Clear Coat Failure

Beemerboy

Beemerboy

Just One More Coat
I don't know if the rest of the members see this as much as I do. Seems like I see a lot of newer cars with clear coat failure.

I wonder if this is from a lack of maintenance or factory fault.

I have a 16 year old Camry that stands up to new cars for shine.

Granted I have paint experience but anyone can wax a car.

So that makes me think that these clear coats are failing because of protection.
 
Beemerboy said:
I don't know if the rest of the members see this as much as I do. Seems like I see a lot of newer cars with clear coat failure.

I wonder if this is from a lack of maintenance or factory fault.

I have a 16 year old Camry that stands up to new cars for shine.

Granted I have paint experience but anyone can wax a car.

So that makes me think that these clear coats are failing because of protection.
Click to expand...

I think your right. It is ever so important now to maintain a finish. Manufacturers are putting less and less clear on vehicles. Induced marring thins this already thin barrier more.
There is not the thickness there used to be for repeat corrections on many makes.
Even in the refinish market they are only putting two coats of clear. Depending on how it is sprayed it could be very thin after finished at the shop.
This was a good point to bring up.
 
Concours.John said:
I think your right. It is ever so important now to maintain a finish. Manufacturers are putting less and less clear on vehicles. Induced marring thins this already thin barrier more.
There is not the thickness there used to be for repeat corrections on many makes.
Even in the refinish market they are only putting two coats of clear. Depending on how it is sprayed it could be very thin after finished at the shop.
This was a good point to bring up.
Click to expand...

Thanks, just makes me wonder at times.
 
Yes Dave they are failing like crazy these days because the super thin coats and the newer water based type's of product's that are out because of the EPA laws now. One has to take care of them when they move off a lot to a home quick.
 
I see a lot of this too... Never really thought anything of it till reading this but I see a ton of 2000+ cars with failed clear coats. I always just think its people who don't wax their cars. Mostly see it on japanese cars ill start documenting because I see it a couple times a week
 
THe UV is the biggest factor. If you are in a state with high levels of sunshine like California or Florida, you will see a lot of clear coat failures on even newer cars.

Optimum Spray wax has some UV inhibitors in its wax. I am sure that there are others products out there with UV protection.
 
I'm getting ready to do a full correction on an all original 93 RX-7.
It has been washed through the years but not really babied. We'll see.

It is the color flop from Green-Blue-Purple. It also is similar to the Ford that is no longer available or able to be matched the same. At the time this paint was 1k per gallon.

Saving as much clear and Opti coat sounds like the best route.
 
Concours.John said:
I think your right. It is ever so important now to maintain a finish. Manufacturers are putting less and less clear on vehicles. Induced marring thins this already thin barrier more.
There is not the thickness there used to be for repeat corrections on many makes.
Even in the refinish market they are only putting two coats of clear. Depending on how it is sprayed it could be very thin after finished at the shop.
This was a good point to bring up.
Click to expand...
This is a serious mistake some detailers can overlook!
 
I don't know if I agree that it is more common now a days then it ever has been. I remember a lot (as in most) of the cars I saw growing up had massive amounts of clear coat failure. If anything, my experience has been, that paint systems seems to have gotten better.

Just about any mass produced car I can remember from the 80s: Taurases, Celebrities, Regals, Camaros, Mustangs, etc all failed and fairly quickly. This is with out even getting into the popular imports of the time like Civics.

In the mid 90's it seemed like the quality of clear coats/paint systems improved drastically. I still see a lot of 93-96 F-body's with good paint (minus the rear bumper) for example.

What cars are you guys seeing that seem most prone to failure?
 
I seen it on a lot of car's. It's up to the owner to take care of it and if they don't that is what we all see out there. Only a few are due to a product failure.
 
I think there's less clear coat failure now than 10 or 20 years ago. If you look at a 10 or 20 year old car with failure, I think that it somewhat normal, especially being driven on a normal basis.

Clear coats are supposed to have built in UV protection, aren't they? Even if the car isn't waxed/sealed, it should still last a long time, depending on where you live of course.
 
Here in California any ungaraged car that 12 or more years old has pretty much seen its last days of healthy clearcoat .

I see it most in Hondas.
 
I really think that most all the failure that I see today is based on lack of any protection being applied. Again my 16 year old Camry has zero signs of failure.

People think that the clear coat is the protection so there is no need to protect that. You couldn't be farther from the truth, clear coat is a paint just not colored.
 
I agree that protection is key, but also frequent decontamination. Let's face it, the environment we live in isn't getting any better and cars are now subjected to all types of fall out that wasn't common even 10-20 years ago. Keeping the paint clean (claying) or or using decontamination products such as IronX, Finish Kare, or Valuguard that deep clean the paint seems to be almost necessary nowadays.

Obviously keeping a good coat of wax or sealant (good meaning fresh) is going to protect the paint long-term as well.
 
I think paints have gotten better and I see much less clear coat failures as I did on the mid-late 80s cars. While it is still a problem, I do not believe as much as a problem as it has been. Back in 2000 chances if I was working on a 12 year old vehicle it was repainted....not so much the case in 2012. Clears have become much thinner and practicing the least aggressive method is more important than ever..
 
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