Tips on detecting if a car has had a lot of touch up paint

F

frosty

New member
Joined
Nov 17, 2009
Messages
271
Reaction score
0
Looking for tips on detecting if a car has had a lot of touch up paint

I posted pix of an 08 Civic in another post. The paint was swirled really bad. I started off with a test section on the hood with SIP & Orange.

It perfectly got the swirls out but upon in the section it appeard like there were more imperfections than before.

Here's a pix before I did any work.

tn_P1000431.JPG


Here's a pix of the little imperfection that showed up as soon as a pad hit the paint.

tn_P1000441.JPG


You couldn't really feel the places and the paint didn't look crystal clear but not out of the normal compared to other Honda paint I've inspected.

I went ahead and did the whole hood as it's a car I just picked up and wanted to pay attention to before and after. Sure enough, after each section, what I'm assumming is touch up paint came off.

The nature of these, I'm not sure exactly what they are or could have caused them. You can just barely feel them with a fingernail so I have to believe they won't come out.

Since about any pad on a machine would have uncovered these, my first thought, man I'm glad this wasn't a customers car. I even hit this whole panel with a paint gauge to make sure there wasn't anything out of the norm.

So now to the purpose, is there any way to detect a cover up like this. I like to think I can see touch up spots and if you look at the before pix, nothing really shows up. You couldn't really feel it etc.

My next post is going to be for ideas on what to correct this. :)
 
Last edited:
My step sisters 06 Honda Civic sedan has those EXACT same scratches ALL over hear hood, especially near the grill. It almost looks like the metal diamond plating doesn't it?

Her's were masked as well.
 
zinc02gt said:
My step sisters 06 Honda Civic sedan has those EXACT same scratches ALL over hear hood, especially near the grill. It almost looks like the metal diamond plating doesn't it?

Her's were masked as well.
Click to expand...

Sort of. In another post I have on suggestions to tackle it, a lot of them look like little crows feet. I was trying to think of a way to describe the as a Y or peace semble or something. Almost makes you think somebody had to almost purposely do it or a symptom of something with paint.

You can't feel them with your fingers. Again barely with a finger nail.

I would have hated to try and explain this to a customer. A machine couldn't make these patterns but since I couldn't explain what did it could be an unpleasant situation.

I hope this thread will eventually shed some light so we can benefit from it.
 
Yeah, the Y-shaped stuff. Diamond plating was the first thing i could come up with lol

I'm almost curious as to whether or not it's a factory defect. How two cars HUNDREDS of miles apart can have the EXACT same defect in the paint.
 
Honda paint has problems with crows feet over the years and those little lines in the paint are the start of crows feet. The paint is in the first stages of clear coat failure.
 
ASPHALT ROCKET said:
Honda paint has problems with crows feet over the years and those little lines in the paint are the start of crows feet. The paint is in the first stages of clear coat failure.
Click to expand...


Speaking of that, my step sister actually had clearcoat failure on a little side panel. I told her, and my step grandmother who was buying the car (when they were test driving it), about it and that I would take the car back because it obviously hasn't been taken care of.

Apprently it fell on deaf ears.
 
I have the same effect on my 2007 Odyssey. I agree with Asphalt in that I believe it is the first stage of clear coat failure. I have already asked the service writer about it when I brought my Ridgeline in for service last weekend. They asked me to bring it in and they would have the manager look at and see what happens. I will be bringing the vehicle in before the end of the month for service and to have this looked at and if anyone would like me to share my response I would be happy.

BTW, my Odyssey lives in the garage and only has 23,000 miles and 14,000 of those miles were week long trips to FL to visit family. This vehicle leads a very sheltered life.
 
I have seen a lot of Chrysler Jeeps with this problem. I have heard it called crows feet and also heard people call it checking, though checking is normally in more round (bird bomb) shaped patterns. I believe the reason you see them now as opposed to before is that now they are filled with polish residue making them more visible. These defects to my knowlege are not correctable as they do go clean into the primer.
 
tuscarora dave said:
Ichecking, though checking is normally in more round (bird bomb) shaped patterns. I believe the reason you see them now as opposed to before is that now they are filled with polish residue making them more visible.
Click to expand...

Interesting, rubbed on them and didn't seem to be polish in them. But would make sense as I don't see how somebody could have touched up scratches that well.

I took a tooth pick on a couple to try and get the polish out but no luck. I may try a q tip & IPA or something.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top