Paint Problem

[carnie]

This is my 2002 PT Cruiser which I have had since new, The car sits for 9 months out of the year in south florida (I'm a snowbird, Yeah I know, I should of covered it) I had a similar looking paint problem years ago, my insurance company sent a company out and he basically clayed the whole car but I'm afraid this might be clearcoat failure, I ordered a porter cable and all the goodies but haven't gotten to do any test spots yet, Thanks for any input and suggestions

[Setec Astronomy]

I would have to suspect CC failure given the conditions, but it does look a little unusual with the dots like that...how does it feel?

On a side note, you leave that car sitting for 9 months at a time and don't have any trouble starting it up etc. when you get down there?

[carnie]

I'm going to clean a spot really well tomorrow and look at it with a jewelers loupe, It actually feels fairly smooth but I'll look really close tomorrow, no problems with starting, I disconnect battery before I go but I leave my carnival equipment up north not started all winter and don't have any problems starting in the spring

[Jaretr1]

That looks like clear coat failure unfortunately.

[carnie]

I'm pretty sure you guys are right, I was able to take a picture thru the loupe,much to my suprise Think I'll just see if I can repaint those areas and see what happens , If you click on the picture you can zoom in pretty big, looks like bubbles

[Mike Phillips]

I ordered a porter cable and all the goodies but haven't gotten to do any test spots yet,

Sounds like you've been reading our forum.


From the pictures it looks liike clearcoat failure. It's possible it's some type of contaminant "on" the paint but again... from the pictures it looks like clearcoat failure.

Keep us updated as to what you find out...

[carnie]

I'm Pretty sure you are right on the clearcoat issue, I picked up a fender of the same year, color and it has exactly the same problem I'm guessing it's a heat related problem, but I can experiment on the junkyard fender before I figure how to fix the problem on the car

[carnie]

I'm Pretty sure you are right on the clearcoat issue, I picked up a fender of the same year, color and it has exactly the same problem I'm guessing it's a heat related problem, but I can experiment on the junkyard fender before I figure how to fix the problem on the car

I looked at the junkyard fender really close and it seems evident there is no clearcoat in the middle of the "bubbles"

[Setec Astronomy]

Um...next car I guess you should put some suntan lotion on before you leave it out for the summer.

[carnie]

Um...next car I guess you should put some suntan lotion on before you leave it out for the summer.

You got it, lesson learned, going to cover this year as car in good shape yet only has 30K miles yet