Hood nicks. Scratches or paint fractures?

[ClearlyCoated]

The photos below are from my project car, a 1993 Honda Civic (Aztec Green!) whose paint saw it's fiirst clay only last month. I use this car to hone my detailing techniques that I will later apply to my 2008 Accord and other cars for family and friends. I gave the car a 2nd claying today and noticed scores of tiny scratches on the nose of the hood. The scratches catch my fingernail, so it's definitely well into the clear if not down to the basecoat.

I have never seen anything like it, on this forum or some of the others I visit. I'm not really concerned with completely correcting it (heck, the roof and trunklid are in full clear coat failure as it is), but obviously some wetsanding would be needed to remove or reduce it. I'm more curious as to how it happened. I don't think it's foreign debris since the defects are scratches and not chips. Paint fractures? The beginning stages of clear coat failure? Some really determined cat with tiny paws using it as a scratching post?








Also dealing with some other warts that will need a full re-paint. Check out the paint blisters on the door handle






And the clear coat "peel" on the driver's front fender at the A pillar junction




And what do 16 years' worth of bonded contaminants look like?




The reason why I use Grit Guards...

[Maserati Mario]

Re: Hood nicks. Scratches or paint fractures?

Looks like CC failure

[Nappers]

Re: Hood nicks. Scratches or paint fractures?

.....Yep

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Hood nicks. Scratches or paint fractures?

I also think it is the beginning of clearcoat failure. Glad it is only your project car.

[tguil]

Re: Hood nicks. Scratches or paint fractures?

I'll bet that the Civic has been repainted. The "checks" look like the stuff that used to show up in acrylic lacquer repaints. For sure the bubble is from a repaint. Basically the paint is "toast". Run it through a carwash every once in a while and call it "good enough".

Tom

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: Hood nicks. Scratches or paint fractures?

I'll bet that the Civic has been repainted. The "checks" look like the stuff that used to show up in acrylic lacquer repaints. For sure the bubble is from a repaint. Basically the paint is "toast". Run it through a carwash every once in a while and call it "good enough".

Tom

The hood has never been repainted. I bought the car new in 1993. The only panel that was ever repainted was the passenger side door and kick panel after somebody backed into it in a parking lot over 10 years ago. But again, I'm not overly concerned. If I showed you pics of the roof and trunk, you'd encourage me to drive it to a bad area of town and abandon it with the engine running