Clear Coat Peeling

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digit4l_gh0st

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The clear coat is peeling off the hood and front fenders of my truck, and I'm looking for suggestions on how to minimize damage to the body. There are already two small rust spots which I'm going to have to sand out which can be seen in the image below.

My initial thought was to sand off the remaining clear coat and just plastidip the hood and fenders. I was going to buy the aerosol, but a customer service tech for plastidip said that the coverage wouldn't be ideal for that large of an area. I then decided I'd just plastidip the entire truck. I have a limited budget and this seemed like the most cost effective way of preventing rust, and fixing the other cosmetic issues, scratched paint, fading, etc. However, I got to thinking and I don't know if the plastidip will bond properly without the clear coat. Also, my wife hates the idea of plastidipping the truck and would prefer I just get it painted professionally.

I won't be able to afford getting it painted until after the 1st of the year (income tax), so should I just sand and primer the hood/fenders in the meantime, or would plastidip be a viable option until I can get it painted?

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ramportin1

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Sand it all down, then go to automotivetouchup.com and order some base coat (get the paint code off your door) and a few cans of the spray max 2k clear coat. It'll be under 100 bucks to get enough to do the whole hood and if you take your time and do it right with excellent prep work it'll look really good

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ramportin1

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Only problem is then the hood will look better than the rest of the truck lol but some polishing could fix that

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digit4l_gh0st

digit4l_gh0st

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Sand it all down, then go to automotivetouchup.com and order some base coat (get the paint code off your door) and a few cans of the spray max 2k clear coat. It'll be under 100 bucks to get enough to do the whole hood and if you take your time and do it right with excellent prep work it'll look really good

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Is it aerosol or would I need an actual automotive paint sprayer setup? As far as the hood looking better than the rest of the truck it currently looks way worse than the rest of the truck so the change wouldn't be too jarring lol.
 

ramportin1

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Well they make both but you'd just order the rattle cans. They do a great job with there paints and the spray max 2k clear is as good as it gets as far as out of a can goes. If done right it will look professionally painted, just remember a paint job can only be as good as the prep work

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digit4l_gh0st

digit4l_gh0st

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I just thought about it, but would I need to sand it down to the metal and then primer it, or just sand down the clear coat and use the touch up to refinish the hood before applying the clear?

I've never done any kind of automotive paint, unless you count the time me and a buddy spray painted his Datsun, which turned out terrible.
 

ramportin1

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Well you could do either or. If it were me I would sand it down to metal, then use a adhesion promoter, then primer then base then clear then wet sand and or polish. But you could also just sand the clear off or until you start to see primer and go from there. But do your best to sand it all evenly if you dont take it to metal, and make sure whatever your painting on top of is solid

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Mike Murphy

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Gen III paint is known to peel. Primer is the cheapest solution but requires work and maintenance. After getting the truck painted a UV protectant can be applied to increase the longevity of the new clear coat/ base coat. My truck is doing the exact same thing but the wife is making me save for paint so it is going to be another 5-10 years. The quote I got here was 4-5k for paint minimum. Phoenix has Maaco but I guess that is one year paint. I am still researching. Show us your truck after getting it painted. :waytogo:
 

Dallaslebeau1979

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Please don’t plastidip. I’m fighting removing all that right now. And I did it for the same reason. Once I get it all off I’m gonna just sand it down prime paint and clear coat.
 

socalstefan

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I have the same coat issue on my 2006, got an estimate from Maaco including removing the dents and scratches + UV clearcoat for around $2200.....thats for the entire truck and comes with a 5 year warranty.
 

Smokeybear01

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This is an old thread, but I'm sure people are still searching it. I used a scouring pad to remove all the peeling clearcoat first, even lightly wet sanding a couple of spots with 1200 grit. I was fortunate that I didn't have any rust or primer showing through the base paint so I didn't have to primer and paint. Then I used an electric polisher and metal polish with a silicone base and brought the base paint up to a nice shine working real hard to blend into the surrounding clear coat. Next I switched up to a wax based (McGuires-but any good paste will work) and buffed that in to give the entire truck a nice shine and protect it from the UV. This won't last forever like a new paint job, but it's more elbow grease than money ($15.00) and I don't mind doing it a couple of times a year. It will give you a good looking truck until you can do something more permanent. But even new paint needs maintenance or it will look like crap within a year. Good luck.
 

MikeG71

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My truck is also doing this. Since a paint job is so expensive I was contemplating getting my rig Wrapped.
 

Smokeybear01

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My truck is also doing this. Since a paint job is so expensive I was contemplating getting my rig Wrapped.
Wrapping ain't cheap either and doesn't last any better than paint (I'm thinking nylon wrap that's used on motor homes and such) and still requires preventive maintenance to keep it looking good. But you can get a mixture of wild colors for a lot less than a fancy paint job. Just saying...
 

MikeG71

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Yeah its roughly $2-$3K to get my rig wrapped. We'll see what type of money is left after selling the house and paying off all our debt, maybe it will get painted after all. ;)
 
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