Restoring or preserving clear coat

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ClevelandBaller

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Hi everyone, first post on here but it seems like a good active community.

I just bought a 2001 Mazda MX-5. Most of the paint is is pretty good condition for its age (only generalized swirl marks), however there are two spots where the clear coat is peeling. One of those spots also has a bit of surface rust about the size of a dime. What are my options for restoring these areas? If a full respray is the only option, how much would this cost for a high quality job? Could i have only specific panels be repainted? And if nothing else, what can be done to prevent the peeling and rust from getting any worse?

Thanks!

Edit: Meant to attach these photos of the problem areas in question

View attachment 67758 View attachment 67759
 
Welcome to AutoGeek. You just purchased an 18 year old run of the mill compact car. I would take it to a body shop to get a quote on only the small spots in question, do a quick polish and use a long lasting sealant. A full paint job not from MaaCo, will cost more than the value of the car.
 
Billy Baldone said:
Welcome to AutoGeek. You just purchased an 18 year old run of the mill compact car. I would take it to a body shop to get a quote on only the small spots in question, do a quick polish and use a long lasting sealant. A full paint job not from MaaCo, will cost more than the value of the car.
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Well, there is a pretty big community of enthusiasts for this car in particular which is why I’m interested in keeping it in good shape. How effective will a body shop be at spot fixing something like this? From what I understand painting a car is an art form
 
Sorry, I came off a bit dic*ish. Not intended. A good body shop should absolutely be able to fix it. where are the spots located on the car?
 
Welcome to AGO!

If those are the only spots on the car, any good body shop should be able to correct them. They might need to do the whole panel, but not the whole car.

Just beware that the rest of the car may eventually suffer from the same CC failure. Especially the horizontal panels.
 
I think that is a MX-5 Miata, not MX-3. I see the top in the pictures. I would take it to a reputable body shop and get it resprayed. Once they start peeling there is not much you can do.
 
Oops, I meant MX-5 . But yeah i added a couple photos on my original post. I guess the best thing to do would be to talk to a body shop and see what they think. I am worried that even if i repair the current peeling areas, others will soon follow. Does anyone know of anything that can be done to protect the cc that is still in tact?
 
ClevelandBaller said:
Oops, I meant MX-5 . But yeah i added a couple photos on my original post. I guess the best thing to do would be to talk to a body shop and see what they think. I am worried that even if i repair the current peeling areas, others will soon follow. Does anyone know of anything that can be done to protect the cc that is still in tact?
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Coat it!!! Do a minimum prep to get the surface super clean and apply a ceramic coating.
 
That's the problem with Mazda's. Unfortunately even the newest ones have the thinnest paint / finish I've measured on any car and I measure every one I do. Good luck. As others have said, it's time for a re-spray.
 
Alright. I’ll talk to a body shop and see what it would cost for a high quality respray... if it’s more than I think would be worth it then I’ll try to just get the problem areas recoated for now. But from what you all are saying and from what I’ve read it seems a respray would be the ideal option.
 
ClevelandBaller said:
Alright. I’ll talk to a body shop and see what it would cost for a high quality respray... if it’s more than I think would be worth it then I’ll try to just get the problem areas recoated for now. But from what you all are saying and from what I’ve read it seems a respray would be the ideal option.
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From what the pictures you posted. It could be worth to only do those 2 panels. But if the added price up to a full repaint is in the range of budget you think is okay for you then go for it. It's hard to color matching these older paints really great. So some difference is unvoideble to get. You could try to get the other panels measured with a paint thickness gauge PTG. To see how much of paint you have left on it. Why this would be worth it it cause of the place near the gas cap. I think that the hose from the gas stations might have been wearing down on the paint where it's failing. And on the trunk lid it seems to be some etching that has gone through the clearcoat. But a PTG reading will tell you more if it's also have been thinning out the rest of the paint. You can take a good inspection light and really get close to the paint and see if you can see any sign of more clearcoat failure. Looking like a more uniform haze and can be on spots and mostly on horisontall panels edges where you the least of paint thickness. But try to get that spot where you have gotten surface rust. As when that's have started it can go fast to the rust being spread both wide and deeper. With a great self etching primer on these parts where you the rust coming. You can stop it from spreading. Without needing to replace the whole panel or doing some metall work on it which seems to be not so good of a place doing so.

For know you can get an iron remover like Carpro IronX. And spray it on the paint where you have the surface rust beginning. Let it do it's work during a couple of minutes. And then lightly aggitate it with a soft brush to get it more effective. Rinse it off and pad dry it and go again and repeat this until you see mostly bare metall and the color changing iron remover has started to not get to much of a deep purple color when it's reacting. SiO2 products is pretty good to slow down the oxidation of the metall aka rusting. So a coating lite product like Carpro Cquartz lite or Gyeon CanCoat can be an option to try out. Put a couple of layers on it and use mf towels that you can throw away so if you got any small flakes of paint in them they don't damage the other paint. I have a synthetic wax that are loaded with rust inhibitors that I put on these kind of rust spots and other bare metall where I have had surface rust beginning to come. Sadly not sold on AGO and don't know if the that has this brand takes this wax in. So would be to ordering it from the UK. Maybe others can chaim in what kind of product they use to slow down the rust from spreading. I use it on the deeper rock chips and places where the rust have coming out on the paint. To slow it down until they decide to get it repainted. Also use it as a protection on the outer edge of the wheel wells which useally on older paints have been worn down by just driven. The best option though is to get it repainted as soon as you are able to get it done.
 
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