Clear coat flaked off - is all hope lost?

[jennholly]

I've been "restoring" a 1991 Volvo that saw some neglect. In a lot of places, the clear coat has flaked off. For example, the hood has a ver dull, dry-feeling paint, and on the roof, the paint is down to primer at some points.

Is there anything I can do to protect what is left of the paint? Is there anything I can do to bring out the shine?

[Superior Shine]

REPAINT

[jennholly]

I wish! It will be at least another year or so before I can do that.. I have to have an ac first!

[Mike Phillips]

Re: Clear coat flaked off - is all hope lost?

Originally posted by jennholly

Is there anything I can do to protect what is left of the paint? Is there anything I can do to bring out the shine?

If it looks like this,




Then Joe's correct, there's nothing you can do to repair or revitalize this, the only options are to live with it or repaint it.

[jennholly]

Well, the hood probably looked like that a few years ago, but now it has no clear coat on it.

I did find a cleaner/wax (unfortunately, a brand other than Meguiar's since the shop didn't have any and I live in the middle of nowhere - it probably cost 2x as much, too!). After 3 coats of wax, the hood looks like it is the same color as the car! Part of it is shinier than others, and part of that is because I lost steam and was not able to put the umph into certain sections (I'm a little tired!)

I was afraid that if I put wax on it, it would just turn white. It's looking better, but now I need to do other parts of the car... maybe next weekend...