Clearcoat failure
 

Is there anything I can do about the clearcoat starting to fail short of repainting the entire car? I find the concept of painting being more expensive than replacing the entire car a bit problematic. Not that I begrudge the painters their nickle for I understand that they have expenses for materials and labor. It is just a big problem that shows up as a car gets older.

Even if I replaced the car with an equivalent Honda, how do I know if it isn't going to need to be repainted in a couple of years too? It would seem that the clearcoat doesn't visibly slowly degrade but rather fails rather suddenly.

If I do repaint the entire vehicle is there a need to stay with the original Honda paint? Can I go with the Honda 2012 formula or for that matter is someone else's paint or paint system a better choice? for example would Acura or BMW or Audi's paint be better? Is the problem with all clear-coated paints?

Lots of questions, that I think others in the same situation may like answers to when or if they get in a similar situation.

welcome to 5 gen ownership

I tried wet sanding the edges of my peeling clear coat and that didn't work.

I found that mine started peeling a bit then last year was a hot summer and it just baked the clear coat off the whole top of the car.

I ended up sanding the whole car and painting it myself, while it is not as nice as a brand new car is looks real good.

You can use any paint you want. You do not buy paint from a car manufacturer, you but it from a paint company.

I used an enamel on mine (1 coat not a separate color and clear coat) if I could redo it I would have gone with a normal 2 stage paint.

Before and after pics

Attachment 18468
Attachment 18469

Do you realize that the date on the before is later than the date on the after photograph. I'm sure that the date on the camera wasn't reset.

My car isn't that bad, yet. It only has a dinner plate sized like that, but there are signs of overall failure along the edges of the rooftop rain gutters. So I know it is coming and won't be that long before it is really very bad except where is was wrecked in the front and repainted.

While I appreciate the concept of painting my own car, I doubt I have that which is required. First, I don't have a garage to protect it against the elements while it is curing. I don't even have a yard, being an apartment dweller.

Anything wrong with a Maaco special? You get what you pay for, right...

The date - yes I have a crappy little camera that requires that I set the date each time I pull the SD card out, I forget sometimes.

I wish I had some pictures from the year before the first picture, there was just a little bit of peeling. A year later the whole car looked like poo. Once it starts going it build momentum I think.

Maaco, well the truth is if you do not require any body work (no dents to fix) and you do not get the base paint job (the cheapest) then you should have something that would look good. I would expect to pay around $800 at Maaco for a decent job.

I have around $75 in my job but am going to redo it with paint that costs around $150 soon (better quality)

The estimate I got at a quality body shop was $6500. $800 looks very cheap in comparison.

There are lots (dozens) of little door dings. My theory that even if not fixed the paint will still look infinitely better than what happens with clearcoat failure and no worse than it does now.

I do worry about the longevity of a "cheap" paint job. I have owned the car since new 15+ years ago and see no reason that the car won't last another 15 years if treated right. I really won't be very happy if I have to repaint again every few years.

well buddy there is no easy answer for you.

1) you do not need a $6,500 paint job

2) can you post a picture of the peeling clear coat area?

I have a feeling that an honest body shop (kinda an oxymoron there) should be able to sand the area and blend in a repair paint job which should only cost $200 - $300

Thumbnail: http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/...3XL/th_car.png

A really bad image, but that is what the camera took...

The real problem is not the specific patch on the trunk but the fact that the clearcoat is problematic elsewhere too. Fixing this one spot on the trunk, won't fix the currently much smaller problem on the roof and the rear bumper covers. Since it is all the same age and exposed to the same outside environment I think I can only expect it, to get much worse with time (probably over this summer when it again gets well cooked by the sun) resulting in something that really can't get patched.

So I think that painting the whole car is the real solution. I just object to the current cost estimate and I don't really know enough about automotive paint to make intelligent decisions as to where I should go and what choices to make so as to end up with a long lasting, good looking, and relatively inexpensive paint job. There is also the outside limit of the value of the car. I don't believe in doing a repair that costs more than the value of the car. Of course the value of a car is a debatable number but I'm pretty sure that $6,500 exceeds the current market value of a good running '96 Accord LX and the $800 amount is plenty under it.

I'm sure that I'll get an education before this is done.

if that is the only problem on the car then it should be easy for a body shop to just paint that area, just like the area that was repaired after the collision before.

They should be able to just paint the trunk to match, but I have a feeling the roof and hood will follow suit.

Obviously a $6,500 paint job isnt worth it, if you shop around you could probably find something cheaper.

Or you could do what I did and make friends with someone who works at a body shop, I have probably $700 into getting my exterior, interior, and engine bay painted, and about $500 of that was for materials.