How To Repair Auto Clear Coat Flaking Damage
If your clear coat is peeling or flaking from the surface of your vehicle's paint job, it is probably due to exposure to the elements or a poor quality paint job. Your clear coat is what protects the base coat and body of your car from developing rust. It is important that you repair this as soon as possible so that your car does not develop any rust due to water seeping under the clear coat to the body of your car.
Items needed:
- 300-grit sandpaper
- Dry rag
- 800-grit sandpaper
- Masking tape
- Newspaper
- Clear coat
Instructions:
- Apply pressure to the damaged area with 300-grit sandpaper to remove the flaky clear coat and help to smooth out the surface. Do not apply too much pressure, you do not want to damage the base coat underneath.
- Work your way around the affected areas using a circular motion to remove the damaged clear coat from the surface of your car.
- After you have removed all of the flaking clear coat from your cars body, take a clean dry rag and wipe down the car removing any loose pieces of clear coat that may remain on the surface of your car.
- Go over the entire affected surface or panel again using 800-grit sandpaper this time. This fine grit sandpaper helps to smooth out the surface further, and also helps to remove any minor scratches that were made while removing the damaged clear coat.
- Tape off the area that does not need to be sealed with clear coat. Use masking tape and newspaper to block off the surrounding areas of the body as well as the windows so that your clear coat is only being applied to the designated areas.
- Apply your clear coat in numerous thin coats being careful not to over-spray. It is very important to paint thin coats as many times as needed. Paint in a horizontal back and forth pattern for the most even paint finish.
- Allow the surface to dry for 24 hours before removing masking tape and newspaper from the surrounding areas of your cars body. Be sure that the clear coat is already finished drying, if it is dry to the touch it is done. If it is still tacky at all, allow further drying time. The amount of drying time varies depending on the outside temperature as well as the amount of ventilation in your garage.