Preventing Clear Coat from getting worse?

[Kiribati]

I've read a couple oxidation and/or clearcoat threads and there weren't much (or any) that explained how to keep an existing area of clear coat failure from getting worse.

For example, the trunk of my Accord has already begun having Clear Coat Failure. As of now, I don't have the resources to get it fixed, so I'm wondering if there's any way to prevent it from getting worse.

It's been parked in the sun since the day it was bought brand new. ***** to have it handed down to me right when everything starts messing up. Oh well.

Thanks,
Kiribati

[pampos]

Hard to say without picture.how bad is?I think that many layers of sealants and wax will do the job...And once you repair it don't forget to apply wax or sealant to protect it.

[Kiribati]

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/9567/img9501gh9.jpg
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/5550/img9502cx6.jpg
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9780/img9503qm7.jpg
http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/6860/img9504dm2.jpg

That's the major spot. There's some on the other side of the trunk, but it's not as bad as this spot. Unfortunately, this is the only thing stopping me from detailing the car...I don't want to detail it and still have imperfections such as this.

[pampos]

Be sure that if you not protect the car there is a possibility to happen again.Honda's CC is very soft and i saw a lot of Honda cars with the same problem.you don't have to remove the swirls and scratches if you don't want to,but at least take some wax or sealant to protect your paint man..Sure you cannot polish your trunk because their is no clear coat to work on it, but i think you don't loose anything to give a try...

[Kiribati]

If I had the car earlier, I would've done everything to protect the paint. But unfortunately my mom just used it as a DD, barely washed it (once...every 6 months), and left it in the sun for more than a decade already. I've had it for a year almost...washed and waxed it every month hoping it would help.

And I guess waxing does help prevent the CCF from getting worse? Also, I don't have a garage, so what do you suggest for leaving it out of the sun (a cheap alternative will be good)? I was thinking about those big picnic tents, but I really don't want to spend $60 on them, just to give the car shade. But if I must, I will.

[pampos]

It is a MUST to protect your car from sunlight in any way.it is better to use a car cover at the moment,if you don't care if you swirl it more because i think is cheaper...i can say that wax/sealant protects the CCF but also deepens what wax do you use.As i told you before i saw many cars and most of them were Honda with the same problem..Sometimes if the OEM paint/CC isn't good you cannot do anything.My dad's car,is a Mazda OEM single stage painted(no CC) white.after 3-4 years the paint was started to self-removed..OK he never wax or even wash it but i don't think that if he did so,that anything could change.All the cars of the same color/year by Mazda had the same problem...Unfortunately i don't have such knowledge to help you more than that : (

[pampos]

just have a look here.maybe you will find something more.
http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20411

[yalerd]

Just to say, once the clear starts to fail there is no going back.
You can "protect" the clear but it will still continue pealing.

Only way to stop it, you really only have one option, and this is repainting.
I would suggest don't mind this too much and focus on collecting the money, when you have it, paint it and then always keep your surface protected with a good coat of wax

[Kiribati]

Jeez, I didn't know it was that bad. So once CC starts failing, it'll continue to fail no matter what you do to prevent it? I mean, besides repainting, of course.

[Murr1525]

It will spread... I dont think anyone has reserched how much polishing/waxing may slow it down, if at all. I imagine it would a little at least.

[yalerd]

I don't have the information on how much can wax slow down a clear coat from failing, it could slow it down a little bit but in the long run it will continue spreading.

[Heatgain]

But unfortunately my mom just used it as a DD, barely washed it (once...every 6 months), and left it in the sun for more than a decade already.

Don't blame Mom. I've seen plenty of Accords and Civics with CC failure. Seems to be the nature of that beast.
In fact my 2nd ever detail for a friend was an Accord with stage 1 CC failure and I didn't know what it was at the time. I cleaned, I polished, it seemed to sort of flatten down the CC for a few minutes, then it appeared again. I thought it was some kind of dirt. I posted on here and learned it was CC failure. Ended up doing the best I could on the car.
With the NXT 2 I used as an LSP, I figure the CC is at least better protected now, and the car is very clean and shiny, even with the CC failure.

[Mike Phillips]

Honda's CC is very soft and i saw a lot of Honda cars with the same problem.



Just to point out, it's usually not a good idea to make general statements or assumptions about how hard or soft a car manufacturer's paint is because paint systems are always changing and a manufacture can change paint systems used on a particular model at anytime.

Here's an article that drives this point home...

Paint Workability - The Hardness or Softness of your car's paint (http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21064)

"You don't how hard or soft your paint is until you go out into your garage and work on your car"


:xyxthumbs