Is this clear cost burn through?

[Farmallluvr]

It looks to me like something was flapping against it in the wind,,,,like a the fabric part of a ratchet strap ,a rope or even sheet plastic,,have you tried anything more aggressive than Ultimate Compound?

[DMiglio]

Man that’s just so strange, good to see you’ve got some thick paint though!

Being you bought it new, possibly a defect from the factory?

Only other thing, big shot in the dark here, possibly a light reflection off the chrome window trim shining onto the paint? At this point I’m all out of ideas :/

Keep us updated!

[BenRothman]

It looks to me like something was flapping against it in the wind,,,,like a the fabric part of a ratchet strap ,a rope or even sheet plastic,,have you tried anything more aggressive than Ultimate Compound?

I didn’t think I needed to. The problem is that I can only see these lines in very certain lights. So I will think that i fixed it, and then a week later I happen to park the car in the right light and I see these lines again.

[BenRothman]

Man that’s just so strange, good to see you’ve got some thick paint though!

Being you bought it new, possibly a defect from the factory?

Only other thing, big shot in the dark here, possibly a light reflection off the chrome window trim shining onto the paint? At this point I’m all out of ideas :/

Keep us updated!

It could very well be a defect from factory. But I’m honestly not sure. My only thing I want to know is that is it clear coat burn through? If it’s not clear coat burn through or the beginning of clear coat burn through, I can probably live with it.

[DMiglio]

It could very well be a defect from factory. But I’m honestly not sure. My only thing I want to know is that is it clear coat burn through? If it’s not clear coat burn through or the beginning of clear coat burn through, I can probably live with it.

Gotcha. At this point I’d be more inclined to say it’s not burn through. If possible can you get paint depth readings along this mark and then paint along this panel? Juuuuust to be sure it’s not extremely thinned clear.

Here’s to it being nothing major and not needing a repaint

[PaulMys]

Only other thing, big shot in the dark here, possibly a light reflection off the chrome window trim shining onto the paint?

Keep us updated!

Funny you mention this, David.

I was on a Ram forum and a guy was trying to polish out the same kind of "marks" on his tailgate with no avail.

Turns out it was the light reflection from the "spoiler". (The part that juts out on the top of the Ram tailgate). I have actually seen this happen on my Ram in the right light.

I'm not saying this what is happening to Ben's car, but you made a great point. And it happens.......

[Sizzle Chest]

It almost looks like a hologram/buffer trail...

[BenRothman]

Gotcha. At this point I’d be more inclined to say it’s not burn through. If possible can you get paint depth readings along this mark and then paint along this panel? Juuuuust to be sure it’s not extremely thinned clear.

Here’s to it being nothing major and not needing a repaint

I’ll cheers to that. I have taken a paint gauge to that part of the car and it was 6.6 Mils of paint. But now that I think about it. It really only makes sense that it’s a reflection of some kind because it only happens in some lights. I have been on really sunny days and the car has no lines there. If it was clear coat burn through, it would show up if I shined a flash light on and wouldn’t only show up in certain lights. Also it would be kind of weird to have 6 Mils if paint and already be through the clear. Especially when using a griots garage dual action polisher. What do you think?

[DMiglio]

Completely agree, if it’s not there consistently I’d probably rule out burn through. You have lots of paint proven when measured. Might just be some anomaly due to reflections.

Strange things happen at the factory and delivery of vehicles so it’s always possible there’s a defect of some sort and as Mike said, possibly under the clear coat. Again, the fact it’s not consistent and only very specific circumstances adds to the confusion of what it may be.

Sizzle Chest’s post has me recalling a memory I’d rather forget..

Only time I personally have seen a line like that is when I used a pad perfectly fitted to my backing plate. As I polished I came across a large concave area of a body panel. Trying to move too quickly, I then hit the backing plate on the paint. This unfortunately left a very hard to remove mark.

Although it didn’t look exactly like your mark, just got me thinking of another way something like this may happen.

[BenRothman]

Completely agree, if it’s not there consistently I’d probably rule out burn through. You have lots of paint proven when measured. Might just be some anomaly due to reflections.

Strange things happen at the factory and delivery of vehicles so it’s always possible there’s a defect of some sort and as Mike said, possibly under the clear coat. Again, the fact it’s not consistent and only very specific circumstances adds to the confusion of what it may be.

Sizzle Chest’s post has me recalling a memory I’d rather forget..

Only time I personally have seen a line like that is when I used a pad perfectly fitted to my backing plate. As I polished I came across a large concave area of a body panel. Trying to move too quickly, I then hit the backing plate on the paint. This unfortunately left a very hard to remove mark.

Although it didn’t look exactly like your mark, just got me thinking of another way something like this may happen.

I agree 100%! also the fact that after seeing the line I compounded and polished that area and still nothing pretty much means that I have not come close to clear coat burn through. The reason I think that is because if that lines was the start of clear coat burn through, then compounding and polishing that area would have definitely removed the remaining clear coat. Since that did not happen I don't believe its clear coat burn through and I also don't believe its the start of clear coat burn through.