Is there any way to stop clear coat failure?

[radkonn]

My truck has clear coat failure on a bed side panel. There are 4 or 5 quarter sized bubbles that formed. Is there any way to stop the clear coat failure from getting worse?

Would a body shop be able to just apply clear coat on the one panel?

[stanclub]

Re: Is there any way to stop clear coat failure?

My truck has clear coat failure on a bed side panel. There are 4 or 5 quarter sized bubbles that formed. Is there any way to stop the clear coat failure from getting worse?

Would a body shop be able to just apply clear coat on the one panel?

Has that panel been repainted before?

The bubble sounds like your paint is lifting off the surface, and it usually is caused by the under layer coating; mostly bad quality primer. If it is, then the condition will get worse, and affect the area covered with the same material ( bad primer if it is ), without any way to stop it. And, the only solution to it is to strip off all the bad material, or the entire panel, then repaint it properly from ground up. Simply applying just another layer of clear coat will not work in such case.

Of course, I do not know the exact condition of your problem, nor the actual cause to it. Perhaps, you can upload a picture for everyone to see, so someone can tell you better how to deal with it.

Hopefully, my answer helps.

[radkonn]

Re: Is there any way to stop clear coat failure?

Has that panel been repainted before?

The bubble sounds like your paint is lifting off the surface, and it usually is caused by the under layer coating; mostly bad quality primer. If it is, then the condition will get worse, and affect the area covered with the same material ( bad primer if it is ), without any way to stop it. And, the only solution to it is to strip off all the bad material, or the entire panel, then repaint it properly from ground up. Simply applying just another layer of clear coat will not work in such case.

Of course, I do not know the exact condition of your problem, nor the actual cause to it. Perhaps, you can upload a picture for everyone to see, so someone can tell you better how to deal with it.

Hopefully, my answer helps.

The only thing that bubbles is the clear coat layer. The paint is still adhering to the panel. It is getting worse rapidly. New spots seem to be forming in the same vicinity.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Is there any way to stop clear coat failure?

Once it starts to fail, there's no stopping it. Quite often, not always but often, the clear actually starts to fail from the bottom up and it delaminates from the color coat. Since there's no way to get down between these two layers of paint there's no way to stop it. Unfortunately, the only real fix is to sand down the panel and repaint it.

[stanclub]

Re: Is there any way to stop clear coat failure?

If it not common to see bubbling on clear coat, but mostly peeling. However, just as Mr. Stoops said, there has no way to stop it from getting worse, but repaint the whole panel, which you will need help from professional.

If you clean up the bubbles, and just shot a layer of clear coat on the original paint, the edge of bubble area will show through the new clear. Just as its name " clear coat ", it is clear, so whatever you see before you spray the clear coat on, it will still be there after clear coated. A proper way of fixing it will be sanding the defects to remove any bad material, then primed the area with good primer, then blend a matching color coat ( paint ) to hide the primer & defect area. Finally, clear coat the entire panel.

[FIREdawg]

Re: Is there any way to stop clear coat failure?

Quite often, not always but often, the clear actually starts to fail from the bottom up and it delaminates from the color coat. Since there's no way to get down between these two layers of paint there's no way to stop it. Unfortunately, the only real fix is to sand down the panel and repaint it.

Had that happen to my '98 Ranger. Within a month of the first sign of failure the rest of clear coat was going south. Much akin to a terrible sunburn. Blisters first, followed by sloughing and flaking of clear coat like peeling skin. It's heartbreaking to have it happen to your vehicle.

[ffboy]

Re: Is there any way to stop clear coat failure?

Unfortunately, if it starts to fail, thats it. It can be prevented assuming the panel/car is repainted by a skilled professional by regular care/maintenance.