'99 Ford Ranger paint problem

[fourosix]

A friend of mine has a bright red '99 Ford Ranger, and the paint on the hood has faded to a spotty, muted red. It's not flaky/peeling like many of the examples of clearcoat failure shown here, and we thought it might just be UV/heat induced oxidation of the clear. We were wondering how best to treat it. Would a rubbing compound help, or is it so far gone that it would at least need to be sanded and re-cleared? I'm assuming that the Ranger is new enough that it doesn't have single stage paint. You can see the non-affected paint on the fender at the bottom of the first image. The second just shows more of the hood.

[Markus Kleis]

Re: '99 Ford Ranger paint problem

That is downright bizarre. It looks as if the hood came off another truck considering the adjacent panels appear to be fine.

From those pictures, it almost looks like really nasty water spotting.

Have you attempted to use any products on it yet? Do you have either SwirlX or Ultimate Compound on hand?

[mswerb]

Re: '99 Ford Ranger paint problem

Ford is known for their clearcoat problems around that year, in fact I knew a couple people who had to get portions of their cars painted and Ford picked up the tab.

[J. A. Michaels]

Re: '99 Ford Ranger paint problem

I would try #105, or uc first. Do a test spot. see what happens.

[fourosix]

Re: '99 Ford Ranger paint problem

I was going to try UC or 3M's Rubbing Compound on a small patch to see how it responded when I see them over the Christmas break. Hopefully we will see some result when doing it by hand as they don't have a real buffer.

As far as I know the hood is original to the truck. That's why I want to blame engine heat for the problem. One of the quarter panels was replaced at some point, but you can't tell the difference between the original and replacement.

I betting the truck is old enough now, that Ford would be unwilling to repaint it.