Solutions for bad clear coat (1 Viewer)

[MDarius]

So, I picked up a 92 to fix and flip and the clear coat on the hood and fender flares is terrible. I know some people black out the hood. That's kind of a niche market for whether people like it or not. Aside from an expensive commercial repaint, what other solutions are out there? What else have you done or tried? Post up your pics!

 

[mechanist]

Wet sand, mask, and spray with correct Toyota white from a can. Wet sand again after 48 hours and respray. Do this a few more times. Then take to Maaco for clear coat. Call them for a quote - it's usually pretty cheap for just clear coat.

Edit: wet sand with 4K-6k grit. My brother will sometimes use 2k, but only for initial pass. Then 6k for smoothing and resurfacing the oxidized paint.

 

[cybrstar]

Either repaint, or what I finally decided to do is keep the Patina.

Instead of bugging me because of all the money and time I spend on it, it's starting to grow on me.

And until I finally decide to repaint the whole rig, I'm going to fill all the holes from the flares, racks, spoiler and get that ol'school look when I do.

 

[inkpot]

So, I picked up a 92 to fix and flip and the clear coat on the hood and fender flares is terrible. I know some people black out the hood. That's kind of a niche market for whether people like it or not. Aside from an expensive commercial repaint, what other solutions are out there? What else have you done or tried? Post up your pics!

View attachment 1409347

Is that really white? I thought only white and black did not have clear pat. Is it already a repainted?

 

[retrofive]

Is that really white? I thought only white and black did not have clear pat. Is it already a repainted?

That looks like the silerish color not white, but may be the rain on it.

 

[MDarius]

No, it's the silver/gold-ish color. I saw a chart one time, but forgot the name. It's almost the same as my 97 LX.

For resale purposes, what are your opinions. If I kept I would... I don't know what I'd prefer. Dang it.

 

[Marine7]

Monstaline it

 

[MDarius]

Can I see pics of deflared trucks? I'm having a hard time finding them specifically. If you remove the flares and patch the holes, then you still have the issue: paint match, contrast, or monstaline. I guess it doesn't really solve the original question.

As for monstaline, my whole purpose in this one is to bring it up to decent quality specs for little $$ and sell it for more. I want to make sure that there's more than one guy in the state that it appeals to. I like the purpose built functionality of the monstaline, but I think it makes it harder to sell. Yes? No?

 

[2fpower]

I like the black hood insert look. Did this on lexus. First scuffed and recleared entire hood, then taped and put down flat black (John deere blitz black).

Would also look fine to put on a vinyl sticker black.

 

[mechanist]

Ah it's not white! I looked at it and thought it was white. Is it two-tone? Yeah that changes things. I think it would still be good to wet sand with 6k, and then see how it looks.

There's probably a couple thousand YouTube videos on wet sanding. I've never tried it with silver. Many have had success with it, but I've never done it.

Evidently by wetsanding the oxidized paint you bring out the original color. Then by rattle-can painting the areas in need you build up and reinforce original colors. Technically, you can then rattle-can paint and clear coat the whole car (we've done this when flipping trash trucks bought at municipal auctions), but Maaco gives a much better coat of clear much faster and for only a little bit more. Whether you go Maaco or rattle can - taking the time to polish the clear coat makes the vehicle look amazing. It's incredible how we can use rattle cans to make trash trucks look awesome.

Maybe watch some of the videos and see what you think. And Maybe try it on the side mirrors so you can make them at least match, and get an idea of the results.

 

[MDarius]

Great info! Thanks.

 

[MDarius]

Here's another picture from the side. The color difference in the fender flare isn't from the rain, it's peeling clear coat.

 

[thatcabledude]

Champagne beige metallic is the name of that color.

 

[LINUS]

I worked the detail shop of a bigger Seattle dealer in college, and did the airbrush/rock chip / small paint work that they didn't want to bill the body shop hours/$$$.

My process for fixing the 90's clearcoats, either b/c of UV damage or water-based paints they used then:

Claybar to get the surface really clean, you're shooting the entire panel of places you want to refresh.

Scrape off loose clearcoat with a razor (can't really explain, sorta a stunt you learn doing paint), then blocksand to feather the edges into the color. A quick wetsand with 800, work down to 1200/1500 -whatever you have in hand.

Mask & shoot clearcoat - you can choose how you want to go, anything but Valspar or Krylon. I have a HVLP gun, I just buy cans & mix/shoot.
For funky colors or if I'm lazy, I get bombcans made at the local PPG vendor - but for resale I doubt $20/can paint is what you want.

Colorsand out any ridges, bugs, orange peel, fisheye - you get it. 1500 is coarsest you want to use for this, make sure paint is cured.

Buff with whatever you have, wax as needed to make look mostly great - my goal in writing this as I did was to use your already bought items inhouse or spend less than $100 to fix. It's a flip.

I did exactly the above to my 450 & it was the green color, so the dark would have showed mistakes more than lights. This is a perfect color car to find your technique on.

 

[Box Rocket]

My truck was in very similar condition when I bought it. Peeling/pitting clearcoat on the hood and flares.




I blacked out the center section pretty early, but the peeling was all over the hood so the black didn't cover all of it. Last summer I repainted the rest of the hood in my garage. I just sanded it smooth, primed, sprayed with custom mixed 2 stage OEM color from a rattlecan followed by a 2-part Clearcoat also from a rattle can. Total investment of about $100.

Primer


Factory color basecoat


2-part clearcoat




I chose to Plastidip the flares, but the above process should work just as well on the flares if you want to keep the factory color.

 

[MDarius]

I found the solution to ALL my problems.

 

[mechanist]

I found the solution to ALL my problems. View attachment 1409851

This is the greatest thing I've seen all day.

 

[Stoshu]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/attachments/1409851/
This should have been a factory paint option. I can't even imagine how many they would have sold. Definitely would have been more popular than the dealer installed running boards.

 

[MDarius]

My truck was in very similar condition when I bought it. Peeling/pitting clearcoat on the hood and flares.




I blacked out the center section pretty early, but the peeling was all over the hood so the black didn't cover all of it. Last summer I repainted the rest of the hood in my garage. I just sanded it smooth, primed, sprayed with custom mixed 2 stage OEM color from a rattlecan followed by a 2-part Clearcoat also from a rattle can. Total investment of about $100.

Primer


Factory color basecoat


2-part clearcoat




I chose to Plastidip the flares, but the above process should work just as well on the flares if you want to keep the factory color.

I just went back and re-read your post and actually noticed who posted it. @Box Rocket, you've got mad skills. I think you could make the cat/unicorn thing look good! I'm afraid you're a wizard and I'm a mere fool of aTook. But, I'm still up for trying it.

I don't have a great garage. I'm thinking of removing the hood and hanging it from the rafters instead of taping everything off. Is there a reason I shouldn't do that?

 

[bajaphile]

I've been wanting to address my clear coat forever. My hood looks pretty close to that... @Box Rocket do you have a link to the paint you bought?

I've been getting by with keeping the hood waxed. It isn't a fix but it masks the severity of it. Every month I clay bar, polish (2x), carnuba wax (2x) then use 3m wax sealant. Comes out pretty decent.