car finishing

[Stuart Noble]

For the last couple of years the finish on my car bonnet has been bubbling up. It peels off easily enough with a finger nail, leaving what appears to be sound paintwork underneath, but I've no idea why this has happened. The bonnet was replaced probably 7 years ago and looked fine until recently. Anyway, the car is 11 years old so I can't justify a respray but I hope something like T Cut with a polisher might improve matters? Would I put some sort of abrasive on the polishing head? Total novice where cars are concerned. TIA

[IMG]

[philipuk]

Sounds like the clearcoat is failing. T Cut might make it worse by removing the paint underneath. Only real solution is a respray unfortunately.

[michael adams]

If the paintwork underneath is fine then the last thing you want to do is use T-Cut. All T-Cut would do is remove the good surface on any paintwork that's now exposed; while leaving that still protected by the film still pristine.

First up if it peels off that easily then maybe if you brushed up on your peeling technique you might be able to peel off large areas in one go.

Failing that I'd be tempted to try gentle heat, and then a succession of solvents on the underside of the bonnet first to make sure they won't eat into the paint, and then try them on the film.

michael adams

...

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Sounds like it has a clearcoat. Many even solid colours do these days. And it was badly applied.

Only real fix is to have it resprayed. Perhaps 200-300 quid. Or try and find a used bonnet in the right colour from Ebay, etc.

[Stuart Noble]

That's what the local body shop say too, but more like £400-£450. Not prepared to spend that sort of dosh on things cosmetic

[Andrew May]

Or a secondhand bonnet of the same colour from a breakers yard. Mine cost me £35, found on eBay.

[tabbypurr]

get some cheap artists paints and paint a lunar landscape incorporating the craters :) Probably double the insurance.

NT

[Davey]

I have had good luck with breakeryard.com and 247spares.co.uk.

[Brian Gaff]

Ouch. Sounds tto me like its losing its bonding with the surface its on, maybe due to poor cleaning when it was sprayed. or dipped. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

Hmm, well its probably still better than that rust look, which I'd imagine would suit a picture of Mars instead. I have to say i havd not realised that ordinary colours use a clear coat on cars these days, I know the metalic ones do as a friend had to get his redone due to this peeling effect maybe 10 years ago. It looked like his boot lid had dandruff at the time. Brian

[spuorgelgoog]

Cover it with vinyl in a coordinating colour. Continue with a couple of stripes along the roof if you want.

For just the bonnet you could probably do it yourself, as the edges can be wrapped over and concealed. For stripes you'd probably want to get them cut by a vinyl cutter.

Use a good quality 3M branded vinyl and don't stretch it too much.

Owain

[Peter Johnson]

Try

- much cheaper.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I've had my old Rover resprayed due to the original black paint going dull. A compound and polish restored the shine but was very short lived.

The place that did it used a clear coat on top of plain black. Must admit it looks good.

Oddly my metallic old BMW did this but only to the bonnet. Dunno if it had been repaired before I got it, though. Only answer was a partial re-spray. Perhaps the heat from the engine makes the bonnet more susceptible?

[Davey]

Yes, the standard process nowadays is to spray the clearcoat wet-on-wet in the same paint booth. Yours sounds like an incorrectly-done respray job.

[Stuart Noble]

Go faster stripes might look a bit out of place on a 1.4 diesel :-)

[spuorgelgoog]

Warning slow vehicle chevrons?

Owain

[Stuart Noble]

Looks like that is going to be very good advice indeed. Have found one online for £50 delivered. No brainer. Many thanks!!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

In case it's a job you've not done before, remove the main catch entirely from the new bonnet before fitting. Then line up all the panel gaps to your satifiaction. May take a bit of jiggling and may even need some shims to the hinges or whatever. Only then fit the catch, checking the alignment. Reason being if you just fit the bonnet with catch and slam it closed, you may not be able to open it again.

[Stuart Noble]

you could say that :-)

, remove the main catch entirely

that sounds like some more good advice. Thanks. I may well leave it to the garage to do when the car's in for service. IME, when it comes to cars, the simple things you see are all complicated!