Anyone know what this paint problem is?

[moosey]

Hi

The attached pictures are of a friend's late 1990s Sebring. The affected area is just below the headlights (on the bumper) and is not present on any other area of the car. The car was always garage kept, never abused and has <50k miles.

Nothing really seems to do anything for the problem. Is it some type of paint failure in that one area?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[christian900se]

Thats clear coat failure. It can result from many different conditions, but most likely a bad paint job. Only solution is a respray.

 

[AeroCleanse]

Looks like clear coat failure to me.

 

[moosey]

Thanks guys, that's what I was afraid of.

 

[RaskyR1]

Yep, looks like CC failure. Never seen it in that area before. Could be that someone did a headlight correction in the past and didn't tape off the paint...

 

[moosey]

Yep, looks like CC failure. Never seen it in that area before. Could be that someone did a headlight correction in the past and didn't tape off the paint...

Not sure if that happened before or not, as the car was bought used. I was wondering why it was just in those two areas also.

 

[RaskyR1]

Not sure if that happened before or not, as the car was bought used. I was wondering why it was just in those two areas also.

I'd say it's very likely. I've seen many of those cars with faded yellow headlights before. If they used a rotary and a larger diameter wool pad it could easily have removed enough clear to cause the failure.

A good body shop should be able to repaint the bumper for a few hundred bucks.

 

[ScottB]

It is quite common now for companies to buff off the oxidation on headlamps and then clearcoat them for extra protection. In some cases they dont even remove from car, just tape over the other areas.