can i save my paint?
 

ok, if you look at the main pic in my garage entry you can see the oxidation on the hood of my car. it is to the point that the clear coat is flaking and looks like it has scales. my question is: is my paint beyond repair? if it is, so be it, i will sand it down as good as i an get it, apply some wax to keep it from spreading and call it a day. if it is repairable, what method would be best? i have tried wet sanding and can get it down a good bit, but it still looks bad. i have also tried rubbing compound. both show some improvement, but not as much as i would like. thanks in advance. i will post some close up pics tomorrow after work (gotta get batteries for my camera).

https://i491.photobucket.com/albums/r...7/IMG_1895.jpg

https://i491.photobucket.com/albums/r...7/IMG_1897.jpg

https://i491.photobucket.com/albums/r...7/IMG_1898.jpg

https://i491.photobucket.com/albums/r...7/IMG_1899.jpg

I would try wet sanding then cover it with some fresh clearcoat. It won't be perfect, but should look a lot better than it does right now.

-Jay

Clearcoats just do that. Maybe you can save it, I've never had any luck.

That is the downside of clearcoats.

The upside of clearcoats is that they look a hell of a lot better for a hell of a lot longer than the old-fashioned metallic paint jobs...had a friend who had a 1967 Ford Galaxie, light metallic blue, had to have the hood repainted in 1971 because the paint was completely toast.

I once had a 1985 Olds Ciera that started shedding the clear coat off the trunk.

I bought a spray can of clear coat and tried to spray over it, but it didn't look much better. I don't recall sanding though so maybe that's why it didn't work out for me.

Its probably toast. Once the clear starts to come off you need a repaint. They spray the clear when the color coat is still tacky so that they stick together and once the clear is removed it can't just be reapplied. Try this forum, they know a lot about how to restore paint. https://autopia.org/

It depends... In the early 70's and earlier they used to paint the car, then bake the paint on in an oven. It was nothing to see a 15 or 20 year old car look like new with just a little bit of polishing compound and some wax. By the time the 80's came around the automakers stopped baking the cars. I remember the paint on our 1980 Bonneville was never right, and dad had taken it back to the dealer to have the car repainted. The car looked good for a few years, but then as it aged the repainted portions of the car looked far worse than the panels that the dealer left alone. Now I have the 1998 Sierra. Its going on 11 years old and I rarely wash it, and have never waxed it. The paint still looks pretty darn good. If I actually waxed it it'd be a really nice looking truck. Clearcoats are nice, but still no substitution for baking the paint on the car.

-Jay

ratman,

I noticed you have a cavalier. nice choice. I also noticed that you were looking for some other mods. I recently did an extended air dam. this may help with your overheating problem. I used a rubber made trash can and cut a strip to size. I then drilled holes in the original air dam and used universal panel retainers to hold it on. mine is about 6 inches tall and leaves about 4 inches of clearance.

check out my garage, maybe you can get some ideas. your mileage is impressive. I found that there is a gap between the radiator and the bottom of my bumper cover. as long as I don't cover that, I don't overheat. I recently experimented with covering that opening and it got hot and fast.

good luck on your paint issue

I'm not sure where you got your information, but almost all new cars have a baked on finish nowadays. The modern low VOC finishes need to be baked to lay out properly and to thru-cure.

Jim T.

I wasn't aware that they were baking cars again. I know its something that was done, then they stopped. A friend of mine had a 1971 Riviera - Metallic brown. Nine years older than my Bonneville wagon, and looked a heck of a lot nicer. At the time I first met her my wagon was 10 years old and her Riviera was 19. If she had cared enough to wash it her Riviera would have looked much nicer than my Bonneville. She still has the Riviera. Her teenage son is restoring it back to original condition.

-Jay

The "old formulation" otherwise known as lead based single stage metallics would hold up for years with little or no care. In 1987 I did a frame off restoration on a 1972 Jeep CJ5. A rebuilt AMC 401, Saginaw 4 speed, Currie 9inch axles rear AND front, and all new body parts mostly steel except the front fenders. Long story short, I got lazy while cutting in all the panels with Sikkens autocryl single-stage polyurethane and decided to paint the whole truck with it. I integrated clear into the fourth coat (about 80% clear to 20% colour) and later colour sanded and buffed it nice and smooth. I sold the truck to a buddy's dad when I moved to Florida in 1991 and he still owns it today. I saw it in July and the dam thing still looks as good as the day I finished buffing it out, and it's not babied.
Most paints fail due to poor preparation and application.
All of GM's, Fords, Chrysler's, and Toyota's paint quality failures can be traced directly to cost cutting, with some recent problems stemming from unfamiliarity with the newer VOC compliant products. Fords in the late 80's early 90's was trying to cut clearcoat costs. They thought if 1.5 mils of clear costs us say $45.90 average per vehicle what would only applying 1.4 or 1.3 mils save us per vehicle, maybe a dollar per car? Not much when the failure rate goes thru the roof at 1.3 mils of clear and your average warranty repaint was over $1K per vehicle. And they all have tried it at one time or another I only quoted the ones I personally did warranty work on over the years. In 1993 alone I probably respayed 90 or 100 Chevy Suburbans, not a lot of fun I tell you.

Jim T.

Chrysler had that same problem in the early 90's. A friend of the family had a Plymouth or Dodge sedan that all the paint peeled off to the primer. Chrysler actually did a recall on the paint on those cars and extended the paint warranty. She had it repainted for free.

-Jay

When I was referring to the paint on earlier (pre-clearcoat) cars, I was especially referring to metallic silver and light blue or green paint jobs. Those were some of the more common colors. Solid paint jobs, and dark metallics held up OK. My 1960 Corvair shined up nice until the day I junked it in 1979. It was a light blue non-metallic acrylic paint. By 1979 our 1973 Mazda RX-2 (light metallic blue) was already pretty faded.

I had a 1985 Lincoln Continental which was ten years old when I purchased it. The light blue clearcoat paint still was very shiny on it. Eventually, the desert sun did fade it, but it took several years, longer, I am sure, than the planned lifetime of the car!

Our 1980 Bonneville was Medium garnet red Metallic/dark garnet red metallic two tone. The paint was never right on the car. At least the powertrain was done right. In 13 years and over 180,000 miles we never even had the valve covers off the car. Just brakes, starters, alternators, water pump, and I think the battery was replaced once, and the fuel pump was replaced once. Considering the age and mileage we put on that car I consider the repairs quite minimal.

-Jay

Yes, heavy oxidation can be removed. But that big circle in the middle of your hood is more than will buff out. It looks to me like you've gone clear through (if you'll pardon the pun) your clearcoat and into the paint.

I believe a repaint of the hood is your best option if you have to have a good hood. However, you could try to blend in some clearcoat over the spot or re-clear your entire hood.

Good luck, whichever you choose.