Is it possible to improve appearance of clear coat failure?

[Smizell]

First an introduction, I have been a lurker here for a few months and passionate about maintaining cars for a couple of years. I am not experienced in restoration or repairs, but am trying to learn. Until now, my focus has been on first do no harm (don't make situation worse than already is) and secondly protect the finish using wax and/or sealants to keep environment from making situation worse. I have left repairs to professionals. Til now...


I have an ember black Volvo and my husband has a black jeep wrangler. Both came fully equipped with the dealer installed swirl option and are daily drivers outdoors kept. The swirls haven't gotten worse over the tears, but they are beginning to bother me as I have experimented more with waxes and polishes. I told my husband I wanted a Meguiar's DA for my birthday and that I also want a panel from a black car to play on before tackling our personal vehicles. My sister heard about this unusual birthday request and made an offer that creates my question...


She has a black VW with a truly neglected finish. The local body shop has said her only option is new paint and based on what I can see, I agree if correction is the goal. Knowing a repaint is the only fix, she has offered to let me experiment on her car. There is heavy oxidation and some clearcoat failure. I know a fix for clearcoat failure does not exist beyond the paintbooth, but is it possible to visually improve it? The paint will be slightly more than value of car and as it is simply a play car for her, she doesnt want to invest.

Any ideas or suggestions?

[tomsteve]

Re: Is it possible to improve appearance of clear coat failure?

welp, 1st off,to remove swirls, yer gonna need something more aggressive than a wax or polish. personally,megs 105 and 205 are my goto combo. but i start with a thorough wash and clay bar. the claybar will remove oxidation. the DA is a great tool to use. it is next to impossible to ruin paint with it.
for the cc failure, you can buff up those areas, but beings how there isnt any clearcot to protect the basecoat, its not gonna last and wax or sealer wont protect bare basecoat for very long.

[Scott's 62]

Re: Is it possible to improve appearance of clear coat failure?

It depends how bad the clear coat is. On my Honda its got bad enough now to the point ware its paint booth time. but I did get a few more years out of it by polishing the paint with UP on a finishing pad and keeping a good coat of NXT 2.0 on the car. Now that my brother-in-law had a fender bender in it, I let it sit for months now the roof is completely flaking off now.

[goldenlight]

Re: Is it possible to improve appearance of clear coat failure?

Time for a paint Job.. Probably will cost about $1,500

[Detailing by M]

Re: Is it possible to improve appearance of clear coat failure?

shine it with a compound, then wax.
I have CC failure on my car and I've tried alot of things to improve it and being that you cant all you can do is polish that turd, lol. Myth buster proved you can.