VERY confused about paint

[Accident]

I was detailing my car, but ran out of paint cleaner. My car is heavily oxidized and I am just now starting to see reflections in it. Since I only had a little amount of paint cleaner left in the bottle, not even enough to do the smallest panel in my car, I decided I would clay/clean/polish/wax the inside of my door, when you open the door there is always some paint where the door closes, so I did that area. I figured that it was the best taken care of becuase it was never in the sunlight, never got rained on, etc. I used the last little bit of paint cleaner that I had after I QD'd it and clayed it. When I was finished with the DC #1 I looked at my rag and saw that it was the color of the rag, not my paint. This was a BIG surprise to me. I had always known my car was a single-stage paint. Just to make sure I wasn't loseing my mind, I went and used a corner of the rag to clean another part of the exterior of my car. It turned blue just like I had thought it would. Now I started to think that maybe it was just a bad repaint, so I popped my hood and cleaned some paint in my engine compartment. I figured if it was just a bad repaint then they wouldn't have stripped the car to paint all of it. When I cleaned the engine compartment, the rag again turned blue, even though I thought it, too, would be the original clear-coated paint. Then I remembered something that I usually don't pay attention to. When I took the front liscense plate mount off of my car there was a part of it that looked VERY shiny, and the top layer, which has no reflection can be scraped off. Now here is where I am very confused, if it was just a repaint, why would they paint the engine compartment, but not behind the liscense plate mount or the paint in the door??? Right now my computer won't let me attach my memory card so I can't upload any pics. If I can get the other computer running I'll upload a few.

[sneek]

hmmm it souynd like a really weird job to me if they painted into the engine (which not all places do ) then the should remember to repaint the front liscence plate too

[Five Star]

possibility:

factory paint w/ underhood = single stage

1st repaint w/ door jambs = BC/CC

2nd repaint = single stage

[Pete-FWA]

Some vehicles don't get that top layer of clear from the factory in certain places, such as under the hood.

If body panels are replaced for whatever reason, it's not uncommon for some shops to spray a quick coat of just base coat around the less visible parts before assembly (inside of fenders, underside of hood).

Personally, I have seen single stage intentionally sprayed on these areas, then a base/clear system applied to the visible exterior after the parts are installed on the vehicle. This cuts down on cost of materials and labor time for the paint application.

[Accident]

That makes sense. I just wish that the place that repainted it painted under the liscense plate cover. Oh well, it needs a repaint anyway, while I still work on the oxidation, there are places where the paint bubbled and now there are big holes in the paint on my hood. The way I see it though, there is no reason that I shouldn't make the paint that I have left look good right?

[Pete-FWA]

Definitely---and what you have is a great test case now. If you have bubbles and plan to repaint, what damage can you do?

Experiment! Learn, practice, enjoy