Clearcoat fail?

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2022 5:47 pm
Picked up an '08 Jetta for a great price and it's mostly in great shape. One thing I notice is on the roof, hood and trunk lid it has these spots spread out all over it. I don't think it's from hail because they aren't dented at all. Actually for a lot of them they stick up a bit. Tried claybarring and nothing. I thought it may just be some kind of baked on dirt spots and actually tried to buff them out and it did nothing to them. Now I'm just figuring it's just bad clear and it'll all need wet sanded and recleared. Right?
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2022 5:57 pm
If you notice....all the areas you mentioned are the "flat" areas of the car. Something got on it in liquid form and had plenty of "dwell time" to start etching the clear. With so much road construction and building projects it could have been some kind of concrete or metal etch liquid. You aren't going to cut/buff heavy etching because you can't get down past the damage without rippng off the clear. Now that second pic. looks a little different to me. That kind of looks like clear coat starting to delaminate from within. That usually means the base color is failing and letting go of the clear. These kinds of damage/wear/tear aren't unusual if a car of this age wasn't garaged much.
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2022 6:28 pm
I was thinking the same thing. Something got splashed onto the car somehow that caused this at some point. I'm wondering if I were to wet sand the entire top of the car (roof hood and trunk) then respray a good clear on it if it would work or would I eventually end up with the same problem?

That second picture, I think that's really the only spot that is like that and that's on the roof. First pic is s apart of the hood.

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2022 11:14 pm
You just don't know if the clear will "fill in" those areas or if there was somewhat of a chemical change which could still react with the new clear. Maybe risk some bucks on a 2K
rattle can of Spraymax clear and try a small area..... Oh, and, yes, the roof is one of the first places that delamination of the clear begins.... and yes, it's in the early stages, and no you really can't stop it.....
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 02, 2022 11:51 pm
The first pic could be anything - acid rain, pollution, some kind of chemical? The second one is bird droppings.

In either case the acid has etched into the paint and if you clear over it, it will come back. Base and clear - same result. The acid works its way right down to the metal and that's how far you have to go to make sure it's fixed. If the first pic is clear starting to delaminate then it's the same story - back to bare metal because the clear has failed in protecting the layers underneath and they will be compromised.
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2022 1:09 am
I'm assuming if I were to wrap over this, you'd eventually see it over time and it would look bad?

I can obviously replace the hood and trunk but the roof is another story. What would happen if I wrapped the roof, wet sanding before to smooth it out then filling out any small divots? Would I eventually see the effects of whatever is ruining the clear through the vinyl over time?

Really want to avoid a respray especially if I need to go down to bare metal. If the vinyl wrap would "cover it up" well enough just for a couple years, I'd be happy with that.



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PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2022 7:09 am
clancaster23 wrote:
I can obviously replace the hood and trunk but the roof is another story.

Really want to avoid a respray especially if I need to go down to bare metal. If the vinyl wrap would "cover it up" well enough just for a couple years, I'd be happy with that.


i think youll end up spending less to respray all 3 areas over purchasing new hood and trunk.

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 03, 2022 12:39 pm
So if it is factory paint, it's 14 years old. Personally I wouldn't risk trying a quick fix on it.
Follow the above advice and strip it back to metal.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 04, 2022 9:33 am
So it's not that you "can't" vinyl wrap over paint that has problems it's just that..... when you put the wrap on you will immediately see some "transfer problems" and then even more become apparent, and finally almost everywhere there was the etch problems those show up.....then the peeling begins..... There really is no "quick fix" for what is happening.
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:01 pm
'68 Coronet R/T wrote:So if it is factory paint, it's 14 years old. Personally I wouldn't risk trying a quick fix on it.
Follow the above advice and strip it back to metal.

:goodpost: it just usually never works trying to cover bad paint with good paint or a wrap.
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