Help Identify this problem

[grtpumpkin]

Just purchased a certified pre owned 2018 corolla. Like always, I like to clean up a newly acquired vehicle to meet my standards. This is a very clean car but does have a few scratches and love marks, nothing too terrible. I started to have a go at the worst panel, the trunk lid. I used the least aggressive products to start off. But soon as I started my test area I ran into this which I've never seen before. I'm making a mess of this trunk lid so I decided to stop and try to figure out what's actually going on. I did wash the panel with mild soap and then clayed the panel before I started. Once I started buffing with the orbital these stripes began to appear. See picture. Is this a funky coating? Ceramic coating? It's a lot of work to take it off but I'm at the point of no return. The water does bead up pretty good on the car. It looks like I'm taking a coating off and leaving a feathered edge. It's definitely not burning through the clear coat. I'm not hitting it that hard. Any thoughts?

72692

[98CayenneTA]

It's not a coating.

To me it looks like it was possibly poorly re-cleared but it's definitely hard to tell from the picture.

Can ya flake any of it off with your nail?

Can ya post a couple more pictures from different angles and distance. Maybe try and capture a different look

[psnt1ol]

What products and tool are you using? and do you have a paint depth gauge?

A few more pics from different angle would certainly help... I am reserving my judgment until I get more info but I think I know what this is.

[grtpumpkin]

I cant feel it or grab it. Doesn't come off easy. Takes a bit of buffing but nothing too serious to get it to look like this. I tried a rag wetted with mineral spirits and it didn't touch it. I agree the picture's not that good. I agree it looks like a feathered edge that was sanded. I can actually put scratches in the paint with moderate pressure with a clean dry finger. I got a feeling I wont be buffing this car. Too much time for a daily commuter. I can probably get a better picture in the daylight. Buffer is a maxshine M15 random orbital. Rupes whool pad. Tried mequires #4, Race Galze Leveling Compound & 3m heavy duty compound. I got another picture but for some reason the site wont let me post it. Computers. Go figure.

[grtpumpkin]

No paint depth gage. Don't believe the car was ever repainted. Hope not.

[2black1s]

This is all speculation as I'm not there to see it first hand, but...

It certainly looks like a featheredge between coats of paint, or from the clear-coat to the base coat to me. It's possible that somebody did a "blend" repair previously and you're seeing that blend edge but the pic looks like something worse than that to me.

I just don't know what else it could be. I'd sure like to see it in person though.

In your pic, which side of the featheredge is the topmost coat and which is the underlying coat? I can't tell. The left appears shinier so my assumption is the left side is the topmost.

Truthfully, what I'm seeing is something that would be more common during paint prep sanding than during any routine polishing.

EDIT: While I was writing my initial response you were also adding posts... Now I see the products you mention in post #4. While you initially stated that you started with the least aggressive products, each of those mentioned in post #4 are very aggressive products. Therefore, my assessment now, considering the compounds and pad that you're using, is that you have removed the clear-coat. Again, I'm not there to see it in person, but I suspect that may be the case.

[grtpumpkin]

Well I don't believe I removed the clear coat. I agree the products I used are pretty aggressive, but I've never had any luck using less aggressive products on anything I've ever buffed. Also the scratches are still in there so I don't think I took much material down. I'll hit it with some 3000 grit sand paper in a small area to see if it's possibly down to the color. Doesn't appear to be as it's very uniform in color. The area that I buffed out is shinier. I still believe this was some crazy snake oil coating that was applied. I still can't get another picture to upload so that's of no help.

[kttlbll]

Do you have black paint on your pad? If you do that means you went through the clear coat.
If you don't have black paint on your pad then it's possible this car has had X-Kote or RestorFX applied to it and that's what you're removing. It's a pain in the ass to take off.

[psnt1ol]

Well I don't believe I removed the clear coat. I agree the products I used are pretty aggressive, but I've never had any luck using less aggressive products on anything I've ever buffed. Also the scratches are still in there so I don't think I took much material down. I'll hit it with some 3000 grit sand paper in a small area to see if it's possibly down to the color. Doesn't appear to be as it's very uniform in color. The area that I buffed out is shinier. I still believe this was some crazy snake oil coating that was applied. I still can't get another picture to upload so that's of no help.

It is interesting that you said you never had any luck using less aggressive products on anything you ever buffed. I used to start off a session with rocks in a bottle as well. It wasnt until I joined this board that my horizon was greatly expanded. Regardless... this is a story for another time.

Got another question for you...

was this pre-owned vehicle loaded or at its highest trim level???


I suspect this is a coating similar to the old Opti-coat the dealership installed. It is hard as a rock and a pain to remove. customers who purchased this generally has the highest trim level the model has to offer. I dealt with something like this once.

If you have a depth gauge... you can compare the reading from the area you did vs. an untouched area vs. the door jam to see what the differences are. Since you dont have one... try this. Try doing the same on the door jam (a small spot) and see if you can replicate what you are seeing on the trunk. It is unlikely that the dealership would coat the door jam but please be careful since the door jam generally has the thinnest paint and be extra careful on the edges.

If my suspicion is right... you wont see what you are seeing on the trunk. I hope this helps and good luck.

[Mike Hoekstra]

From my experience as a painter and detailing, there are a great many factors that could contribute to this and the only way is to back-track and find out what the dealership did with it. Has it been repainted recently? It looks like the clear coat or paint is pulling. I've only had it happen to me once with a vehicle and the clay bar actually grabbed and pulled the paint. I was able to buff it out. My other thought is that there's something on the paint or your pad that's contaminated and leaving it. Go down to the softest pad you have and least agressive compound and see if that makes a difference.

[kmical]

Do you have black paint on your pad? If you do that means you went through the clear coat.
If you don't have black paint on your pad then it's possible this car has had X-Kote or RestorFX applied to it and that's what you're removing. It's a pain in the ass to take off.

I think the X-Kote hypothesis is most likely correct.

Found the following post on Autopia (from 2013) that seems eerily prescient:

Have you seen/used x-kote? It is not a paint sealant or a coating. It actually is a really amazing product for the right application (it took me a long time to admit this). I own a small car dealership (and a detail shop) and I use x-kote on vehicles with hammered paint every once in a while and its pretty incredible. If the vehicle is prepped properly, and the person applying it is competent, the paint really will look almost as good as new. X-kote (or one of its competitors similar products) is a self-leveling hand applied "clear coat" and it really does fill scratches/swirls/small imperfections.

The downside of x-kote is that if you ever get a deeper scratch or scuff that you want to polish out you will be in for a nasty surprise when you start compounding it. Light polishing is fine but when you sand or compound on it you will burn through the x-kote and it will look almost like clear coat failure...hard to explain. Once you burn through a spot the only solution is to remove the x-kote from the entire panel which is A LOT of work!

[grtpumpkin]

Update. It appears this is my error. Still not exactly what was happening but I do have a theory. I switched out to a foam fine finishing pad and the least aggressive polish I had on hand (McGuire's Ultimate Polish). Took about 3 section passes to completely remove my error. Chest pains gone. My theory is that the wool pad and aggressive compound was burning and drying the product into the paint surface. What really concerned me and made me think I had a severe issue was the fact that I could not clean it of by hand with water, isopropyl alcohol or mineral spirits. That and the fact that it felt incredibly smooth. I do appreciate all the comments and advice. Seems like every vehicle offers a different challenge.
Rich.

[bolts]

Looks like a burn through clear thats polished

[grtpumpkin]

Well at least it did not burn all the way to the color. It buffed out well with the finer products and looks awesome. I will continue on and do the entire car.
Rich.