Clearcoat failure?

[Detailing Jedi]

This area first appeared immediately after correcting the paint with microfiber pads. When I first noticed the trouble area, it was about a third of the size. Some adhesive-like residue formed when I rubbed it with my finger. I did an extra Isopropyl Alcohol wipe down, reclayed, and made another pass with the polishes. Didn't help. After a week, I wetsanded the area with 3000 grit. I didn't get any blue paint transfer when I wetsanded.

This is on the trunk of a 2010 Jaguar XF that has been extremely well maintained. I did find another area near the right fender that is exhibiting the same effect. I have tried every trick I know but fear this will require a complete repainting of the trunk. No previous paintwork or wetsanding had been done on the trunk.

 

[mwoolfso]

Looks like CC failure but this fast.... man that's extreme. A close-up pic of those edges would confirm it. Do you have a chip in the paint anywhere within this damage?

 

[BobbyG]

To me it looks as if you may have worn through the clear when you used the microfiber pads. Wet sanding appears to have exasperated the situation making the breached clear coat area grow in size. The only way to fix this is to repaint the panel or area...

 

[Detailing Jedi]

To me it looks as if you may have worn through the clear when you used the microfiber pads. Wet sanding appears to have exasperated the situation making the breached clear coat area grow in size. The only way to fix this is to repaint the panel or area...

I thought it was near impossible to go through clear with a Porter Cable. The area had already grown before I tried wetsanding. What is throwing me is that I didn't get any blue on the sandpaper when I sanded. In the end, however, I think repaint is the only fix.

 

[BlackHawk]

Paint transfer is not always the case. Sometimes you can burn through and it wont show color.

 

[FUNX650]

Excessive heat was probably the enemy.
De-lamination became the occurrence.
A re-spray is the solution.

Bob

 

[BobbyG]

I thought it was near impossible to go through clear with a Porter Cable. The area had already grown before I tried wetsanding. What is throwing me is that I didn't get any blue on the sandpaper when I sanded. In the end, however, I think repaint is the only fix.

Today's paint is scarey thin and while it's fairly robust, abrasive compounds will sand through it rather quickly, even with the Porter Cable 7424xp, if left in one place for a long period of time.

To illustrate this lets put this in perspective by comparing a known and relate it to microns. On average, a human hair is about 100 microns or 100µm.

1µ = 0.00003937in
10µ = 0.0003937in
100µ = 0.003937in

Now that we know how think a human hair is, see how it compares to the paint film thickness on most cars today....It's thicker than any individual coating applied and might be equal to all of the coating thicknesses combined!


Paint Application

Automotive paint is applied in layers and each one is designed to to work with out bond to the previous later. Today protective coating and paint layers can total 5 or more and at varying thicknesses. The photo below illustrates not only the coating but the average film thickness....

 

[Detailing Jedi]

Looks like CC failure but this fast.... man that's extreme. A close-up pic of those edges would confirm it. Do you have a chip in the paint anywhere within this damage?

I couldn't find a chip. Here are some close up pics. The original blemish started on the left side and spread predominantly to the right.

 

[Detailing Jedi]

Close up of right edge Pic 2

 

[Detailing Jedi]

Close up pic 3

 

[allenk4]

Excessive heat was probably the enemy.
De-lamination became the occurrence.
A re-spray is the solution.

Bob

I agree with FUNX75 that Heat probably caused the damage.


I have seen this type of damage done on a test hood by applying too much throttle and downward pressure.

I have also seen it "Saved" by re-compounding the affected section with less speed and down pressure. Definitely worth a try, especially if the defect is only in the CC.


Make sure you post your results...whatever happens