Repairing clear coat

[chuckhinva]

Hi,
I've got an '81 Corvette that was repainted sometime in its history. The clear coat is now worn through in a couple of spots and I was wondering what the best way to fix it was.

I planned to clean the areas, shoot a coat of dupli-cole clear coat and then buff it out with my new Porter 7424. However, this sounds too easy.

Any suggestions or advice.

Thanks

[P1et]

I'm not an expert, but if the clear coat has failed, won't the paint underneath it be damaged in some way?

[joe.p]

No pro here .from exp i beleive you need a repaint to repair the CC.
CC is nonpigment paint, that is paint with no color i beleive CC used years ago it was easy to repair/match it up, nowadys thats not possible so the shop will opt out to repaint the entire panel. If another member could add or correct to this please feel free to do so..

[OCDetails]

How exactly do you know that the clear coat is worn down in a couple spots? If you have typical clear coat failure then the clearcoat begins to cloud over from between it and the color coat underneath. You cannot fix that merely by polishing and respraying clear. You have to remove all of the clear on the panel and reapply it at that point. Typically that may require reapplying the base coat as well. Pictures are really going to be necessary before you can get any specific advice on how to fix this issue.

[BILL]

No pro here .from exp i believe you need a repaint to repair the CC.
CC is non pigment paint, that is paint with no color i believe CC used years ago it was easy to repair/match it up, nowadays thats not possible so the shop will opt out to repaint the entire panel. If another member could add or correct to this please feel free to do so..

I AGREE absolutely needing to refinishing the entire panel ....

[BILL]

How exactly do you know that the clear coat is worn down in a couple spots? If you have typical clear coat failure then the clear coat begins to cloud over from between it and the color coat underneath. You cannot fix that merely by polishing and respraying clear. You have to remove all of the clear on the panel and reapply it at that point. Typically that may require reapplying the base coat as well. Pictures are really going to be necessary before you can get any specific advice on how to fix this issue.

Clear coat topping in most instances can be re-applied through a 4-5 clear coat applications,....prior to that wet sanding with 2000 wet dry will get it in ready condition with out removing all the clearcoat...as long as you know when to let up and not go into the base coat, you can get away with out base coat refinishing as long as it not compromised by sun, scratched, or worn down............
but as OC DETAIL said sometimes the base coat has to be also re-done due to base coat being naked for a long period of time or sun damaged...

[ScottB]

if the base coat (colored coat) was oxidized or allowed to sit unprotected for any length of time, once recleared it would not match and could stand out like a sore thumb. Also the clearcoat could likely never truly fill "just the void" properly. Best bet ... allow them to refinish the area professionally and blend into other areas unless an entire repaint is in the cards.

[chuckhinva]

Thanks for all of the advice. The car is custom color, so painting one panel is out. Don't really want to spend the cash to repaint the whole car.

You are right in saying the base coat probably will not match because of oxidation, etc. Just wondering if it might be best to just leave it as is.

[BILL]

Thanks for all of the advice. The car is custom color, so painting one panel is out. Don't really want to spend the cash to repaint the whole car.

You are right in saying the base coat probably will not match because of oxidation, etc. Just wondering if it might be best to just leave it as is.

i would.....