Help on how to repair peeling Clear Coat?

70S Targa Guy · 07-07-2011, 10:01 AM

I have a pearl white car (three stage paint) that has a spot about 9 inches in diameter where the clear coat has peeled off...See picture below. I would like to do the repair myself as I can get a can of good quality clear coat made at an auto body paint supply store. What is the best way and with what sequence of gritted material do I sand and prep the affected area? I was thinking I can get away with a red colored or even the finer gray colored Scotch Brite pad and roughen up & feather entire area including the bare painted area where clear coat has peeled, clean with wax and grease remover and blend the clear coat over much of the fender. Finish with wet sand, buff and wax. Is this about right or do I need to proceed differently? Thanks.

Bob Kontak · Bob Kontak's Garage

Wait until those that know more than me answer. I think you are on the right track. I am pretty sure though you will need to shoot the whole panel with clear coat.

What scares me is why it is peeling and if in time, more will separate.

962porsche · 07-08-2011, 04:18 PM

that is a bad repaint ! who every sprayed the car does not know how to paint ! if one spot is pealing then there is a real good bet that the rest of what ever was repainted will peal too ! most of the time when only the clear is pealing like that the cause is from traped solvents when it was repainted . the cause is because the amount of product sprayed on the car . with a try color ( 3 stage finish ) your spraying on twice the amount of base colors this meens twice the amount of solvents from the base color too . 1st you have to spray the white base then you have to spray the mid coat pearl color . if you do not let the product ( base ) flash for a longer time ( twice the time than it would be for just a base clear AKA 2 stage ) then when the clear is sprayed it trapes the solvents from the base under the clear coat . with the solvents having no place to evaporate off to over time the clear will start to delaminate . do a test ! take a razor blade and see how much more clear you can take just off the base coat . or you could use some duck tape . stick the duct tape on the panel real good and put it back off real quick . if clear omes with it then the panel will have to be striped . you should not haveto strip it down the bare metal but all the clear will have to come back off the car . if you just try to do a spot repair and then down the road you find that even more clear is starting to peal then you will be really f@$% !!!! it will make the repair twice as hard to do then the right way .

70S Targa Guy · 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 962porsche

that is a bad repaint ! who every sprayed the car does not know how to paint ! if one spot is pealing then there is a real good bet that the rest of what ever was repainted will peal too ! most of the time when only the clear is pealing like that the cause is from traped solvents when it was repainted . the cause is because the amount of product sprayed on the car . with a try color ( 3 stage finish ) your spraying on twice the amount of base colors this meens twice the amount of solvents from the base color too . 1st you have to spray the white base then you have to spray the mid coat pearl color . if you do not let the product ( base ) flash for a longer time ( twice the time than it would be for just a base clear AKA 2 stage ) then when the clear is sprayed it trapes the solvents from the base under the clear coat . with the solvents having no place to evaporate off to over time the clear will start to delaminate . do a test ! take a razor blade and see how much more clear you can take just off the base coat . or you could use some duck tape . stick the duct tape on the panel real good and put it back off real quick . if clear omes with it then the panel will have to be striped . you should not haveto strip it down the bare metal but all the clear will have to come back off the car . if you just try to do a spot repair and then down the road you find that even more clear is starting to peal then you will be really f@$% !!!! it will make the repair twice as hard to do then the right way .

Thanks for the info 962. I will do as you suggested and give the peeling clear coat area a Brazilian Wax with some duct tape! This car was repainted by previous owner about 5 years ago and this is the only spot that is peeling. The rest of the car's paint is gorgeous. The peeling clear coat area has not grown in size the few years I have owned it.

962porsche · 07-09-2011, 05:04 AM

duck tape was invented in WW2 for sealing things like ammo cans from getting salt water into the cans . when they would off load the ships off shore they would load the supplys into a amphibious trucks that are called DUKW . the GI's called them DUCKs . thats were the name duck tape comes from . later on when homes started having forced hot air heating . people started also using it for sealing heating ducts . when i stated its a bad repaint . i was not talking about the way it looks . there is just a hand full of things that will make the clear delam off the base color . i hope in this case i'm wrong !!!!! must of the time a delam from solvent being traped will not show up for 3 years or more later . if one panel is doing it then other spots may show up from area's like were there is a stone chip . the reason is that the clear is not biting into the base color but just sitting over the top of the base . depending on how wet the base still was when the clear was applyed .you can get the clear bubbling off or if the base was just a little wet . the clear will srink away from the under side of the clear coat .

Fishcop · Fishcop's Garage

Cool to know about the duck/duct tape origins

911Freak · 07-13-2011, 09:49 PM

962 nailed that spot on.

Back in the day when I was restoring/flipping cars I saw a lot that had similar paint issues. At the time I was a paint/body guy so I'd just blow off all of the paint regardless of how old/new it was or that some panels were still looking good. I didn't mess around with single panel/spot repair (especially with tri-stage). No good comes of it.

Your other panels will follow suit, guaranteed, probably starting with the top panels (hood-roof-tail) it's inevitable. I'd prepare for a total repaint.

Sucks, but at least you'll have a proper paint job you can be proud of, knowing it was done right (do it right!), in the mean time you can live with the spot that's showing, no?

Remember there are no short cuts or quick fixes in the autobody paint world, not if you want a quality product.
Leave the spot repair for the guys that buy their 'spray paint' at the local autoparts store, your Porsche deserves the best!

Keep us posted and good luck!