Clear coat failure, is this how it starts?

[dlc95]

That is what happened to my gf's old yellow GMC Canyon.

When we got together in 2012 the area between the door frame and the rubber gasket on the roof, the clear had peeled off.

Just before she got her new Jeep in Aug/Sept 2021 I noticed areas of the hood starting to bubble up.

Now it's peeled off in several sections of the hood, and drivers side fender flares.

It's an 04 that lived a large part of it's life outside in Orlando Florida, before coming back up to Detroit in 2012.

[Bill D]

Around here, about two hours from Orlando, I often see CC failure on cars on the road. Makes me cringe and go home and add another layer of sealant.

[Big Dave]

And Boom goes the Dynamite!

More rain today, then bright sun. Lightly touched it to see how much water was under it, and it just seperated.

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[Big Dave]

Around here, about two hours from Orlando, I often see CC failure on cars on the road. Makes me cringe and go home and add another layer of sealant.

I've been protecting this for almost 7 years, and it does have stone chips in other places on the hood, you'd think they'd be the obvious place for it to start, but no. I put a layer of Collinite 845 on it only a couple of weeks ago, no damage was obvious at that time. There have been stories about Toyota paint failure at around 10 - 12 years old in my news feed recently.

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[Tasmania]

That sucks Dave how much would it be to take the bonnet in and get a full re spray?

[Big Dave]

That sucks Dave how much would it be to take the bonnet in and get a full re spray?

Not sure of the cost, but more than I want to pay at the moment. I bought some 1500 and 2000 grit today, I'll sand it smooth and spray some clear coat over it. Won't make too much difference if I'm eventually going to respray the whole thing. If it comes out smooth enough, I may just Plastidip in the pattern of the vinyl wrap I had previously.

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[JustJesus]

Not sure of the cost, but more than I want to pay at the moment. I bought some 1500 and 2000 grit today, I'll sand it smooth and spray some clear coat over it. Won't make too much difference if I'm eventually going to respray the whole thing. If it comes out smooth enough, I may just Plastidip in the pattern of the vinyl wrap I had previously.

My own Toyota daily driver Yaris went through the same thing. it starts small, and eventually spreads through some of the horizontal edges. The clear coat starts drying up, and flaking off, sometimes during a wash. I had to dedicate drying towels for this car only, because some of the flaked off clear pieces stay on the towels!

I also took the approach of sanding it with the intent of spraying clear myself. Did a test spot. Nope. Removing the old clear uniformly is a challenge, and I ended up going through the thin base color coat. Good luck to you if you end up trying it yourself.

[Eldorado2k]

If it ends up cracking and opening up a gash, a cheap hack option could be to use Plastidip to cover it. It may not look so great but it beats having it spread and becoming even bigger to the point where you might have to re paint the entire panel.

Tape off the small section off and Plastidip that sonbitch. That way it’s only a small square that you’ll be able to live with.

[2black1s]

Not sure of the cost, but more than I want to pay at the moment. I bought some 1500 and 2000 grit today, I'll sand it smooth and spray some clear coat over it. Won't make too much difference if I'm eventually going to respray the whole thing. If it comes out smooth enough, I may just Plastidip in the pattern of the vinyl wrap I had previously.

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Before I sanded and sprayed the clear, I'd try a brush touch-up first.

If you sand and spray the clear coat you are going to end up with a repair and blend area that is at least six-inches in diameter and probably closer to a foot or more. That will look horrible.

If you try the brush touch-up (clear only) you can keep the repair area very small, no larger than the peeled area you are dealing with. In the end, the smaller repair will most likely be less noticeable than the larger "spray" repair.

If it were me, I'd take a single-edge razor blade and probe the edges of the offending clear coat, chipping away any clear that has lost, or has marginal, adhesion. Then lightly scour the exposed based coat with a scotchbrite pad. Do not sand and featheredge the clear coat, rather, use that edge to help contain the clear that you are going to apply. Then apply the clear with a brush staying within the confines of the chipped away clear coat.

At this point you can decide how much more work you want to do... You can stop right here as you have now protected the area from continuing to grow, or you can continue to apply additional clear, as required, sanding and polishing until you are satisfied with the appearance.

Whichever route you choose, be realistic with your expectations... It's never going to be perfect.

[Tasmania]

Take the bonnet off and black plastidip the whole thing, it will match the black on black wheels.