Damaged Clear Coat

[ecp48]

I am picking up an 81 280ZX in early August for a potential street beater. The clear coat over the black finish has oxidized (disappeared) on the top surfaces (roof, hatch, hood and fenders) of the car.

Rather than repainting the car immediately, I thought I would rub the entire car down with a finish prep, like car skin. Then lightly sand the edge areas of the clear coat with a 400 or 600 grit sand paper. Lastly, have the clearcoat reapplied.

Any thoughts on whether this would restore the finish on the car?

Opinions appreciated.

Thanks,

[jmanz6]

You will have to have the clear reshot. I owuld say you can sand it down with 600 or 800. I would not go 400 though. That would be pretty rough and would start to take off the paint as well. If you clean it really well, and blend in the edges, it w should come out good when the clear is reshot. I would talk to a body shop in the area though and see what they would recommend.

[ecp48]

Thanks, JMANZ6.

I just can't see repainting the whole car. The original paint seems okay. New clear coat seemed the answer.

Appreciate the response.

[LanceM]

First I would go and see if you have any shops in the area that would do the job and what it would cost. I think you may have a hard time because they won't want to risk future peal off... But if you do..

You will have to feather the remaining clear up to where it is gone, use care not to sand through the base. Use a good degreaser to clean the exposed base and use something like a red scotchbright pad to scuff it. There are preps available that are sprayed on right before clear that soften the older layers and allow a better bond. IMO you are looking at a tempory fix, what hasn't come off probably will in the future and bonding/blending new clear with old is a sometimes thing. If you are going to have this done by someone I'm thinking it wouldn't be cost effective, clear costs just about the same as base so for twice the money you could probably have someone do the whole car if you did the prep work. Just my $.02