Camaro clear coat peeling, my quick fix

**02ssmaro** · 04-29-2011, 08:51 PM

When I bought my Camaro 3 years ago the paint was in good shape. Then the driver side door started peeling and it spread from there. I've seen a lot of other people with the same problem so I decided to post this to show a quick and cheap fix. This was my first time ever painting or working with paint on a car, so if I can do it anyone can. I would like to stress that this is not a professional job, this is just my quick fix until I get the money for a good paint job. Here are some pictures of the damage I took this morning.

Driver side headlight

Passenger side front

Passenger rear

Passenger door

As you can see the damage was pretty bad. I was getting sick of looking at it and finally fixed it today. Here is what I did.

Start off by washing the car. You do not want dirt or anything getting under your new clear coat. Then I took 2000 grit sand paper (3M) and a bucket of water and sanded the edges of the peeling clear coat until it was smooth. You want to try and get it so you can't feel the transition between paint and the clear coat. This might scare you a bit because the paint starts coming off a lot. My hands are colored red still. Don't worry cause it takes a lot of sanding to get the paint to fade. If you do go a little too far, when you put the new clear coat on it will cover it up so no worries. Here is what it looked like after I sanded it.

After you sand it clean the area with a wet rag and let it dry. This next part is where your neighbor's air compressor and paint gun come in handy. Grab your clear coat and mix it. I used DU Pont nason 498-00 select clear mixed with nason 483-78 select activator, mixed 4 to 1. Put in the gun and spray. Here is the result.

After letting it dry for one to one and a half hours you'll need to sand it again. This time I used 1000 grit (3M) sand paper. Go over the area lightly to get rid of any imperfections and to blend any over spray. Picture after sanding.

The final part is simple enough, if you have an electric buffer. Get a restoration wax, one used to bring out the shine from old paint, gob it on and start buffing. Poof! New clear coat. Here are my after pictures.

It looks pretty good for a 5 hour job, not perfect but it will keep from peeling further and look decent until I can get a real paint job. All in all I think it was worth it.

**98TransAmWs-6** · 04-29-2011, 09:02 PM

Nice Job!!! Looks really good.

**02ssmaro** · 04-29-2011, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by 98TransAmWs-6

Nice Job!!! Looks really good.

Thank you

**Kramsdell** · 04-29-2011, 09:30 PM

Looks sweet man, and you saved your 35th stripes and a couple grand.

**silverWS6** · 04-30-2011, 12:39 PM

Looks good! Now can we get a zoom in of your avatar?

**02ssmaro** · 04-30-2011, 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by Kramsdell

Looks sweet man, and you saved your 35th stripes and a couple grand.

Thanks, I'm still getting a paint job just now I can wait a bit and not feel so bad. I also saw this morning in the sunlight that there is some over spray in certain spots I missed. I'll need to re-sand it and polish again.

**02ssmaro** · 04-30-2011, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by silverWS.6

Looks good! Now can we get a zoom in of your avatar?

When I click on it it zooms in for me, sorry. She's also my wife, so maybe that's why I get to see more.

**psycho_puppies** · 04-30-2011, 06:11 PM

Nice!

**sok915** · 05-01-2011, 08:33 AM

looks good, get some pictures in the sunlight when you get a chance.

**Camaro69Mac** · 05-01-2011, 06:31 PM

Awesome job i'm very impressed i wouldnt even think of that. I actually got my door painted because of the clear coming off. You saved a ton of money by doing that

**02ssmaro** · 05-02-2011, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by sok915

looks good, get some pictures in the sunlight when you get a chance.

I just took some, I'll put them up later today or tomorrow.

**02ssmaro** · 05-02-2011, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by Camaro69Mac

Awesome job i'm very impressed i wouldnt even think of that. I actually got my door painted because of the clear coming off. You saved a ton of money by doing that

I can't take credit of thinking to do it though. My neighbor suggested it, and lent me his tools.

**silverWS6** · 05-02-2011, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by 02ssmaro

When I click on it it zooms in for me, sorry. She's also my wife, so maybe that's why I get to see more.

Oooooo, nice

**02ssmaro** · 05-02-2011, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by sok915

looks good, get some pictures in the sunlight when you get a chance.

Here are pictures taken today in the sun. It's still hard to see the over spray, you need to look close. If your going to try this I would recommend taping off the whole panel or section you are doing. That way there is no ugly over spray. Still looks better than it did though.

**Silver Streak** · 05-02-2011, 07:37 PM

Awesome job! My hood has gotten pretty bad... might have to give that a try.

**JayTA98** · 05-03-2011, 12:15 PM

I agree, great job . it looks 10 times better than before.

**KMdef9** · 05-03-2011, 03:14 PM

Great job!

**tatertot91** · 05-03-2011, 03:35 PM

Much better
good way to keep it from getting worse

**INMY01TA** · 05-12-2011, 07:45 PM

Great job.

**RyanJM** · 05-12-2011, 09:49 PM

Good job on it. I can't count the panels I have had to respray and blend on cars that peel. Reds and black seem to get it.the worse. The sun beats it up all you can do as wax it often and hope it doesn't peel. Some cars it happens to can't be helped just cheap factory paint job and no matter how much you wash and wax it you will get the peel.