Quick Fix for Peeling Clearcoat

[Rhymingmechanic]

I have a '94 Saturn that has lost about half of the clearcoat from the hood, and I'm thinking about using some spray can clearcoat to make it look a little better.

What steps and materials should I use to prep the surface? I'll need to take off the remaining clear and polish the oxidized bare paint, all by hand. (I don't own or plan to buy a buffer or drill for this project.)

Thanks.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Wet sand plus a clearcoat will work for a while, but when the sun hits it, plus engine heat, it'll die in a year. At least use hi-temp clear. I use that and BBQ black paint for heated items and basicly any automotive. How would your hood look in black? A faux-carbon look might be an improvment.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

Thanks for the hi-temp suggestion. I hadn't thought of that. I was going to use clear from one of the touch-up brands. What grit should I use for wet sanding? Should the hood be wiped down with some sort of thinner afterward?

Black probably won't go over well with my wife, the car's primary driver. For several years now, we have been figuring the car itself would die in a year. It hasn't, so I'm finally doing some work on it.

 

[Cup of Joe]

You need to feather in the edges of the clear by working your way down or actually up in grits, then wax and grease remover, and finally a tack rag before the clear. If you try and sand off all the old clear you may sand through your color accidentally. I would feather and blend myself especially on a beater-ish car. You can scotch brite the areas missing clear already, you just need to rough it up so the clear has something to bond too.

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: TaterandNoodles
You need to feather in the edges of the clear by working your way down or actually up in grits, then wax and grease remover, and finally a tack rag before the clear. If you try and sand off all the old clear you may sand through your color accidentally. I would feather and blend myself especially on a beater-ish car. You can scotch brite the areas missing clear already, you just need to rough it up so the clear has something to bond too.



+1

It's altogether too easy to go through an exposed color coat.

The color coat is just there for color, needs no mechanical durability and isn't meant to be exposed to the atmosphere or touched. It's usually really thin.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

Thanks for the warnings about color coat. I probably would have been down to primer in no time.

What range of grits should I work through, and is there a particular type of scotch brite to look for? What grease remover (or thinner?) can I use that won't eat the paint?

 

[qwertydude]

To remove oils and greases harmlessly use denatured alcohol.

 

[Cup of Joe]

If you go to the autoparts store they have "wax and grease remover" don't use thinner, denatured alcohol will also work. The same parts store should have the 3M red scotch brite pads. On grits it would depend on whats left of the clear now. You need to chip off any flaky bits and feather in the clear that is well bonded. I would do a test area with a multipack of sand papers from said autparts store. They have packs with multiple grits of papers. Start with a high grit paper say 240-320-400 range so buy a pack of fine grits. Do a quick test is reverse order, better to be cautious then to start off over aggressive with sand paper on a color coat.

I wanted to add any good clean scotch brite will work though. If you already have a pack of green pads for your kitchen that will work. I might advice something a bite finer then the red scotch brite but red will do.