rough winter on my paint! Am i going to have to repain?

[Cruisin'Carolina]

My take is from the pic it is the opposite side fender from the batt location. Another is the probability of the repaint. So it might just be the result of age/faulty adhesion of the clearcoat, but the tree mentioned cannot be ignored IMO.

I live just 2 hrs S of him, and being a West-Texas transplant, (NO TREES) I have been amazed at the effect they have on autofinish since I located here 6 years ago.

Cars that go unwashed get the clearcoat burnt off or eaten off pretty quick....look like a SW sun-burnt finish.....

Since I downsized for baby last year (= no garage ) I could wash my 4Runner, wax it, and within hours would have the specs Concrete is talking about. This lasts the entire time leaves are on the trees (my driveway sits under two large ones). It could be insect related, and is not large drops of sap, but if you go a week without washing, you can rub your hand over the finish and it is like sandpaper. A touchless wash doesn't even remove all of it, it takes hand rubbing.

I kept the hood of the 4Runner clean, and would wash it off 2X week until I washed the whole thing (neatfreak) each weekend. But I did neglect to do the roof as often, and there were a couple of spots forming up there I found when I detailed it for sale (00' Always garaged, never repainted, exposed to this condition for only 4-5 months).

That stuff is nasty, and IMO, will eat anything it comes into contact with it if not constantly addressed.

 

[toddslater]

Todd, i just may take you up on that.

I purchased a rattle can of clear-coat (3M). I'll get some touchup paint, wetsand that area to get to the edge of the failure, touch it up a bit and cover it with some clear.

Cjungle,

Without knowing what was squirted and is flaking off...and I am running under the assumption it was a poorly applied urethane....you may have some "lifting" issues where you feather edge (sand) between the color and clear coats. To lock this down and keep it from lifting, (and no I will not endorse rattle can paint work) get yourself some epoxy based primer in the flipin rattle can. Put the epoxy primer on very lightly for the first couple of passes in the feather edge area and let it dry real well between coats (say 15-20 min @70deg...put a heat lamp on it or one of those bright ass hot getting halogen work lamps @8-12 inches away). After say the second pass, then put on two good normal wet coats...let dry for 24 hours. Then you can do a little final wet sand with say 600....then put on the color followed by the clear. The epoxy primers are somewhat of a biatch to sand....but it is the most economical way to lock things down that will most assuredly come back to bite you in the ass. Besides, your not using the epoxy primer as a filling primer...so the sanding should be minimal. Other things.....clean the areas real well with prep solv/pre kleeno to get any wax, tar, grease, bubble gum, those little sap type dots etc...off. Use a tack cloth prior to putting on the color and clear...and tape out and cover the rest of your truck to prtect from overspray....yes it is possible even with a rattle can. Good luck with it...and hey whatever happens...it couldn't look any worse than it does now.

 

[cruiserdan]

My back drivers side door and quarter panel has been resprayed and clearcoated. And the clear coat is flaking off. Since it is a 94 LC and white.. I thought I read somewhere that white was the only color that did not have a clearcoat?

What I was wondering is since this clearcoat has also yellowed, and makes that part of the LC look cream, is there a way to just take the clearcoat off? Because the white paint underneath is just about a perfect match after some polishing is done.
As you can see..Its starting from the bottom of the rear windows and moving down.

Thanks for any input,
Gary

White was not originally cleared, nor black. Totota's solid-pigment colors are not clear-coated in most all instances.

 

[gbell210]

ToddSlater....

I found where it said the exterior has a clear-coat paint finish (Except White). I found that info in the 1994 Landcruiser Sales Brochure from toyota I have in my hands. Now maybe they are wrong, but why would they put that in a sales brochure.. I would think having no clear-coat is a bad thing?

Beat me to it Cdan, and in 94 the brochure doesn't say there is black, only other non metallic colors are 2-tone red or 2-tone gray.

 

[toddslater]

Well f me...I would have bet big ones that by the time the 80's rolled out everything was BC/CC. None the less you can bet the farm that that non BC/CC has a shiite load of clear in it. Also, you have probably answered your own question

"Because the white paint underneath is just about a perfect match after some polishing is done."

Sounds like if you run a buffer on it with a little light compound it'll come back up nice.

 

[gbell210]

I guess the main question I had was is there any chemicals that pull just a clearcoat off or is that just going to require alot of manual labor of sanding? IF I decide to go that route.

BTW thanks for the info about CG's auto pain in Columbus, I'll look into that as well.

 

[Matador98]

So what would be the poor man's fix for a rig that is becoming more and more a trail rig? And don't say just leave it be, or rattle can. I'm thinking of wetsanding it and then applying clearcoat over it and walking away?! what chu think?

That is exactly what I would do. Be careful wetsanding so you don't go through the color coat (read, go slow, and don't use anything below 1000 grit), and go to your nearest auto paint supply store and buy their best clear coat. They should also have some nifty rubber sanding blocks that you can wetsand with to take the contours perfectly. It should be pretty close (actually, it will be way shinier, until you take it on the trail ).