The clear coat is peeling off the engine hood of my 2000 Honda CR-V.
Unfortunately not all of it peeled off, so now my hood looks sort of like an abstract painting.
Is their any way to get off just the rest of the clear coat without harming the paint?
Thanks.
Nothing that I know of except sanding it off and re-painting. Others may have a better answer.
Nope. I’ve got te extended version of your problem. The clear coat on my '88, second paint job, has deflaked across the top and down the sides to the top of the fenders and doors. A sand down and repaint is the only option. Luckily, yours is just the hood. Mine is hood, roof, pillars and top of doors.
Strip to the metal and repaint is the only way.
More than likely, the car is not worth the cost of a decent paint job…
On a small panel on my scooter I was able to sand the flakes off with very light pressure on 1200 wet sandpaper, then spray clearcoat from a rattle can. It worked, but it’s VERY easy to sand through the color.
Other than a labor intensive DIY you could have someone like MAACO repaint the hood although I cringe at the thought of recommending them.
The repainted hood may stand out a bit next to what may be sun faded paint on the rest of the car.
Another option could be to do some fishing around on Craigslist, eBay, or a local salvage and come up with a hood in the same paint code. That would make it an easy bolt on swap.
While I’m sure everyone was right on repainting, here are three suggestions for cheap alternatives considering it is a 2000 CRV. 1) Buy a couple cans of Plasti-coat rubbery peal-able paint in flat black or some other contrasting color. 2) Use wrap material also in flat black, black, or a contrasting color. 3) It would not hurt to try very lightly sanding with very fine sandpaper especially to smooth the edges. Then hit it with a number of light coats of spray can clear coat. If you try one of the above and don’t like the results the more expensive alternatives are still available. I like the idea of searching junkyards for a paint matched hood. Modern “metal recyclers” and auto parts dealers have an internet connection to find used parts at other Auto Recyclers.
The above comments about pealing clear coat seem correct, had a similar problem with my 2000 CRV. However, the best part about my vehicle was that after 14 years of age, it was still a great running dependable car, (the a/c still blew cold air, and it never failed to start and take me where I wanted to go.) It was the only car I ever drove to that age with few almost no problems. (mechanical problems with other brand cars, made this cars cost of ownership the best I had ever experienced. I was so impressed I traded it on a 2011 CRV rental return last year rather than re-paint and do the timing belt service again.)
Sounds like everyone here has had the same experience. I found that sanding is futile unless you are willing to sand to primer or metal because the clearcoat is tougher than the paint beneath it. The sandpaper tends to go right to primer in the areas around the remaining flecks of clearcoat.
I sanded it very lightly and sprayed on clearcoat from a rattle can. The result was a significant improvement (though not pretty by any means) for a few months, but then the old clearcoat seemed to continue to degrade beneath the fresh clearcoat. I then paid a guy who literally paints cars outdoors $300 to sand, paint, and clearcoat the affected area. Looks like a $300 paint job, but the color matches and you don’t notice from a distance, and it is, after all, an old car.
Thanks everyone for the comments.
I had thrown around the idea of hitting it with heat (not sure how) as I’m assuming (please correct me if I’m wrong) that it’s the Florida sun the caused the clearcoat to peel in the first place.
ok4450, I thought of just getting the $400 MACCO paint job, but cringed at the thought also.
I was hoping for an easy fix like when the woody siding of my yellow 1978 Toyota Corolla was all cut up and peeling. I gave it a quick prep and covered it with 4 rolls of woody Contact paper. It looked beautiful. No kidding.
Thanks again all.
No. Like others, you really need to re-paint. I had some clear peeling on the roof of my Buick and didn’t want to repaint since I was selling the car. I ended up sanding and clearing over the old without the base coat. While the clear provided protection, it was very blotchy looking and I’d never do it again, especially on a panel that showed. Now a body shop does not have to use the base/clear for the panel and can just use a single stage paint which would be cheaper. It wouldn’t look the same but the color should match.