Flaking Clearcoat on LandCruiser

If the paint job still looks really good you might want to conside getting the whole vehicle re-clear coated. Clear coating doesn't last forever. Think of it as a sacraficial coating to keep your paint looking new.

Is the clear coad the kind the dealer likes to make money on, like when the finance person is putting preasure on you for add-ons when you're trying to sign papers to take you car? If it is, it isn't the paint. Maybe some rubbing compound will do it, followed by polish and wax. A detail shop maybe able to fix you up if you don't want to do it yourself.

DL

Approximately 10/1/03 09:45, D Lawrence uttered for posterity:

Dealers don't sell or install clearcoats. The clearcoat is the top layer(s) of the paint job. If it is flaking off, it leaves the color coat(s) exposed and no amount of rubbing compound will deal with that. The stuff the dealers try to sell is basically just a fancy wax or sealer job. It doesn't take rubbing compound to remove either.

If I were you I'd go to a local bodywork shop and ask for a quote to see what they'd suggest. 4 years ago I had a similar problem with a van and I cleaned the flakey stuff off, used acetone to wipe clean and then did my own clear coat and unless you really looked closely you couldn't see it. Now this area was on a rear quarter around a corner so it was easy to blend but on a section like you describe it may be difficult to do so. For the cost of doing it yourself vs. a body shop doing it you may find the $$ difference is pretty small. If I had to do it again I think I'd go the body shop route.

Cameron

You're right about the clearcoats, I was just using that as a generic tterm for the fancy wax job the dealers sell. Usually the actual paint clearcoat is not a problem, it's the junk the dealers sell. Now it is some kind of Teflon coating.

However, I don't think he should break out the sand paper yet, until he can verify that it is indeed the actual paint that is the problem.

I'd dealt with this problem myself. I buff the whites off with a dishwasher steel then 000, then 0000 fine steel wool and spray clear coat/hardener. Problem solved.

My Honda develops a vanishing clear coat, and left the (silver) paintjob exposed. The transition between the bear paint and clear coat left a white dried flaky salt look, like a dried salt lakebed. Silver with no clear coat looks decent but the imperfection came from the flaky whites. I like it better now.

Automotive standard issue:

Hardner 14 US$ half pint Clear 17 US/pint urethane Thinner 5 US/a quarter pint

All requires, spray gun, & approved skin, vapor mask. Koji