Clearcoat flaking

[Trav]

AFAIK the clear coat could only be removed by sanding but thats sketchy at best and from what i have seen close to impossible to do on a large scale.
The base coat is relatively thin and the chances of getting all the clear off and not damaging the base is slim.
Any sort of chemical removal will result in the base and primer being removed as well.

If it wasn't flaking or lifting from the base wet sanding and re clearing is acceptable.
Once flaking occurs the clear has separated from the base coat and there is no fixing it.

 

[FastEddie]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: FastEddie
New base and clear is the only way to correctly fix your problem unfortunately. But hey, you got over 10 years on that paint job, and from what I have seen, that seems to be the magic number for when paint starts failing.


I had a car that didn't have flocking, but the clear got hazy. A body shop somehow just stripped the clear, so the car retained its OE paint, and then re-applied clear. Looked great.

Why not go that route?

Flaking clear is much different than hazy clear. And I'm sure the body shop that re-cleared your car didn't completely remove/strip the clear from the basecoat, they sanded the hazy part and added more clear on top of your OE clear.

Usually when the clear goes, the base coat is compromised also, especially on OE paint. But there are tons of hack body shops that will do all kinds of sup par work and try to reclear a car that should have new base and clear. It sounds like shoddy work is what got the OP in this situation to begin with.

 

[Topo]

I had a car that didn't have flocking, but the clear got hazy. A body shop somehow just stripped the clear, so the car retained its OE paint, and then re-applied clear. Looked great.

They probably buffed/polished with light rubbing compound and then reapplied the clear.

 

[Errtt]

I had clear separation and once wet sanded it and shot some clear. Came next summer more showed up. I figured instead of doing it again, I took it to a paint shop and let them re-paint the whole SUV. I was afraid of a never ending battle of frustration and wasn't about to labor it again. Had some door dings I wanted taken out anyway.
Got it painted 1st week in June - just got a nice door ding a few days ago - grrrrrrrr.

 

[FastEddie]

Originally Posted By: Errtt

Got it painted 1st week in June - just got a nice door ding a few days ago - grrrrrrrr.

Isn't that the way it's supposed to work? Door dings are targeted towards new cars or those with new paint

 

[JHZR2]

I park far away from others and in carefully selected spots, so I have 30 year old cars with none.

 

[FastEddie]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I park far away from others and in carefully selected spots, so I have 30 year old cars with none.

Impressive, I don't think I've ever seen a 30 year old daily driver that didn't ever get a door ding.
Fortunately, my best friend owns a auto body repair shop and my brother does Paintless dent removal (PDR), so my car has none either.

 

[JHZR2]

I have a few 20-30 yo dent free cars that are used on the roads in all normal uses. I'm just really careful.

 

[Errtt]

Originally Posted By: FastEddie
Originally Posted By: Errtt

Got it painted 1st week in June - just got a nice door ding a few days ago - grrrrrrrr.

Isn't that the way it's supposed to work? Door dings are targeted towards new cars or those with new paint

Yeah I should have known to get the best paint (instead of 1-notch down from their top/best) so I can get more door dings and get them sooner.

Funny how I parked about 7 or 8 empty spots past the last vehicle so I can be in the clear - come out of the store, still in the clear and there's a nice ding through the paint. Either it was someone parked next to me (don't know why) and left before I came out - maybe a shopping cart got away from someone and lucky my vehicle stopped it before getting too far away. Or grandma in her motorized rascal scooter was doing donuts and tried to knock my vehicle out of her way.

 

[fordman65]

Agree real careful. I think it may the 20 - 30 year old cars with no dings also is due to metal quality. Back 20-30 years ago car manufacturers used heavier thicker metal. Not the paper thin "metal" used today. Like Saturn and those plastic bodies.