Repainted custom van

[Powerman]

Repainted custom van


My wife’s van is a 2000 Ford hi top custom. We have had to repaint the top twice due to clear coat failure. The clear turns white shatters a comes of in thick curls. This year the skirt trim did the same thing. After going to six different paint shops I found a little independent that would do the work.

Two dealers and three body shops turned me away.

These were all fiberglass areas, the factory paint on metal still looks great after I followed mikes book and cleans up and opti coated the paint. We just took it in to have the hood repainted as the clear was starting to haze.

The body panels are quite detailed and I purchased a rupes 75 to work on them.


I want to accomplish two things,

1. Bring the newly painted areas up to the gloss of the rest of the body
   
   
2. Come up with some sort of product to apply to try to prevent this from happening again.

I’m planning on trying out the rupes UHS system on my test spots, if that works I’ll do the whole van with the help of a local that I have been showing how to use the rupes equipment as I can’t bend over or work on a ladder anymore.

Then I have to pick a product to protect the paint. The roof is 9ft off the ground so is very hard to reach, this makes reapplication difficult. I have read in the forums that there are several spray on products that provide a higher level of uv protection.

I’m not certain that this is a uv failure, perhaps just heat on the fiberglass.

Any suggestions before I get anymore invested? I have no experience with repainted cars other than what if read in the forums.


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[Mike Phillips]

Hope you don't mind but I edited your post and formatted it to read easier. (for me)

[Mike Phillips]

Just curious....

Where do you live? Or better, where does the Van live?

Arizona? Or some place with a lot of direct sunlight?

I have read in the forums that there are several spray on products that provide a higher level of uv protection.

That's probably this article I wrote sharing a product from Optimum Polymer Technologies.

Patented UV Protection - Optimum Car Wax - by Dr. Ghodoussi at Autogeek.com


Optimum Car Wax





I'd recommend reading the entire article as there are more pics, info and links.

Patented UV Protection - Optimum Car Wax - by Dr. Ghodoussi at Autogeek.com

This is the second time I've shared this article today, see here,

Hi Mike....and others - Oxidation or clearcoat failure?

I’m not certain that this is a uv failure, perhaps just heat on the fiberglass.

Any suggestions before I get anymore invested? I have no experience with repainted cars other than what if read in the forums.

Hard to say or know?

I know urethane body parts hold heat better and longer than sheet metal body parts, (don't ask me how I know - Red Viper), I think fiberglass does too, thickness may have an affect.

We have real car painters that are members of this forum but they don't always hang out all of the time.

A vinyl wrap might be a better long term solution. If you go with the Optimum Car Wax, the key will be to use it often to "maintain" it's presence on the surface.



Sorry I don't have better help... maybe someone else will have better info and help?

[Powerman]

Just curious....

Where do you live? Or better, where does the Van live?

Arizona? Or some place with a lot of direct sunlight?





That's probably this article I wrote sharing a product from Optimum Polymer Technologies.

Patented UV Protection - Optimum Car Wax - by Dr. Ghodoussi at Autogeek.com


Optimum Car Wax





I'd recommend reading the entire article as there are more pics, info and links.

Patented UV Protection - Optimum Car Wax - by Dr. Ghodoussi at Autogeek.com

This is the second time I've shared this article today, see here,

Hi Mike....and others - Oxidation or clearcoat failure?







Hard to say or know?

I know urethane body parts hold heat better and longer than sheet metal body parts, (don't ask me how I know - Red Viper), I think fiberglass does too, thickness may have an affect.

We have real car painters that are members of this forum but they don't always hang out all of the time.

A vinyl wrap might be a better long term solution. If you go with the Optimum Car Wax, the key will be to use it often to "maintain" it's presence on the surface.



Sorry I don't have better help... maybe someone else will have better info and help?

The van is currently living in Katy Tx. Hot summers, lots of industrial pollution. As it’s 9 ft tall it sits in the driveway and has for 18 years.

I have the optimum rinseless wash in my wish list. I was just cruising the forums looking for a video that I watched on a foam gun with a foam booster.

I just got an autogeek foam gun but want to add a booster as in the past the foam just ran off the car. I’m not using a pressure washer so I don’t know if I can develop a good sticky foam.
The foam gun looks like a good fist step to getting it clean followed up with the rinseless wash.

The red van is very yellow as we are in high pollen season.


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[SWETM]

Did you noticed when you had the clearcoat failure that the base coat also had those cracks and peeled off?

If you liked the opti coat that would be good to have as a base protection and then maintain with Optimum Car Wax every month. And if you would miss it sometimes it's not leaved unprotected. Another combo is Gyeon CanCoat and Gyeon Wet Coat. You get uv protection from that too and is easy to apply. I think that you can extend the longevity of CanCoat up to it's 6-8 months with applying Wet Coat monthly. Wet Coat you spray on and rinse off with a strong water pressure from the PW or the hose. But with the size of the van you would benefit from a pressure wash. Then you would be able to use a foamcannon to apply prewash foam and car soap and even protection with foaming on Gyeon Bathe+ and rinse off.

