SUPO

I have a 1995 Mazda RX7 Silver. It's a garaged vehicle with only 14,000 miles on it. It sits in the garage except for an occassional drive. I went to the local self-serve car wash and put the power sprayer on LOW. I simply wanted to spray the dust off my car. As you all know, the bottom 6 inches of the car has a "stongard" protectant. Mine has a slightly yellow tint. Anyway, I was spraying the front of the REAR FENDER that faces the back of the tire on the passenger side - and in a 2 second time period as I put the sprayer "somewhat" close to the area - PAINT FLEW OFF!!!!!! Folks, we're talking about a car that doesn't even have a swirl mark in the clear coat from washing. I am devestated. I saw the local paint guru who condescendly informed me he only works on Mercedes, Porsches, Ferraris blah, blah. I went to his recommend "local guy" whose shop is dirtier than ground zero on September 11th. Went to one Mazda dealer who said the ClearCoat has yellowed and can't really match it. Another Mazda dealer said they think they can do it - but the shop and personnel looked as if they "slap" work together. Here's what they had said regarding the car. They said that this "extra" coating was applied RIGHT ON TOP OF the clearcoat (because you can see underneath the stongard a perfect clearcoat finish). The adhesion is poor and the process is incorrect. They want to wetsand the area of stonegard protection, reapply the "texture", paint it, then TINT the clearcoat layer to Match the "aged" silver which has a distinct yellow tint. First of all, my question is - is there a color code for this "stonegard" because this car never sees sunlight - so I know it's not fade (unless age alone can fade or yellow)? Also, is this the proper process to fix this. Why scrape away texture? Isnt' there a chemical that can remove the paint so retexturing and MATCHING won't be an issue. How do I find more information about the solving or cause of this problem? I'm in Tampa, FL. This stonegard is suppose to protect from flaking - so why is IT flaking? With only 14K miles, isn't this a manufacturers defect that should be addressed. Please shed ANY light on this. I'm very depressed. The paint chip is about 5 inches long by 1 inch wide. It's only in the stonegard area. My direct email is opus@tampabay.rr.com THANKS SO MUCH!!!

DrPJM1

Seems that your problem is beyond this groups experience. I sugggest calling Mazda USA & contacting the better body shops in your area. I am sorry I could not be more helpful but this is beyond my expertise and general knowledge.