Clearcoat on certain areas failing
 

I'm looking to purchase a red FD and noticed that the clearcoat of the car is failing in certain areas. On the whole the paint looks good but I was wondering if anyone on here has attempted to try to repair the clearcoat? I.E. fine grit sandpaper and respray? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

~Johnathan

Can't be done and look like anything IMO. If clearcoat is peeling, it needs to be removed so the new basecoat will adhere. Peeling/failing clear is almost always progressive. The affected areas will grow. Ideally it should be stripped to metal.
And if it's a FD with clear, it was done by a previous owner. AFAIK, they were all single-stage from the factory.

I was under the impression that some FD's did in fact have clearcoat on them? Do you just mean that the red ones were like that? Also the affected areas seem to be ones that are plastic flexible materials i.e. the bumpers would that be a factor?

Possible the bumpers were just repainted?

You do not want to sand to metal if not necessary for body work. Try not to ever go past the e- coat. 600 da / block/ paint.

Too much paint is as bad as lack of adhesion. If it's been cleared, it's probably been repainted at least once. And we don't know why the clear coat is coming off. That's why I recommended stripping... if possible. But your right, if stripping ends up uncovering a bunch of repair it will be a PITA. The only caveat is if it's JUST the bumper covers. I'd want to get as much of the old off as possible if it were me. I was assuming the shop will be blocking...alot. So I didn't go there.

I had the same thing on my FB, only on the bumpers too. The only way I found to fix it was to get it properly repainted.

Plastic is one of those surfaces that requires special knowledge if you want it to last. If solvent doesn't cause it to become soft then an adhesion promoter is recommended.

In the mid to late 80's, the EPA enacted new laws pertaining to car paint jobs. The auto industry didn't really find a good replacement for leaded paint until about '95 or so. Late 80's to mid 90's cars sold in America ALL have crappy paint-jobs unless they are super high-end cars like Rolls Royces and Ferraris, etc.

They actually updated the law again in 2011.

Been away from it for many years, but IIRC they use a special flex additive to the paint and primer. They are prep'd differently too. And bumper covers are painted separately from metal/hard surfaces.

or sand and buff

or you could sand and buff it.

If it's just a certain panel, sand and respray the whole panel with paint and clear, only durable solution.

Unfortunately sanding and buffing will not get a nice effect. I have had this problem on a few car from the late 80-early 90 and agree with the previous poster on the poor quality of paint in that era. Recommendation: depends what your looking for, factory look but not great quality? Or high end paint job? In either case you need to paint entire panels or the whole car to match properly. If you can do just bumpers, remove them, sand them down, prep them properly with adhesion promoter and add a flex agent to the paint used on the plastic to make sure it doesn't flake off when flexed or over time with expansion and contraction with heat. If you need to do the whole car cheaply just scuff and shoot, should look OK for a few years.

You should be okay to carefully wet sand the affected clear coat off and respray as long as the base coat isn't too faded.

Its the primer that needs to be flexible not the base or
Clear. Its real fun to sand too .

I think I will give the wet sand and re clear a shot this weekend, thanks for all the input everyone!

Nice. How did it work out?

pics? update

soooo, even with an extremely light sanding the paint lightened up too much and is very noticeable unfortunately, looks like a paint job could be in my near future! *sigh* at least it'll look prettier