Clearcoat Coming Off Driverside Quarter.

**96Firebirdformula** · 07-23-2009, 07:59 AM

What should be done?

**leitthouse** · 07-23-2009, 11:03 AM

Sorry to see that! Try searching for possibilities, Google "clear coat peeling".

Meguiar's says "I hate to be the one to break it to you Paul, but once your clear coat starts to fail there really isn't any way to stop the spread. ... Sometimes you can slightly minimize the appearance, but that is usually a very short lived concealment."

Here's a possibility I found at another sight, "I have seen this on other German cars, even a Mercedes. I slowed down a problem like this by pealing all the clear I could by hand, sanding the color and edges with some very high grit and spraying some clear on it. It helped hold down the edges of the clear until I could repaint the whole top of the car 6 months later. You may want to talk to a shop about a repaint."

My thoughts. You could peel off the delaminated parts then feather the edge of the clear coat. Prep the painted part by a very light sanding using nothing rougher then 1500 grit. I don't know how much of the basecoat is left, so sanding is a big risk as you might get to the primer fast. Hmm, instead of sanding, maybe a liquid prep, acetone is probably to risky, so perhaps isopropyl alcohol. Mask an area so that some of the remaining clear coat will be sprayed. Then reapply seveal layers of clear coat. It probably won't be as nice as the rest of the car, but hopefully it'll be good enough that you really have to look for it.
I'm not a professional automotive painter, but have experience painting aircraft...however no clearcoat is used, just alodine, primer, then topcoat. This is my best guess and opinion.

**rideon1200** · 07-23-2009, 03:47 PM

Had same thing happen to my rear bumper. Had maaco paint it for 200.00, end of problem.

**leitthouse** · 07-24-2009, 12:55 PM

TIME!!!

Everything I've read about this, they all say the same thing. It keeps getting worse...sometimes it comes off in sheets.

The longer you wait, the worse it's going to get.

**SHines-IT** · 07-24-2009, 01:07 PM

I had this happen to my hood, about how much will it cost to get the hood painted?

**rideon1200** · 07-24-2009, 01:29 PM

Yes it does. I waited for about 1 month then went to car wash and blew it all off. Then I waxed it. It looked better till I painted but still looked like crap. Yes, it comes off in sheets like a onion. Pressure wash it all off and wax till you can paint. Nothing you can do will stop it.

**black crowe** · 07-26-2009, 05:36 PM

My clearcoat came off a portion of the front bumper. It came off while I was hand washing the car. I was scrubbing bugs off the front bumper and noticed it coming off. I thought I might have drove through something and it splashed up on the bumper, and caused the clearcoat to start peeling. I am going to get the whole front bumper redone when I get the extra cash.

**Customta98** · 07-27-2009, 07:11 PM

Yeah thats no fun it's called delaminating and it occurs when the clear has nothing to grab to it flakes off, its caused by improper prep of the surface before paint (i.e. not sanding properly/scuffing) the only good way to fix it is to sand back down and spray primer, blend base coat, and clear. Just go down to your local body shop and get a quote, it really should not be that much to fix but you should get it fixed sooner rather than later cause it will only get worse.

**2002 WS6 KILLS** · 07-28-2009, 05:41 AM

My hood is currently experiencing this problem. I am exploring the option of getting a carbon fiber hood. If not, it's coming off and getting repainted!!

**1stbird** · 08-13-2009, 02:35 PM

I have the same problem with my driver's side quarter panel. Do I repaint just it and the hood (which needs it) or the whole car? I don't want to screw up the originality of the car. Any opinions?

**JaycenK** · 08-13-2009, 07:46 PM

If you want it done right, take it to someone that will sand the clear off the entire quarter down to base and even primer. The problem with a quarter is there are jams on it and to do it right they need to take it down inside the jams a little ways so it dosn't peal from the edge 2-3 years down the road. Then they will repaint base coat and then clear it, and then sand and buff. If they have to they can age it so the car matches. Oh and by the way if they say they can clear the whole car and make it look new again for little $ don't do it!!! Had that happen by a chevy dealer that fix my spoiler peel and now the car looks good but I have that same problem with it lifting up. I tried to sand most of it off but looks like I will need to repaint the entire car in a few years.