The industrial fallout you mentioned, can that be acidic and do you know what kind of fallout it is? Since different dirt dissolves with different chemicals. Carpro has a ironx foam that you can use to wash your car with monthly. That could be takeing care of the industrial fallout. And use a dedicated prewash foam and Gyeon Foam is a good one to be a little more effective than just car soap.

Can it be the Blackfire Foam booster you thought of for more foam?


BLACKFIRE Foam Booster, foaming booster shampoo

[Powerman]

Did you noticed when you had the clearcoat failure that the base coat also had those cracks and peeled off?

If you liked the opti coat that would be good to have as a base protection and then maintain with Optimum Car Wax every month. And if you would miss it sometimes it's not leaved unprotected. Another combo is Gyeon CanCoat and Gyeon Wet Coat. You get uv protection from that too and is easy to apply. I think that you can extend the longevity of CanCoat up to it's 6-8 months with applying Wet Coat monthly. Wet Coat you spray on and rinse off with a strong water pressure from the PW or the hose. But with the size of the van you would benefit from a pressure wash. Then you would be able to use a foamcannon to apply prewash foam and car soap and even protection with foaming on Gyeon Bathe+ and rinse off.

The industrial fallout you mentioned, can that be acidic and do you know what kind of fallout it is? Since different dirt dissolves with different chemicals. Carpro has a ironx foam that you can use to wash your car with monthly. That could be takeing care of the industrial fallout. And use a dedicated prewash foam and Gyeon Foam is a good one to be a little more effective than just car soap.

Can it be the Blackfire Foam booster you thought of for more foam?


BLACKFIRE Foam Booster, foaming booster shampoo

The base coat looked fine when the clear coat failed. I was surprised to see how thick the clear coat was when it pealed.
The roof that had been repainted in 2007 was a good 5 mils. The lower body which had the van customization paint on it was 3-4 much thicker than what is on the body which I believe has factory paint.

The industrial fall out can be both acidic or base depending on which way the wind blows.

We were living in Austin about a mile from a white lime processing plant that used to paint even the inside of the house with a fine white powder, I’m assuming it was very alkaline. The clear coat on my 1996 Cadillac failed, as well as the van and the rear spoiler on my 2005 Prius. Lots of repainting the following year.

The blackfire foam booster is what I was looking for.

I just need to figure out if I should use the optimum rinseless was with the booster to foam or use a different cleaner with the blackfire and then follow up with the optimum after scrubbing the foam with a boar bristle bush to get it pre-cleaned. Then a two bucket wash for everything but the roof, that I’ll just have to spray the optimum on. You can’t reach across the to of the van standing on a 10 ft ladder.




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[Powerman]

The base coat looked fine when the clear coat failed. I was surprised to see how thick the clear coat was when it pealed.
The roof that had been repainted in 2007 was a good 5 mils. The lower body which had the van customization paint on it was 3-4 much thicker than what is on the body which I believe has factory paint.

The industrial fall out can be both acidic or base depending on which way the wind blows.

We were living in Austin about a mile from a white lime processing plant that used to paint even the inside of the house with a fine white powder, I’m assuming it was very alkaline. The clear coat on my 1996 Cadillac failed, as well as the van and the rear spoiler on my 2005 Prius. Lots of repainting the following year.

The blackfire foam booster is what I was looking for.

I just need to figure out if I should use the optimum rinseless was with the booster to foam or use a different cleaner with the blackfire and then follow up with the optimum after scrubbing the foam with a boar bristle bush to get it pre-cleaned. Then a two bucket wash for everything but the roof, that I’ll just have to spray the optimum on. You can’t reach across the to of the van standing on a 10 ft ladder.




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Would it be redundant to use the optimum car wax after the rinseless wash and wax. I don’t have a problem doing that, on the roof I would wrap a microfiber towel around the brush to wipe the roof down after spraying on the wax. I don’t need it to look pretty I just need protection.

I’m only going to try to buff the roof out after decontaminating and trying a clay cloth just to get it clean. Is it even necessary to polish it to get to clean paint before it’s very roughly opticoated. Or is chemical decontamination enough.


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[Powerman]

Would it be redundant to use the optimum car wax after the rinseless wash and wax. I don’t have a problem doing that, on the roof I would wrap a microfiber towel around the brush to wipe the roof down after spraying on the wax. I don’t need it to look pretty I just need protection.

I’m only going to try to buff the roof out after decontaminating and trying a clay cloth just to get it clean. Is it even necessary to polish it to get to clean paint before it’s very roughly opticoated. Or is chemical decontamination enough.


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Taking advantage of the flash sale.

Grabbed the blackfire foam booster and the optimum rinseless wash and wax to clean the van.
Also got the optimum spray wax to use as a topper/detail spray with the big refill.

I’m hoping I can just do a rinse and spray wax to keep up the uv protection every month without having to do a lot of cleaning up on top.
Only time and the crap in the Houston Air will tell.


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