Updated 11/21/11: Clear Coat Failure and Repair(with all pics)

[02nissanISR]

Let me start by saying I'm not a professional painter so I'm sure there are things that I could have done better. So dont rip me too bad if you see any errors.:o Second, this is my personal vehicle, the same one in my avatar. So no customers were harmed in the repairing of this clear coat.

The point of this is I've seen some try, or talk about trying, to use other products to repair clear coat failure. Opti Coat for example. All be it temporary just to protect the base color. Well this got me thinking how hard would it be to do a more permanent repair? If someone were reasonably skilled at wet sanding, spray painting, and polishing, could they perform a decent repair on there own if say we cant afford a repaint. So this is what I did. There was no risk here at all, the clear had failed so it needed repainted anyway so if i screwed up, it still needs to be repainted. But if I dont then ive saved myself some money. You pros can chime in as to how much one would save.

NOTE: This is a relatively small area if you have clear coat failure all over your car this repair may not be feasible.

Products used:
1: A plastic light switch cover to chip off loose clear.(hey use what you got no plastic razor blades on hand):D
2: Meguiars 2500 grit wet sand paper
3: Dupli color perfect match clear coat spray can
4: meguiars 105/205
5: yellow solo wool pad/grey solo foam pad
6: Flex 603vvb rotary

Ok i noticed some brown spots on my fender a while back tried to remove them but nothing worked paint cleaner, clay, washing, nothing eventually it started to blister and this is the result...

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9255&stc=1&d=1316216756

The spots were most of the way down the fender and the clear seemed to be failing in the same areas...

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9256&stc=1&d=1316216790

I started by getting all the loose clear off, then I wet sanded with 2500 grit megs paper to try an level things out.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9257&stc=1&d=1316216938

Here are those pesky spots.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9258&stc=1&d=1316217075

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9259&stc=1&d=1316217124

I ended up having to sand through the clear to remove them in some places. This is because as I sanded little pin holes would form in the clear where these spots were so the clear was about ready to go anyway.

Ready for fresh clear coat

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9261&stc=1&d=1316217214


One note I was very careful when wet sanding not put to much pressure over the unprotected paint. And using 2500 grit paper ensured I would not remove too much too fast. All sanding was buy hand.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9262&stc=1&d=1316217288

Here you can see the extent of the failure

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9263&stc=1&d=1316217389

First coat of clear I think some call this a wet coat. very light.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9264&stc=1&d=1316217440

After 4 coats of clear

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9265&stc=1&d=1316217573

You can still see the outline of the failure in this spot. this was the worst area. I will wet sand to try to even things out some.

Here is the only problem I ran into because I taped off the way I did and then sprayed 4 coats of clear I had a nice ridge. Now I have sand this down to blend it without going through the clear somewhere else.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9266&stc=1&d=1316217643

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9267&stc=1&d=1316218073

i got everything pretty smooth and even though you can still see the out line of the new clear i couldn't really feel a ridge anymore

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9268&stc=1&d=1316218179

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9269&stc=1&d=1316218250

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9271&stc=1&d=1316218388

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9270&stc=1&d=1316218305

Next I grabbed the Meguiars Solo yellow wool pad and 105with the Flex then 205 on the grey foam

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9272&stc=1&d=1316218923

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9273&stc=1&d=1316218985

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9274&stc=1&d=1316219033

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9275&stc=1&d=1316219079

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=9276&stc=1&d=1316219119

Overall I was very pleased with the result. If you don't know its there you wont see it. You have to be pretty close to tell but, hey, my clear coat isn't flaking anymore and the car is shiny again what more could I ask for. Oh and I don't know how much but I think I saved some money doing this repair myself.Im the MAN

Thanks for taking the time to look and comment. Any advice on the painting process is welcome like how to blend that better as to not have a ridge. Hope this was helpful, i had alot of fun doing it. happy detailing.:buffing:

[longdx]

It looke like you did a great DIY job to blend in the panel.

[BobbyG]

I've never tried it myself but several here have produced some outstanding results with spray paint products. You did an amazing job of sanding and blending the clear. Once wet sanded the compound and polishing made the repair nearly invisible..

Tremendous results! :props:

[LuxuryMobile]

Thats pretty impressive. Nice job. Those kind of jobs are always fun, even better with good results.

[Jenn1270]

That is amazing. Saves a repaint.

Jenn

[CEE DOG]

Incredible work!!!!

[CEE DOG]

Did you sand before taping or tape off and sand only int he taped off area?

Very timely thread! I was considering doing something like this to a clients car I am working on this weekend. I have all the paint etc but had decided against doing it until I saw this... Now giving it second thoughts I might try it. He is down for me to try anything..

[JRivers]

:xyxthumbs: Outstanding!!
It looks great man...more power to you for using what ever you had on hand! :props:

[sohail99]

Wow!!! totally amazing blend work!! :dblthumb2:

after compounding the surrounding area, it literally invisible!!

[Rayaz]

I have never done this but I watched a guy blend a panel before (I did stay in a Holliday Inn Express that night). This guy put the masking tape on and then pulled the top edge and attached the paper allowing it to fold over. He said this prevented a hard edge on the repair and feathered the seam between the existing paint and the repair. He called it back masking.....and I don't know where I was going with this.

Great job and great stones trying this in the first place. I think it turned out nice! :dblthumb2:

[CEE DOG]

Never mind, I see the picture that answered my question.

Just wanted to say again.... excellent work and documentation. Thank you for sharing with us all! :dblthumb2:

[Setec Astronomy]

That really is a fantastic result. My concern would be that rattle-can clear seems to yellow pretty fast, since it's not a real catalyzed 2K clear. Of course, with the color of that car, you might not even notice any yellowing.

[CEE DOG]

How fast does it typically yellow?

[C. Charles Hahn]

How fast does it typically yellow?

Depends on UV exposure. In your Florida sun? I'd wager pretty fast.

That said, you CAN actually get 2K clear in a rattle can; just beware that any time you work with an isocyanate activated clear you need to take a lot more safety precautions. Also note that once you activate that product inside the can, it has a pot life of I think 48 hours after which point the whole can is no good anymore.

2K clear coat: Spraymax (http://www.spraymax.de/index.php?id=361&L=1)

[Setec Astronomy]

That said, you CAN actually get 2K clear in a rattle can; just beware that any time you work with an isocyanate activated clear you need to take a lot more safety precautions.

Yeah, sorry, I wasn't meaning to imply that you can't get a rattle can of 2K clear, because I have learned on here that you can. I did a touchup on a curbed wheel and even got special wheel clear (at pep boys :rolleyes: ) but a few years down the road it looks terrible.

And that's really important that you mention the isocyanates, that and the HF wheel acids are really things that people need to be careful with.