Paint question for auto body guys

[Beerd]

After 22 years of exposure, the clear coat on the roof of my pickup is starting to peel.
Can I do anything to slow it down or am I SOL? :(
..

[Petrol & Powder]

I'm not really an auto-body guy but I've spent some time in garages.

The clear coat process involves a very thin layer of color with a fairly thick layer of clear coat on top of that color layer. Once the clear coat starts to fail there's not much you can do short of a re-paint. If it's just the roof (and the flat surfaces exposed to maximum sunlight are often the first to fail) you could just repaint the roof.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I'm not a auto-body guy, but a close friend is, and has his own business since the mid 70s...so I've gleened a lot of info from our conversations over the last 3 decades.

Depending on paint brand, if the paint layer isn't damaged, you should be able to feather sand the peeled area and re-clear coat that area, or better yet, the whole vehicle.

But honestly...22 years old???...I'd just keep driving it "as is", til the truck needs replacing, who cares what a 22 year old vehicle looks like? Paint condition will not likely increase resale value.

[rockrat]

I believe you are SOL, but hey, 22 years is Great for it to last that long.

[MUSTANG]

I am in the same boat. My 1997 F350 was buried in over 4 feet of snow through the winter. When I cleared it all off and it started to warm up, the Clear coat on the hood and the roof came off in huge sheets. I guess I'll be looking for a solution too. Unfortunately I also have a headliner that has given up the ghost last fall and needs to be replaced.

[abunaitoo]

Did a friends hood once.
Used a razor to scrap off the clear, scuffed up the paint, sprayed three coats of clear.
Came out great.
Might do my truck in the future.

[Shopdog]

Tough call.On one hand if you have to pay someone to do it vs,having the equipment and say a partial can of clear?To which,the clear (and hardeners)has a shelf life,so basically.... you're paying for it to go bad on shelf... might as well be on the truck?

I'd scuff and spray,but wouldn't be spending any $$,and not a whole lot of time,haha.

[dverna]

My 2001 Dodge Ram is similarly affected - top of cab and hood. I am thinking of scuff sanding it and painting those parts black. It is my plow truck and beater but I try to take good care of it. Still, it seems a waste to spend much money on making it look good.

[Lloyd Smale]

your clear didn't bond well to the base coat. Probably because the factory doesn't scuff up the base coat before they spray clear because it would cost them to much in labor. Not being bonded correctly the sun beating on it expands and contracts the clear coat till if flakes. bottom line is if its flaking you can wet sand then re clear but its just going to keep popping up in other places. If you really want it to look good for the long term have the clear sanded off and respray the whole truck. If you just clear over the existing clear its still going to flake off.

[Tatume]

My 1999 Super Duty is showing the same condition, right over the windshield. This truck has the 7.3 L turbo diesel engine, and with 360,000 miles runs like a new truck. The body is rust-free and tight, no squeaks, whistles, rattles or anything. I'm going to have the roof sanded and clear coated, just to preserve the patina and protect the metal.

[koehn,jim]

If you don't want to pay a shop to do it, you can sand the roof and use a good clear cote in a spray can. There are several good ones out there but they are pricey. Make sure you use one that is uv resistant. A shop can do a great job but they will want to do the whole truck.

[leadman]

You mean the clear coat is supposed to stay on the truck??? My 2001 Dakota is peeling off its' second paint job clear coat. Living in Phoenix is very hard on paint with the heat and intense sunlight, along with the pollution.
There are cans of clear coat the have a hardener in a separate section and have to be activated. Supposed to be much better than the normal spray clear coat.

[Jniedbalski]

First I been doing body work for over 30 years. If you want to fix it the only way to do it is to take a razor blade and carefully scrape off the clear. Run the blade a few strokes on top of the paint backwoods. This dulls it slightly so you don’t dig in gouges in the paint. Scrape the clear off. Then sand the paint with 400 or scotch brite pad red. You have to re paint the base Cote because the razor blade or sanding moves the metaliac you can see this in streaks if you just re clear. By repainting the base cote usually two light will do . Then re clear as usuall. You can’t sand the base Cote and then clear it .if you sand the base Cote at all it has to be resprayed lightly the spot you sanded or the metallic will streak

[Jniedbalski]

