Possibly unusual clear coat situation

[Th17kit]

Hello! I just bought a used '09 and it came with a clear coat problem on the hood. I've done a bunch of research, but haven't found anyone with the same situation, or perhaps I'm just missing something. The clear coat everywhere else on the car (and the hood) is in great shape (but needs some TLC). Also, some dufus (probably the previous owner's kid lol) thought it would be a good idea to use a brush and mostly-color-matched paint to "patch" it. What I need is a way to slow the degradation for now. I don't need to make it look beautiful. This is my DD.

Clear coat issues:

http://imgur.com/a/PKsdC

I heard from an auto parts store I could get the clear coat removed and resprayed for ~$200, but on this forum it seems people are saying you have to get the paint job redone on the whole panel. I don't know why though. That's too expensive for me now, so what can I do in the meantime?

I was thinking about cleaning it and spraying the hood with 3M paint defender http://www.amazon.com/3M-90000-Paint...=ATVPDKIKX0DER. Perhaps there's a Meguiars product that will delay this spread?

Thank you for any information!

[Murr1525]

Re: Possibly unusual clear coat situation

Well, looks like they tried to stop clear coat failure, but it kept going.

I don't know about a whole panel or not, but the way that looks, it will probably start somewhere else if you only patch it.

And no idea what that seam is....

[yfwong]

Re: Possibly unusual clear coat situation

OMG, it is cracking... re-spray is a must to fully restore to original look. Wax can probably delay the cracking if this is what you want.

[Th17kit]

Re: Possibly unusual clear coat situation

Thank you for the feedback! Yfwong, by respray do you mean respray the whole paint job or just remove/redo the clear coat over the paint job? There's a decent difference in price there...

[the other pc]

Re: Possibly unusual clear coat situation

Sorry, but there's nothing unusual about how your clear is failing. It's very common. The only "fix" is new paint.

....I heard from an auto parts store I could get the clear coat removed and resprayed ....

Whoever told you that is beyond clueless. You cannot simply remove clearcoat and spray new clear over an old base color.

Two stage paint systems, i.e. base+clear, are just that, systems. They're formulated to work together as an integrated set. Neither works by itself and you can't remove one without compromising the other.

It's possible to do a spot repair, but few shops in the US ever do because it's so difficult to get a good match/blend. They pretty much always paint the whole panel.


pc

[Th17kit]

Re: Possibly unusual clear coat situation

Okay that's what I needed to know. It seemed unusual because the paint and clear coat everywhere else is in such good condition whereas everyone else complains of the multiple panels having problems, so I was *hoping* there might be an easier fix than a full repaint. Thanks for the info!!