need some input

[timaishu]

I dont even know where to begin. Lots of thoughts running through my head.

So I have these hazy spots on my roof as outlined in the pictures. They have been there for awhile. I cannot remember when I first noticed. But I made a thread awhile back when I noticed it near my sun roof.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/40830-what-spot-my-paint.html

I was washing today and I noticed that due to the sun angle, I could see the spots especially well on the roof. They were quite visible so I took some photos. It has been like this for atleast 6 months as thats when I first noticed.

I just noticed today that it is on my roof side rails bits as well. Thing is though is that I polished half of it with swirlx last week to remove swirls(only did half so I could see the difference. Got lazy and didnt do the other) and its look completely normal on the polished side but hazy on the spot that didnt.

With my roof though. I first compounded it over a year ago and didnt notice it then. I then polished my car with ultimate polish about 5-6 months ago. So it either appeared after all that or it was always there and I never noticed and the compounding didnt remove it.

It isn't peeling or anything and you cannot see if without looking at an acute angle in direct sunlight. It is invisible in the shade.

Thoughts Mike?
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/covertmission/P1050635.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/covertmission/P1050634.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/covertmission/P1050633.jpg

[swanicyouth]

I have a small area that looks like that ( on my Nissan) in my case it's where I polished too aggressive to remove a scratch and went through the clear coat. In my case the color is a little lighter but hazy. Running your finger across creates no different feel. Could you have over polished those areas with an aggressive polish?

[aerogt01]

How old is the vehicle? I have oxidation on the rear bumper of my 2001 Pontiac. It polished out, but I know it will come back. Once your clear starts oxidizing the only thing you can do to stop it is use a coating.

[timaishu]

I have a small area that looks like that ( on my Nissan) in my case it's where I polished too aggressive to remove a scratch and went through the clear coat. In my case the color is a little lighter but hazy. Running your finger across creates no different feel. Could you have over polished those areas with an aggressive polish?

Its only ever been compounded once by me. I did UC with orange and then followed up with swirlx on white. That was about a year and 4 months ago. Then 6 months ago I decided to polish it using ultimate polish on white.

Thats all Ive done. I dont know about its passed as I bought it used.


How old is the vehicle? I have oxidation on the rear bumper of my 2001 Pontiac. It polished out, but I know it will come back. Once your clear starts oxidizing the only thing you can do to stop it is use a coating.

Its a 2005. By coating do you mean something like opti coat?

[aerogt01]

Yes.

[timaishu]

No one else has any ideas?

[Porsche Pilot]

From the pics it has the signs of clear coat failure. If so, I would Opti Coat it to at least slow down any further degradation.


"These cars are meant to be driven, not polished" - Dr. Ferdinand Porsche

[timaishu]

Man I hope its not cc failure. Ill cry. :(

Is there anyway to know for sure? I mean, its been like this for atleast 8 months. Then again Im not familiar with the process of cc failure and how long it takes.

If oc will slow it down I am game. I have been thinking about OC'ing my car anyway just because I hate waxing.

I hope to get more responses. Would like to know what I am dealing with.

[Mike Phillips]

From the pics it has the signs of clear coat failure. If so, I would Opti Coat it to at least slow down any further degradation.





I agree with Ed. From the pictures, it looks like beginning clear coat failure. The fact that it's happening on a horizontal panel also confirms.

This is why I really like the picture in the below thread because it shows BEGINNING clear coat failure. It's easy to find and take pictures of FULL BLOWN clear coat failure but take more work to get really good pictures of beginning clear coat failure and the picture in the below thread is of beginning clear coat failure on black paint, which makes it even more valuable.

Beginning Clearcoat Failure (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/29197-beginning-clearcoat-failure.html)

Photos Courtesy of MeguiarsOnline
http://archive.meguiarsonline.com/gallery/data/500/2600_8_30_06OG003.JPG


Also see my recommendation on page 2 of the above thread.


I'm building a new Monster Truck for a daily driver and I've been trying to decide which type of paint to go with and after reading this thread and many others like it I've decided to use single stage paint and avoid the entire cost and hassle of a clear coat finish and simply avoid the potential for clear coat failure all together, especially living in South Florida.

:)

[Jomax]

Mike, you drive a lifted truck??

[Marc08EX]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news (at least I'm not the first), but that's definitely the start of clear coat failure. My '99 Accord did that too and after a year or two, the CC eventually failed and spread like wildfire.

[timaishu]

I took another picture today. And noticed something strange. I put my finger one of the spots to help focus the camera. Since my finger was there, I was curious if this had any sort of texture to it. Notice nothing but strangely enough, rubbing my finger on it seemed to clean it up?

I licked my finger and rubbed it some more and now I have a clear patch. I let it sit for 5 minutes and its still clear. Now 20 minutes later, it still looks just like the picture. I don't want to jump up and down and start high fiving yet.

What would cause this to happen. If it was truly failing, why would it clear up? I could understand it being wet and making it look clear because the saliva would make it more reflective. But after drying, wouldnt it go back to how it looked before.

Im am going to take a wild guess and hope that its super dry petrified wax/compound? That is my only guess.

Im going to wash the roof and take some pinnacle cleansing lotion to it and see what happens. Maybe a light polish by hand and then some IPA and see what happens. I will report back later.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/covertmission/Detailing%20Stuff/P1050640.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/covertmission/Detailing%20Stuff/P1050639.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a57/covertmission/Detailing%20Stuff/P1050638.jpg

[timaishu]

Yep, didnt do much. Glad I didn't give my hopes up.

Its wierd. It seemed to improve it a little. But over all nothing really changed. So it must be cc failure.

I just a gold class wash, clayed, OPC 3:1, pinncacle paint cleasnsing lotion and then tried two different spots by hand with swirlx and ultimate compound. I know using a compound at this point is fruitless and did more harm than good in all likely hood. But I just wanted to try. It improved it slightly, but not really.

So my plan is to order some OC 2.0. Im gonna wait to see if there are any sales during detail fest. But it will for sure be coated.