Mysterious crosshatch scratches on front hood

[lexusgs]

I went to polish a hood on my parents Acura TL yesterday and noticed all those small white cross hatch scratches all over the front of the hood, it almost looks like the paint cracking on the front hood area near the headlights, those scratches are not on the front bumper or anywhere else, just front hood area. I have never noticed this before and I have looked at the hood several times when washing it/drying it. It is almost like they magically appeared when I started polishing, I thought I was possibly doing it with the pad like I got something in the pad but I noticed them all over the front area where I did not polish. They don't polish out, they seem down past the paint. My dad had a Black Accord that had basically the same thing all over the front of the hood. The Acura TL has had a coat of Opti Coat on it for about 2 years or so, I thought it could be the Opti Coat cracking but again my dad had a very similar thing on his Honda which was never polished or had opti coat.

The Acura TL is mostly parked in the garage, it is not driven too often nor does it really ever sit out in the sun or cold temps for a long time, it is washed every week and well cared for. It has never hit anything, front never received any kind of damage. It has been on a few long trips where some insects collected on the front but they never caused any permanent damage.

What could they possibly be, should I contact Acura if pre mature paint failure. What can I do about it aside from repainting the hood, Dr. Colorchip?

[Setec Astronomy]

That's crow's feet, a common problem with hoods of Honda products. There's no fix.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/50720-crows-feet-lacquer-checking.html?highlight=crow%27s+feet

[oldmodman]

Yep. Repaint is the only perfect fix.

I had a neighbors son ask me about his older Accord. He was pretty upset when I told him that there was no cheap and easy fix for it.

Ten year old car. Always parked in the sun, outdoors. And I don't think that it had EVER been waxed or protected in any way.

So he's going to sell it and get another car.

I guess I will be telling him the same thing about it in a few more years too.

[Mike Phillips]

That's crow's feet, a common problem with hoods of Honda products. There's no fix.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/50720-crows-feet-lacquer-checking.html?highlight=crow%27s+feet

The link didn't open for me?

This one does,

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/50720-crows-feet-lacquer-checking.html

:)

[Mike Phillips]

Here's a better picture and more specific info for this type of paint defect in clearcoat paints.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/40855-clearcoat-fracturing-versus-clearcoat-failure.html


:xyxthumbs:

[Hoytman]

Mike, do you know what rest is? LOL!!!

Then again, most red heads I know do tend to be hyper active. LOL!!

[Boejoula]

If the paint color is Crystal Black Perl there was a recall on those cars. At least for my old Civic Si there was.

[Setec Astronomy]

The link didn't open for me?

This one does,

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/hot-topics-frequently-asked-questions/50720-crows-feet-lacquer-checking.html



Oops, I just did a search and copied the link without opening it, but you're right it wouldn't open from this thread or the search window. It seems to be that apostrophe thing like is going on at Autopia, because none of the 4 threads that came up when I searched for "crow's feet" in the title would work (even though your thread doesn't have the apostrophe), but if I search on "crows feet" the links work. Weird.

[lexusgs]

If the paint color is Crystal Black Perl there was a recall on those cars. At least for my old Civic Si there was.

I am pretty positive the color is called Nighthawk Black Pearl for Acura which is what is on the TL. This is very disappointing if the paint is failing already. It is a 2008 and always garaged, always had a coat of wax, washed every week, the burden/cost of dealing that paint failure should not fall to owners especially when they had to have known this was a problem for a long time after a little research I did, pretty much all Honda's/Acura's effected since the 90's. My parents 96 Accord had the same thing but it was worse, I thought it might have been something my dad did like a grit or 2 of sand got caught in his buffer.

I guess I will be contacting American Honda.

Has anyone tried Dr. Colorchip on something like that, if you keep smearing it it may fill in the cracks, only problem is it will likely be removed when using the liquid to remove excess paint.

[Setec Astronomy]

Has anyone tried Dr. Colorchip on something like that, if you keep smearing it it may fill in the cracks, only problem is it will likely be removed when using the liquid to remove excess paint.

I don't remember anyone ever trying it, but it seems like a good (although possibly temporary) solution. I'm not sure why the solvent wipe would be any more likely to remove the paint from a crow's foot than a chip.

Don't feel like your care had something to do with this, this usually is from engine heat, perhaps combined with sun heating on dark colors.

[damaged442]

You are correct. Nighthawk Black Pearl is 2008. Crystal Black Pearl is 2009 and up. I have seen several write-ups with crow's feet on Honda/Acura paint. It's more common than one would think.

[lexusgs]

I don't remember anyone ever trying it, but it seems like a good (although possibly temporary) solution. I'm not sure why the solvent wipe would be any more likely to remove the paint from a crow's foot than a chip.

Don't feel like your care had something to do with this, this usually is from engine heat, perhaps combined with sun heating on dark colors.

When I tried Dr. Colorchip I had issues with wiping all the touch up paint I laid down out of the nicks and small chips with the solvent, these crows feet hatch scratches are very fine and I don't think you could get the touchup paint deep inside them but can mostly just get it on the surface which should cover most of it up but when you go to do the solvent wipe it will be difficult not to wipe the little touchup you were able to get in those mini scratches.

I know my/my parents care did not have anything to do with this as the car is not even driven much/every day and is garaged and rarely sits out in the sun or very cold temps and is washed every week and always has some kind of protection on it which is why the paint having issues is so odd and unacceptable. I detail cars on the side and I have never seen that in any other cars I have detailed, even black/dark colored ones, only saw it in this car and my dads black Accord, I don't think it is engine heat that did that because the engine never runs hot, needle never goes even to the middle part of the temp range, and again the car is rarely exposed to the sun for very long.

[DapperStyle]

Blame Honda's cheap clear/paint/basecoat/primer system. As another poster said see if there is a recall for it but a repaint will be the only solution besides using a vinyl wrap to cover it up. Almost all clearcoat failure I've seen in my life has been on Hondas/Toyotas and 90s-2000s GM products.