Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

[JohnMcD348]

OK, my wifes car has not been washed in probably 2 years. So, I have taken it upon myself to try and get the paint back into somewhat respectable condition. It's a 2000 Ford Escort ZX2, Red. The paint on the roof, trunk and hood are severely weathered and faded and rough feeling. There are even black specs in the paint. It looks as if the clear coat has completely clouded over and separated in the areas mentioned. The sides of the car still look nice and shiny. Today, I washed and attempted to clean, polish and wax the car with miserable results. I managed to get the roof area clean and applied wax but the paint still feels rough.

Any insight and tips would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to ask any questions about the car and I will answer them to the best of my abilities.

Thanks

JohnTMcD.

[dietoremain]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

Pictures would help. But did you CLAY the car? That would remove all the contaminents from the paint therefore making it ready to polish and work on. What you are describing sounds like severe oxidation and worst case massive clear coat failure. Which products are you using?

[soonercivic]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

First off after you wash it you need to clay bar it, that will take off the old wax and surface contaminates. Wash it again and feel the difference. If it still isnt good enough for you, then clay it again until you are happy.

Are you working by hand or machine? Either way ColorX is a good way to go in this case. It should help restore that same shine within reason, machine polishing would be best though. ColorX is abrasive so it will remove swirls and light water spot etchings.

Then top it with a polish and wax it.

[Lydia]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

I hate to say this, but there's a good chance the car has clear coat failure on the mentioned spots. Could you by any chance get a picture of it?

[JohnMcD348]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

I'll get a picture and get it posted this weekend. I used the Deep Crystal 3step process. The cleaner did get some of the oxidation off but I ended up using a TurtleWax brand rubbing compound because I couldn't find anything else at my local AutoZone. That got a big majority of the oxidation and spotting off the roof. I haven't done the trunk and hood yet so I'll get pictures to post later.

I hadn't even thought of claying the car. I've never done that before so will need advice on that. I am using an electric 9" orbital buffer with both wool and terrycloth bonnets on the pad. I used the wool for the cleaning and terrycloth for the polish and wax job.

[soonercivic]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

The Deep Crystal Cleaner is great, but in my opinion pretty mild compared to others. I had a hard time finding ColorX locally, but they sell it at Target of all places.

Claying is easy, Meguiars makes a Quick Clay Kit that has the clay and some quick detailer for lubricant. It goes like this

Wash & dry
Clay Bar (Just spray some QD on the surface and rub the clay around on that area. If you don't use enough QD the clay will stick, also make sure the surface is cool. Wipe off and move on to another area)
Wash again to remove clay residue.
Then move on to your next steps. The clay will take EVERYTHING off the surface including old wax. You will want to follow any paint correction (colorX, scratchX, etc.) with the Deep Crystal Step 2 Polish. The top it with a couple coats of wax and your good to go.

If I were you I wouldn't probably use the wool bonnet on the orbital, just seems like a bad combo to me. I dunno, I might be wrong.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

I hate to say this, but there's a good chance the car has clear coat failure on the mentioned spots. Could you by any chance get a picture of it?

If it thats rough feeling,Iwould have to

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

Do the bad parts look anything like these photos, (except with red paint)
















This is the beginning of clear coat failure, note how the paint is turning cloudy or hazy but it's not yet flaking off.




These 3 pictures show the last stage of clear coat failure, the clear coat has turned white and began to flake off. The car looks like it has a bad rash. This is not oxidation, but the extreme deterioration of the clear layer of paint over the color coat. There is nothing you can do to fix this problem except to repaint the car.








More pictures of clear coat failure...
















Just to note... Clear Coat Failure is not a problem --> on <-- the paint, as in on the surface, but it is a deterioration or breakdown of the paint itself. By this we mean the damage is --> in <-- the paint, as in... throughout the matrix of the layer of paint.

This is why you can't apply a topical paint cleaner to clear coat failure and fix the problem.

Does that make sense?

[JohnMcD348]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

Some of those pictures did favor the texture and appearence of my wifes car. I wish I'd hav taken a picture of the roof prior to my attempt to clean it. It had the best presentation of the problem. I have noticed much of the same on similar makes/models of car. I wonder if it's an issue that has not come to the surface yet like they had back in the 80's with the newer paints that they came out with to be more environmentally friendly.

[sshanky]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

Hi everyone. I know this is an old thread but I figured it's better to reply to one since more people may see it and it's the exact right topic.

I have an older (1981) mercedes 300D with metallic paint. The clearcoat is flaking off badly all over the top of the car above the waist. The roof, the hood, the trunk, and it flakes off easily. After about a month, there's another 1/4 inch that comes right off with my fingernail or with a credit card.

A detailer told me he can spray on new clearcoat and wet sand it and make it look pretty good. I'm not looking for miracles, and Idon't want to paint the car, because buyers of these see repainting as hiding stuff. I woudln't mind imperfection at all, including faded areas, but I don't like the look now, as it's pretty bad. Here are some pics of the car last year; it's a lot worse now -- the whole hood and trunk are nearly chipped off. Thanks a lot for your thoughts!

[Murr1525]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

The base coat is a different type of paint than the clear coat, and isnt meant to be shiny, glossy, look nice, etc. It is meant to look nice with the CC over it.

So there arent really many options to make it look nice, other than new CC.

If you were to re-spray, you would certainly have to get any loose CC off, or it will all just flake again. And not sure I have heard of spraying CC only, but maybe it is possible to do well.

[sshanky]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

Thanks...I was thinking of just somehow prepping the exposed metallic paint, sanding the edges of the cracked clearcoat, and spraying new clearcoat...then wet sanding it to make it look decent.

[sshanky]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

Here are some closeup photos:

[vinced47]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

I have a 1999 Explorer with similar looking hood problem. Hood was repainted by Dealer at time of sale (new). To J. A. Michaels, are you saying that nothing can be done to improve the look? Also, my problem does not yet show any flakiong.

Do the bad parts look anything like these photos, (except with red paint)
















This is the beginning of clear coat failure, note how the paint is turning cloudy or hazy but it's not yet flaking off.




These 3 pictures show the last stage of clear coat failure, the clear coat has turned white and began to flake off. The car looks like it has a bad rash. This is not oxidation, but the extreme deterioration of the clear layer of paint over the color coat. There is nothing you can do to fix this problem except to repaint the car.








More pictures of clear coat failure...
















Just to note... Clear Coat Failure is not a problem --> on <-- the paint, as in on the surface, but it is a deterioration or breakdown of the paint itself. By this we mean the damage is --> in <-- the paint, as in... throughout the matrix of the layer of paint.

This is why you can't apply a topical paint cleaner to clear coat failure and fix the problem.

Does that make sense?

[tydyed]

Re: Need help for faded paint/clearcoat

I have a 2002 Toyota Tacoma with a clear coat problem similar to the first picture of the Mike Phillips pictures. That part in the middle of pic one looks like mine. I know painters don't do spot work so I need to know what items I need to fix my problem. Thanks