I'm on a strict budget with this project car I just picked up. It is a 94 J30 and has bad oxidation on the top of the car (clear coat is completely gone) but the hood and trunk only have small spots where the clear coat has been worn through and the rest is very white. I've got some 3m Rubbing compound, turtlewax rubbing compound, Mothers' Carnuba cleaning wax, Zymol, Meguires NXT wax...none of these are doing much for me. I thought maybe it needed wet sanding but I have a "very fine" scuff pad and 320-1000 sand paper which seem to pretty much go right through the clear coat and into the paint.

So what is the trick here? I know people have repaired some pretty gnarly sun damage. If I can get this to work I'll save a lot of money not having to repaint the hood and trunk.

thanks

 

That is dead clear coat, you can't remove that unless you get it clear coated again. Same thing is on my car, but it adds character.

 

thats no good

 

Mine isnt that bad though, only three spots on the hood.

 

he is right the only thing you can do is reclear the car.. but if you want it to look like it is has a clear coat on it just wet sand it with 1200 grit get a 6 inch whool pad for buffing, meguiars dimiond cut #85 and buff away take it nice and slow doing small areas at a time and when you're done with that come back with a softer pad and use meguiars cleaner/polish #83.. that should do the trick.. test on a small spot on the roof to see if it will work..

 

okay thanks. I guess I need to get a buffer worth a sh*t then huh?

 

Dont you know someone with a PC or a rotary ???

 

just overlay it... everyone knows black hood/roof/trunk is mad jdm tyte yo.

 

That looks like a job for ShamWOW...

Seriously, you're not fixing the clear coat, you have to remove most of it from the looks of things. Once you do that, the paint underneath has to be polished quite well, the thing you run into is that it's not going to have a long life without that clear. You also risk burning the color off and eventually exposing primer or metal.

Me personally I'd not put any extreme effort into it, and save up for a paint job. No matter what you do you're not going to have a satisfying result.

I have known a few guys to use comet on their paint to give it a dull, yet clean look. I can't believe anyone would ever destroy a shine with comet like that...but in this circumstance, it might just be your winning option. It will probably scour that clear coat down, and you can at least get a mat finish around the whole car. Then in a few years get some new color with a polished shine.

(I know, I can't believe i just suggested that)

 

no i got mine at harbor freight.. it was like 20 or 30 buck and the whool pad was 10.. just try out the diamond cut i told you about.. put it on the bad part without sanding it and see if it makes it any better.. its worth a shot.. could be the best 50 bucks you've ever spent!!

 

couldnt find the "diamond cut" at autozone so i'll look around some more, maybe order it online. I bought some Duplicolor Clear coat so I'll see what I can do with it where the OE clear is just completely gone on the roof. Worst case scenario I will just take it to Maaco or something for just the top.

 

first off, dont use a mothers speed ball...

 

I guess that was "help".......

So anyway. I found a very effective method of removing the "Dead" clear coat with a razor blade. It is pretty effortless and exposes the paint without any "damage". So I'm spraying some clear coat on top of it and going to see what I end up with. With a few coats it looks a little flat but still sooooooooo much better than it was before. I wish I had taken a before picture. I cant do this on the hood though since the majority of it is un-damaged. The roof was just completely gone though.

 

humm well you could always just buy a cheap paint gun and use that clear from autozone.. its pretty easy to paint.. oh and they only sell the diamond cut at paint shops i think oh maybe pep boys might have it.. ill try this with my brothers car since he has the same problem as you and give you the before and after pictures just using the whool pad and the diamond cut..

 

ahh i gotcha. Cool cool, i'll be awaiting some pics.

 

Okay I want to update you on my dead clear coat. My friend tried to wetsand it with 1500 and then we used Meguiar's M105 Ultra Cut, after that we used Menzerna SIP, then Menzerna Super Finish, then Menzerna Finishing Glaze. It didnt remove much, but we didnt have much time. We tried to keep the panel we were working on wet because it broke down too fast without doing anything, and the hood kept getting hot. It did remove the oxidation, not the dead clear coat, but the shine was supbar at best.

 

NaCL: I realize I came in on the tail end of things, but the issue on that car is not oxidation but major clearcoat failure. There is no polish or wax you can use that will remedy the problem without potentially damaging the basecoat.

The only logical (and time efficient) solution would be to get that resprayed professionally.

 

Yeah, I was kind of iffy when my friend said he wanted to try. But that process removed the oxidation on my hood !

 

man I don't even think I'd know oxidation if I saw it. Thanks for the update though.

I wonder if the clear coat went bad because the car sat in the sun day after day or if Nissan just put crappy clear coat on there from the factory.

Anyway, My spray-can clear coat job turned out pretty good actually for the roof. Its a little patchy in spots but if you dont get too close it actually looks fine. I put a couple coats but I'm still trying to decide if I want to attempt to wet sand and lightly polish it since the can didn't exactly leave the smoothest finish. Unfortunately I can not do the same thing to the hood and trunk since the clear coat is only worn in spots and it would look retarded to use the same method. Buffing the dead clear coat makes it a little less noticeable.

if this was my car I would definitely have it re-painted.

 

If this is like a project car, I would dry sand the dead clear off and layer rattle can clear over it. I would put at least 4-5 thin layers and then wetsand it with 1500 grit. Or you can paint the hood, rood, and trunk flat black !

 

well, I actually bought the car with the intention to fix it and sell it. Painting it would blow the budget, and I cant do anything outrageous either haha.

its not like a honda so...I worry what buyers may thing about a "luxury" car with an ugly exterior. I've got a price range I'm shooting for so I just hope this is one of a few minor/easily overlooked issues the car will have when I sell it.

 

Let's see some pictures of what you've accomplished so far...I'm curious myself.

 

Alright. Here are some pictures of the roof with a couple coats of spray can clear coat. I havent touched it since painting it. That clear coat-shine is there though and originally it was a very dull sun-beaten roof with maybe 20% of the roof covered with white patches of remaining clear coat, look at the trunk for an idea. (sorry didnt take any before pics).





you can see some of the streaks from the paint can. I tried to overlap the strokes but it seemed inevitable.

 

It definitely looks better from a distance. I don't like the clear in a can, it's good for very small projects, like hobby cars and stuff. But once you get on big panels like this, you really need a spray gun and a quality clear in a can.

It's certainly better than what was there before...

 

If you build up more layers of clear you can wetsand the roof with 1500. I used Menzerna SIP with a rotary to remove the sand marks. My trunk/hood looks much better then what they used to be.