Clear coat failure, is this how it starts?

[Big DaveBig Dave is verified member.]

So I removed all the loose bits, cleaned it out, then brushed the clear coat into it. I did this over the last week till it was above the surrounding clear coat. Then wet sanded it back down till it felt and looked smooth. Then cut it back with Scholl S20 Black, then S30+. It's still very obvious up close, but when seen from a low angle it's not too bad. There's still some very fine sanding marks under optimal lighting, but they're going to be hidden under Plastidip or vinyl soon.

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[Tasmania]

Done a really nice job :buffing:

 

[chefwong]

Dave -

If you go the vinyl route just make sure the area is well -blended-
Vinyl will amplify any defects and transfer it back

 

[2black1s]

So I removed all the loose bits, cleaned it out, then brushed the clear coat into it. I did this over the last week till it was above the surrounding clear coat. Then wet sanded it back down till it felt and looked smooth. Then cut it back with Scholl S20 Black, then S30+. It's still very obvious up close, but when seen from a low angle it's not too bad. There's still some very fine sanding marks under optimal lighting, but they're going to be hidden under Plastidip or vinyl soon.

Now that you are done, how do you feel about the brush repair vs. the spray repair you were initially considering?

I think you made the right choice. If you sprayed it, you'd still see the chipped area just the same, plus you'd see the much larger blend area surrounding the chip.

Short of repainting, it looks like you did as good as you could.

 

[Big DaveBig Dave is verified member.]

Now that you are done, how do you feel about the brush repair vs. the spray repair you were initially considering?

I think you made the right choice. If you sprayed it, you'd still see the chipped area just the same, plus you'd see the much larger blend area surrounding the chip.

Short of repainting, it looks like you did as good as you could.

I'm pretty happy with it, it's not perfect, but neither would the spray repair have been. Like you said, it's a less noticeable end result.

I already have experience with wet sanding and buffing. On one of my previous cars there was about 30+ stone chips all over the front of the hood. I meticulously filled each one and wet sanded them smooth. Then buffed it till they were invisible. I didn't bother with clear coat on those, it was a darker metallic, almost gun metal, called Turbine Mica, a GM colour. I should see if I can find some pics I took at the time.

Thanks for the good advice.

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[Big DaveBig Dave is verified member.]

Rather than starting a new thread, I thought I'd just bump my old one. I've been noticing for a couple of years these two blemishes starting to appear on the rear drivers side of my hood. They've been very hard to capture pictures of, but finally the lighting conditions were right after the last wash. They don't respond to claying or polishing, leading me to think it may actually be under the clear coat.

I'm not too bothered as I've already had clear coat failure on another spot on the hood. I did a home repair on that, then covered it with matt black Plastidip. The FJ is 12 years old with 222,000km on it, so I'm really just curious if anyone has seen this before. The pics have been enhanced to show up the blemishes, nobody else has ever noticed or said anything, but to me they're really obvious.

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[DUBL0WS6]

I'd say that the majority of cars that sit outside will have some clearcoat failure by 15 years.