Back in the 90s paint was falling off cars and trucks bad. Most cars where not clear Cote at that time. It was a single stage urathane. The 80,s was the enamels Centauri and imron DuPont . the 70s laquer. I sprayed a lot of base clear Cote laquer up to the late 90s. It was cheep easy to use and any body could spray it and make it look good. Worked for a guy that did mostly used car lot jobs. And the car lot guys where extreamly cheep. The 90s expecaly 97 98 the paint would just fall off. The car companies would prime the bodies sand them , then use the new non sanding primer sealer over the primer then paint. What would happen is the paint would just fall off leaving the non sanding sealer over the primer. We would razor blade the paint off usually only the top serfices trunk hood and top. I remember doing 20 to 30 cars a week back in 97 in a two man shop. The primer sealer had a time limit of 3 or four hours before you had to paint over it. If you waited to long or a really hot day it would dry to fast and the paint would not stick. 86 or so is when this primer sealer came out. In my grandpas shop we would actually sand the non sanding primer sealer to keep this from happening. On the factory paint that was falling off we found out that the spots that was not sanded the paint would just fall off or a razor blade would take it off in sheets. Any spot that was sanded at the factory like a little spot would not come off with a blade it had to be sanded. In the early 90s ppg had DP40 a acid etched lead based primer sealer. This was the best stuff on earth. It would stick to dirt and the paint would not fall off. The epa got involved and took the lead and other stuff out and ruined it in the late 90s or early 2000, the ultraviolet rays is what caused the clear to come loose. In the 90s ppg started using a ultraviolet ray blocker like in sun screen spf40 or 60 and it really helped. In 93 I was working in a big body shop and base Cote clear Cote was fairly new then. I was showing a guy a trick in the base Cote after he painted a custom striped van. He had small dirt nibs or small specks of dust in a few spots. I showed him to take a piece of 600 wet sand paper and lightly sand the speck out then lightly paint over the spot he sanded. Well he just lightly sanded the spots and then cleared over it without putting paint back over the spots he sanded. If your using enamel or laquer non cleared you can sand your little drips or dirt nubs and then buff. But base Cote if you sand it you have to put a little paint back over it. Well after he cleared the whole van every spot he sanded showed up under the clear. It made the metallic shinier in the spots he sanded. Well I got @@@@@ out by the boss for showing him this trick. He was used to painting enamel and laquer and you can do this with this paint but not base Cote. It only takes a very small amount one swipe over the spot with the spray gun is usually it then clear. Well he had to re sand and re paint and re clear the compleat van. If you want to go cheaper on a paint job you can use nayson it’s a cheaper brand of DuPont paint and clear. It’s about half the cost of regular DuPont. Also if you don’t have a compressor or spray gun my local auto parts store can mix base or clear in a big aerosol can ready to spray. The clear is not the two stage with hardner but it’s not bad. It’s only good for small repairs. Some paint you can get in nayson enamel with hardner. So if your doing a hood or fender you can just sand the clear off and paint it with enamel no clear. It usually only last 7 to 8 years and stayes shiny.darker colors are better light blue or silver the enamels only last stays shiny three to four years max

[Jniedbalski]

Mustang the head liner is a easy fix. Most people thank its a hard job it’s not. I use to charge 50 to 75$ in the middle 90s and I did a lot. Take your trim out and remove the compleat head liner pannal .I take it out and put it on a table or saw horses. The heat makes the fabric come loose from the foam. The old foam has to be scraped off the head liner panel. Some a card board like materal some are like a plastic or fiber glass material doesn’t matter. Take off the cloth material then scrape off the old foam with a putty knife. I have done that or used laquer thinner and used a rag and it wipes off or rub it with your hand. Do this untill all the old foam is off and the panel is clean. I had a fabric store in town that had rolls of different colors in stock. Usually 12$ truck to 18$ Car.That price was in the 90s.It is the fabric and foam all in one. They also had the spray glue also. It was 3m brand spray glue,Lowe’s also has it. It’s for wood leather fabric. One can is enuf for 3 or four jobs. 3m brand is also expensive around 18$a can. I found the same spray glue made in China for 3$ or so in a small junk store one time bought several. This glue also workes good for gluing round sand paper disc to my da sander. The glue gets dusty and your paper falls off. A quick spray and the sand paper is good to go. Well after all the foam is off and clean spray the board with the glue. Use two people hold the fabric out and lay on to the panel it sticks almost instantly. Don’t do this in the hot sun the glue dries out to fast. Then fold over the fabric on the edge and glue on the back side about a inch. Trim with a razor blade. Then just re install that’s it. Trucks are easy to do . Cars like chevy impalas are harder because there is so much trim to take off and the head liner board is so big to get out.

[Beerd]

sounds like a visit to Maaco is coming up.
..

[reddog81]

Most retail car part stores will have cans of stuff that'll work fine for a 22 year old truck. I repainted some parts of a white 2002 Astro van 5 years ago and it still looks OK. The prep work and application will have a large impact on how well it looks once complete.

[merlin101]

Don't use a spray can! The reason it's peeling and flaking is because the factory applied clear coat is applied "just enough" for the average vehicle's life in average sun. It's the UV rays that plays havoc with the paint, what happens is the UV rays penetrate into the clear and if the mil thickness isn't quite enough the UV starts to break down the base coat and the clear flakes off. That's why you only see this on the top surfaces. It's also a common problem with lower end body shop paint jobs, they use substandard products and not enough to boot. If you have to wet(or dry) sand dust and dirt out that cuts into the mil thickness too, furthering the problem.
The only true solution is to strip off the peeling clear on all the top surfaces and then seal and base the surface and apply MINIMUM of two coats of high solids clear (3 coats if your going to sand and rub) You have to decide if it's worth paying for or DIY. DO NOT sand the base or color coat unless you get dirt or a run, if you do you then need to respray it. But be forewarned! I used to charge a premium to fix what a DIYer had "repaired". Check around and you should be able to find a shop to spray it for about $700