Paint and clear coat correction and restoration

[FireFox31]

Can anyone share their experience with paint correction, clear coat correction, or other methods of removing body surface blemishes while increasing the strength of its finish? I'm specifically looking for high quality, long term solution that will last like the factory finish.

My new-to-me 1998 V70 T5M was garage kept for 19 years, then parked outside under no trees for 6 years. Its paint and clear coat are in great shape aside from some scratches. Now I have it parked under a tree with birds pooping on it constantly. Though I wipe them off frequently, they're still etching the clear coat.

Once the car is functional, I'll park it away from this tree. Then I'd like to reverse the damage from the birds and the other marks. My goal is long term protection for the paint and clear coat, lasting 10-15 years at least.

Clear coat applied outside the factory doesn't seem to last forever. My 2002 Mercedes was in an accident, got a new hood and fender painted and coated by a high quality body shop. About 14 years later, the clear coat suddenly flaked off in large swaths. Perhaps it was because I hadn't been driving the car for over a year, or perhaps that's as long as they last.

I want to ensure that any restorative work I do to the T5M is not worse than the factory finish. It might be better to live with etched clear coat and scratches than to have a third-party finish which will fail and need to be redone. Thanks for your input.

[BlackBart]

I have a 2001 Audi A4 wagon in a Santorin mica metallic. The clear on the roof started to craze last year and then came off in sheets like wax paper. Discouraging.

I bought a Griots random orbital polisher and some of their compounds and I'm impressed. Easy to use, good results.

[BlackBart]

IMG_9792.JPG (851.19 KiB) Viewed 795 times

[scot850]

That is clear coat? Looks like some kind of 3M pain protector. Wow, I have never seen clear coat on a Volvo fail that way, guess it is due to living up north we don't get the same sun intensity.

Can you replace the clear coat only, or do you have to remove all the clear coat on that panel, re-base coat, then re-clear coat?

Always wondered about that as I have seen a few cars for sale up here that have had roofs, hood or trunk lids with clear coat damage. I have never thought to find out how to fix it and the cost of doing so.

Neil.

[wizechatmgr]

The "proper" way of redoing the clear coat is to bring the car all the way back to base metal. Use a primer, wet sand, another coat of primer, wet sand, color coat, wet sand, another color coat, then clear coat, another clear coat. This is if you're looking for that showroom look as if it just came out of the car wash and is wet..

If you just care mostly about corrosion protection, you can get away with stripping it, using a self etching primer, and then color coat, then clear coat.

If one is using rattle cans (spray paint) then I'd go with option B. It's never going to look showroom perfect, but it'll still usually look a hell of a lot better.

[wizechatmgr]

Wait a month or so after you apply final clear coat before you use some good quality wax no matter which method you go...

[BlackBart]

That is clear coat? Looks like some kind of 3M pain protector. Wow, I have never seen clear coat on a Volvo fail that way...

That was an Audi, 2001. Failed in a matter of months and the roof did that.

I was told by several people you can’t just sand it and do clear coat over the existing. It’s as wizechat describes above.

[scot850]

I didn't think so ass any sanding of the base coat shows through the clear. I found that on a car I had repaired after someone (the dealer's courtesy driver) backed into the car in their lot. They painted it and you could clearly see the sanding marks under the clear. I did think that maybe sanding the clear off and repainting over the original base coat and clearing might work. Sounds like not!

There was a nice looking 960 for sale recently, but the hood and roof have clear coat issues, strangely not the trunk lid. Problem was the car needed a bit of work and with that and the paint fixes the owner was asking what a good one is worth.

Thanks,

Neil.

[Krons]

any sanding of the base coat shows through the clear.

I would have guessed going to finer and finer grit and eventually wet sanding would do the trick but at that point easier to add another coat of color.