Clearcoat Failure

[JalopyBob]

My 90 burgundy (dark claret) clear coat has failed. It has come off of most of the hood, parts of the roof and trunk lid.

It looks like a beater instead of a nice car. Can big sections of missing clearcoat be repaired, or will the car need to be

repainted and coated? It is a fairly low mile car that I would like to keep longer. The midwest winters have finally caught

up with it. Thanks!

[harry yarnell]

Depends on what you want it to look like.

If just want to get rid of the leprosy-look, removal of any loose clearcoat, followed by a clear re-spray is the cheap way.

Otherwise a full sanding and repaint and clear is required to look nice.

[Barney Eaton]

Harry's response seems to be the opinion of most.

You could try just the top as suggested, remove the loose clear......I think you would want to do a light sanding to blend the edges and give the new clear coat something to bond with.

The results will probably be reflected by the amount of work you in prepping the area.

In general the Reatta had a very good paint job from the factory........Reattas were done on almost a experimental paint process.  We have been told that PPG had people present as it seems like they were

using the Reatta for some "new" process.    Not sure if it was the paint,  the equipment,  or the steps taken to paint the cars but the Reatta paint jobs have survived almost 30 years of use.

[NCReatta]

11 hours ago, Barney Eaton said:

We have been told that PPG had people present as it seems like they were

using the Reatta for some "new" process.    Not sure if it was the paint,  the equipment,  or the steps taken to paint the cars but the Reatta paint jobs have survived almost 30 years of use.

They were testing the new PPG waterbourne paint. It was also cutting edge at the time to use the robots they were using to paint the cars. 

 

From what I've heard from Craft Centre employees, the bodies we're actually sold to PPG prior to paint, PPG would paint them, and then sell them back to GM only after a satisfactory paint job was achieved. This way, if PPG messed something up in their "experimental" process, it would fall on them and GM wouldn't have that loss. 

 

Sadly, we know now that waterbourne paint doesn't have quite the longevity of solvent based options. Though it is a lot more environmentally friendly. 

 

Attached is a photo of a mug I received from a former employee of the Craft Centre. It says a lot for a little mug.

 

 

[harry yarnell]

It is my understanding that on basecoat/ clearcoat paint jobs, the paint film is very thin.

[Booreatta]

Harry you are correct. its not just Reatta its everything. Usually its one to two coats of base and up to 5 coats of clear. In the amount of painting that I have done I always spray one coat of base and sand then 2 more coats of base and usually 6 coats of clear and then wet sand hoping no break thru the clear

The paint from PPG back then was really pretty good. Most Reattas I have seen with CC failure its mostly the hood and trunk and a few on the top at the windshield. The sides  have held up for the most part. Owners that kept cars clean and well protected by a good wax etc seem to have had better luck