clear coat

[Teebone]

my Caddy has a spot on the rear quarter about 1 inch by 3 inches where the clear coat has peeled off, is it possible to wet sand it smooth to feather the clear coat, then recoat it with clear again?..I would hate to have the entire quarter redone. The car is white by the way.

 

[Horseplay]

I would first try to understand why it peeled off. Odds are the surrounding area/panel might do the same. In that case, probably best to do the whole quarter.

 

[SAC69]

I would first try to understand why it peeled off.

+1. The c/c does not lift w/o a reason. Has the panel ever been painted, other than at the factory? What year is the car? Daily driver or a classic? I know GM's in the 80's (?) had c/c peeling badly on the horizontal surfaces. Either a contaminant (brake fluid, egg) got onto the paint and ate it from above or the issue is coming up from below.

If the issue came from above, it's possible to spot-paint the c/c "burn in the clear" and most paint manufacturers have a specific procedure and product for this. However, it's not the ideal way to go. The c/c will likely be visible at the edges where the new c/c meets the old in time, it may take a couple of years to show but it will likely eventually show.

To c/c the entire panel is no big deal, unless there is not a hard break or body line where the 1/4 meets the roof. It just needs to be scuffed, detrimmed & masked off, etc. The panel does not need to be stripped of all paint, unless the failure was due to the substrate or color coat.

Is the c/c on the car faded? If so, to c/c the entire panel would cause a appearance difference between the new gloss and the faded c/c.

 

[Anonymous]

I have seen many factory clears peel. It seems like its worse on certain colors. I also think there may be problems with all the paint unless there has been a repair to that panel before. If so, then the whole panel will need to be repainted.

 

[Teebone]

+1. The c/c does not lift w/o a reason. Has the panel ever been painted, other than at the factory? What year is the car? Daily driver or a classic? I know GM's in the 80's (?) had c/c peeling badly on the horizontal surfaces. Either a contaminant (brake fluid, egg) got onto the paint and ate it from above or the issue is coming up from below.

If the issue came from above, it's possible to spot-paint the c/c "burn in the clear" and most paint manufacturers have a specific procedure and product for this. However, it's not the ideal way to go. The c/c will likely be visible at the edges where the new c/c meets the old in time, it may take a couple of years to show but it will likely eventually show.


It is a 2005..and it's white..I think I am going to try to blend it before I get the entire quarter redone
To c/c the entire panel is no big deal, unless there is not a hard break or body line where the 1/4 meets the roof. It just needs to be scuffed, detrimmed & masked off, etc. The panel does not need to be stripped of all paint, unless the failure was due to the substrate or color coat.

Is the c/c on the car faded? If so, to c/c the entire panel would cause a appearance difference between the new gloss and the faded c/c.

 

[stangg]

We've got two "driver" white cars that seemed to get hit often in parking lots, so I'm not too concerned with the overall appearance because they aren't perfect to begin with... that said, I did do a couple of quick repairs on our pearl white Maxima, and bright white Monte Carlo. Blending the base was no big deal, but blending the clear didn't work out as well as I hoped. I figured I could blend the clear, then wet sand and polish the blend out... It looks ok, but you can definitely tell the difference up close. As a driver though, it looks fine from 10-20 feet away. I used Transtar's Quik Clear, because that's what I had. Next time, I may tape off the area being cleared just to minimize the dry feathered clear look in the blended area... a hard edge probabaly won't stand out so much if it's just a light coat of clear to protect the base. Just my opinion for a daily driver... For a car I really care about, it would be done the "right"way.