Bad clear coat. Sand off & respray clear only?

[Gene in NC]

If it is the clear coat that turns cloudy, or shows cracks that look like fine scratches, especially on the Bronzit color on '89s, why not carefully sand the clear down to good paint/clear and respray the clear only?

Hood, top and trunk appear to be cloudy/dirty/faded/mottled, even after washing. Might these areas benefit from clay?

Car not garaged, polished or waxed, but routinely exposed to oak, maple and pine tree leaves, aphid droppings etc. for last eleven years.

[525SEI BRIT]

If it is the clear coat that turns cloudy, or shows cracks that look like fine scratches, especially on the Bronzit color on '89s, why not carefully sand the clear down to good paint/clear and respray the clear only?

Hood, top and trunk appear to be cloudy/dirty/faded/mottled, even after washing. Might these areas benefit from clay?

Car not garaged, polished or waxed, but routinely exposed to oak, maple and pine tree leaves, aphid droppings etc. for last eleven years.

Body shop advised against this idea as the clear lacquer should be sprayed very soon after the cooler is applied, before it cures so that they to bond together! Otherwise the lacquer can start to flake and peel. Any advances on this?!?

[dennyg]

I bought an 89 535 in November and paint looked good. I knew it had been resprayed but I thought it was a good job. A few months later I began to notice sanding scratches on the trunk top and fender of the car. WTF! Body shop guy tells me that scratches or sand marks were in the primer and were covered or smoothed out with the paint. Now the paint is sinking into the sand marks leaving this under the clear and no way to repair without repainting car. No way I could have known it was going to happen. Of course the guy/dealer who sold me the car pleads ignorance and adds sympathy to the point of patronization. I would rather hear tough luck from them instead. I am talking with shop now on what to do. Repaint entire car or just areas affected. I tried wheeling out marks but they are under the clear. Have you tried to buff the clear coat? Maybe your situation is similar to mine?

[Gene in NC]

Trying clay bar tomorrow. WTH, what can I lose.

[AngryPopTart]

why not carefully sand the clear down to good paint/clear and respray the clear only?

The short answer is, "Because it's not possible."

There are rare cases wherein a car which is a solid color, and not a metallic, can have the clear sanded and then have clear applied over everything, so long as you didn't sand so much of the basecoat (the color) that you went through THAT anywhere. Even in these cases, it's never totally right and is risky to begin with because that fresh paint will cause the old clear to want to lift anywhere it ends and the color begins. This is why it almost NEVER works.

In the case of a metallic color, it's impossible because when you sand a metallic color it completely changes the way it looks because you're scratching the tiny metal flake. Metallics have lots of translucent colors in them and when you sand a metallic paint you remove that color from over top of alot of the flake and it makes it very bright and silvery, messing up the color entirely.

The standard procedure to fix, for instance, a hood with the clear going bad, and which happens to be a metallic, is to sand the hood, shoot new color and blend it into the tops of the fenders. Then reclear the hood and fenders. However, if the bad area is contained to the center of the hood, that area could be sanded, then have color blended from the center towards the outside of the hood very carefully so as to avoid having to touch the fenders, and then shoot new clear over the whole hood. This usually ends up being noticable, though whereas blending into the fender tops may hide it completely from anyone not a painter.