Tiny scratches on hood after detailing

[95Xsport]

As some of you know, I just finished detailing the exterior of my Explorer and had great results. One problem that I noticed afterwards was very small scratches on the hood. There were also a few clusters of these scratches also. Before detailing, the scratches were bumps and the clusters looked more like one big defect.
Here's a close-up pic and also a link to a high resolution pic for a better idea.

High Res

Any idea what this is? I'm thinking ScratchX might be a good product to use but Im not sure.

[Tim Lingor]

Hey Andy,

Sorry, and I may be wrong, but that looks like the beginning of clear coat failure; it will need to be repainted. Notice how the little marks are beginning to form a star burst pattern? The paint on the hood will eventually have many of those patchy areas as a result.



Tim

[95Xsport]

Well....****!
So are those defects actually under the CC? I hope it doesnt get worse too fast since I dont plan on paying to have a $3k truck painted.
What about my rear hatch It doesnt look smooth at all from the CC. Is that a CC failure also or just poor application of it?

Thanks for the help

[Ranger72]

Yeah, I agree with Tim on the begining of clear coat failure. If I remember your hatch correctly from the pictures, it looked more like so orange peel. Has the hatch ever been repainted that you know of? I looks like it was resprayed and either not wetsanded or not wetsanded enough. More than likely it was sanded at all.

[Ranger72]

duh, I just realized you had the link to the pic I was thinking of. Yeah that is just orange peel.

[Mike Phillips]

My guess is the small lines that look like scratches are cracks and are not something under the clear coat but are throughout the clearcoat and thus cannot removed.

The patch of cracks looks like the results of a bird dropping or some other contaminant that sat to long on the surface, it's too severe to fix also.

[05BlkAltima]

YOu know I have those same marks popping up on my hood. I haven't been able to get good pics of them.and I can't figure out for the life of me what they are. It started out as one showing up on my hood and now i'm seeing more and more popup on now and they even are starting to show on my roof. I really feel like goin to the dealership and raising hell because this is a brand new car. That should be somthing covered under warrenty.

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by 2hotford
Hey Andy,

Sorry, and I may be wrong, but that looks like the beginning of clear coat failure; it will need to be repainted. Notice how the little marks are beginning to form a star burst pattern? The paint on the hood will eventually have many of those patchy areas as a result.



Tim

I agree.

This is what can happen when a car's finish is not properly detailed on a yearly basis.

If there's any good news here, it my be that Meguiar's products will slow this process down some.

I just did a followup detail of a black 1998 E. B. Explorer, and I noticed tiny little white areas on the sides........Looks like paint failure to me. ......Evidently, the car had not been detailed before, except for an occasional waxing.

[05BlkAltima]

Originally posted by Rusty Bumper
I agree.

This is what can happen when a car's finish is not properly detailed on a yearly basis.

If there's any good news here, it my be that Meguiar's products will slow this process down some.

I just did a followup detail of a black 1998 E. B. Explorer, and I noticed tiny little white areas on the sides........Looks like paint failure to me. ......Evidently, the car had not been detailed before, except for an occasional waxing.

I've been polishing and waxing my car with Meg's product since I first got the car last november. I I am still developing these same marks on my hood and roof and they are spreading everytime I check them out.

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by 05BlkAltima
I've been polishing and waxing my car with Meg's product since I first got the car last november. I I am still developing these same marks on my hood and roof and they are spreading everytime I check them out.

Sounds like you may have defective paint then. If I were you, I would take the vehicle to one or two respectable bodyshops in town and get their opinion.

If they agree that the paint is defective, then I would ask them to give me their opinions in writing, and then I would take the vehicle back to the dealer and get them to make it good.

If the dealer balks, then you can show him the other painters opinions as leverage......Hopefully you won't have to do that though.
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I've been seeing more of this type of paint failure here of late. I wonder if it's just a problem that is related to black, clear coated paint?

[silence]

Well from what I have gathered since I bought my Nissan is that their paint jobs are pretty ******.

[JG_Detailing]

95Xsport you may want edit your plate of your picture. I don't think it is a good idea to have it on there.

[95Xsport]

Alright, so its pretty much for sure that Ill just have to live with the scratches/cracks on the hood unless I get it repainted. No big deal, at least I know now how to properly maintain the body of car so I can prevent all this with my next car!
As far as the rear, Ranger72, I dont think it has been repainted but it might have. My family has had this truck since '97 when it had 50k miles, so maybe in the two years before then it quite possibly may have.

Originally posted by chevyman2001
95Xsport you may want edit your plate of your picture. I don't think it is a good idea to have it on there.

You know, I used to do that all the time when I first took pics of my truck but I noticed many others didnt so I didnt bother after a while. Is there a reason to do it?

[silence]

So you never figured out what caused those?

[Tim Lingor]

Hey Andy,

Clear coat failure on the hood does not automatically mean the rest will fail as well. But it would be a good bet that the roof and hood will be first.

Tim