 90 Dodge Shadow for the winter and chunks of paint fly off and stick to the windshield all the time! For some reason if wet, the paint is really hard to get off the windshield!