Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

[rosario02]

Sorry for the duplicate thread but the other one won't let me delete:

I am the second owner of a black 2005 Nissan Altima and have taken very good care of it ever since I purchased it two years ago. The previous owner however neglected the paint in hot South Florida and it looks to me like the paint (only on the roof and trunk) is experiencing the beginning stages of clear coat failure. It could also be that if I buy ultimate compound, it will do the trick. I took a bunch of pictures, mostly using the Macro settings on my camera so hopefully they will be useful in determining what corrective measures can be done or if I might just need to repaint the car. Also, if I need to re-paint the car black, does it need to be stripped to bare metal, or since it will be black, just paint over? Thanks and here are the pictures, if they don't show up they are also in my albums.


The roof


The roof again with the liner plastic in the middle

















Part of the trunk



Not as close but still captures the paint damage







You can see some of the fogginess here




More of the trunk






What are my options here? What do you guys suggest I do?

Thanks

[Murr1525]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

Yeah, pretty much failure.

Not sure how they repaint, I would imagine it is failry well stripped.

[CieraSL]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

Yeah, looks like the start of clear coat failure. Looks like it has a lot of what appear to be car wash scratches. I'm thinking it got run through a car wash a lot, and the harsh chemicals and brushes are what's causing the premature failure and trim fading. I'd pick up a G110v2 with some pads and M105/M205 and see what you can do with it. You might be able to make it look a lot better without having to resort to a repaint.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

x3. It looks like clear coat failure. It is a shame. It is a relatively new car also.
Looks like it was going through a car wash on a daily basis.

[DualActionDetail]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

Wow that is incredible for how young that car is. I've seen that type of failure on a lot of Mitsibushi's (Eclipse, mainly).

If that was washed regularly at a car wash, I can't believe that wash is in business! Looks like a gas station or other unattended wash. How can I tell? Severe damage like that occurs from neglect or miswashing over time. As we all know from even basic hand-washing techniques; if you don't properly lubricate the vehicles surface and use a clean wash media, all you're doing is moving dirt around on the car. Poor Nissan....

When you're asking about repaint, is that something you're going to do yourself? Why not go "chrome"? Use grinder with buffing wheel to remove all paint. Then wax. It'd be a refrigerator with wheels!

[pirates]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

looks nasty. does the warranty not cover "clear coat failure"?

[Shawn T.]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

That doesn't look like the beginning of clear coat failure, that looks like full on failure.

[rosario02]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

If it were from those drive thru car washes, but it be visible only on the roof and trunk?
For me a paint job is last resort seeing as how it would cost me upwards of $1k for a decent job. Do you guys think that the G110V2 would do the job here? I have a cheap orbital buffer but apparently all those do is spread wax and not remove anything beyond swirls. And I believe that insurance won't cover it, as they would probably say it was natural causes and not a defect.

[Murr1525]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

A polisher can remove the swirls, but the failure will continue.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

Unfortunately, that is most definitely clear coat failure. Beyond that, you've got an incredible array of deep, straight line scratches that appear to have been inflicted by a broom - maybe even one of those wide brushes provided at coin operated self wash bays. It is pretty amazing, and quite depressing, that this 5 year old paint has been so severely, well, tortured. Even with M105, a wool pad and a rotary buffer you're not going to make a ton of headway on this paint. We had a car in similar condition come to a Thursday Night Open Garage and all we really could do was make the scratches (somewhat) shiny. Those scratches look deep enough that wet sanding and rotary buffing, which would probably eliminate most of them, would not leave enough clear coat behind to offer any real protection to the color coat.

But that's sort of a moot point, really, since you definitely have clear coat failure going on here. Once clear coat failure has set in, and it set in here quite a long time ago, there's no stopping it. The only recourse is to strip it and respray. Any efforts to buff this out will only moderate improvements visually, and even those will be very short term.

[Marc08EX]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

I detailed a friend's car that had the exact same look on his finish as yours.. Here are the pictures:





Would you guys agree that it's the same paint condition?

Please check out the thread on what happened after the detail here:

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3241

Yeah I was able to recover it but I think I made 3 passes per panel removing a lot of clear coat from the panel. In a span of 2 years or so, the paint just started to peel... I think it was because of improper maintenance (no waxing in those 2 years) and low clear coat levels...

[chessplayer]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

yup no dout clear coat failure those scratches look like they are from using the brush at a coin car wash ...its a suprise to me that only a 5yr old car with that kind of clear coat failure

[Garage Troll]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

What a shame. I guess at worst if he's going to have it repainted you could ask him if you could test out some wet sanding to see what happens. Heck, if he doesn't maintain it that well, maybe that will be enough for him for the time being. Just a thought.

[rosario02]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

Since April, it has steadily worsened. Until I save up the approx $1500 to repaint the vehicle, what are some products that I can purchase to at least make the oxidation/failure look better? I want the black on the roof to stand out more and not look so hazy and greyish. Would Ultimate Compound followed by a cleaner polish and then carnauba wax do the trick?

Thanks

[slickooz]

Re: Is this the beginning of clear coat failure? (2005 Black Nissan Altima)

How much did you buy the car for? 1500 is a lot, I would rather sell the car and find a better condition one.