Hello community!
Hope you are all doing well and staying sane during this interesting time. I live in Southern California and my Honda Fit is exposed to the sun all day.
I have recently noticed some sun spots on the top of the car. I attached a picture before rinsing it off and after.
Are there options to reverse this?
What are options to prevent further dammage and protect the car?
Any long term solutions?
Thank you so much!
Jules
Cannot see your pics! Anyhow, just put a nice coat of wax on it…some of them have uv protection formula build into them but I cannot remember the brand.If its clear coat delamination you are talking about,the only permanent solution is to repaint the area.
Reversing it requires sanding off the damaged clear coat and a re-paint.
+1 to respray. BTW, did you wash and wax the car? That can prevent paint damage like this.
A little late to do anything at this point. All cars should be waxed at least once a year specially on the hoods and roof .
Yep, your clear coat is deteriorated. Polish and wax will help but the end is near. You can always spray new clear over it but the spots underneath will still show so it’s repaint base and clear fix it. On my Park Ave I had the same issue on the roof and was selling it so wanted a quick repair. I just cleared over it but it was obvious damage and wouldn’t do it again.
I live in Southwest Florida. If a car is not garaged, the paint will burn. Only solution is to repaint. Is your damaged limited to the roof? Here every horizontal surface will burn. If its just the roof. two tone it. That would be a lot cheaper than an all over paint job.
I also live in southern California
We’ve washed and waxed our cars several times a year, and it’s as @Ben-T_Spanner said . . . if the car’s not garaged, the clear coat will only last so many years
The climate here is absolutely brutal for clear coat and leather seats
But I’ll say this . . . op is lucky. Faded clear coat looks better than peeling clear coat, which is what several of my cars have/had
Thank you. Can I prevent any further damage by washing and waxing regularly?
It must have been on the verge and just got worse since all this started and we stopped moving the car.
Would a polish help at all on the roof?
Thank you!
You already have damage. Nothing will change that. Polish is a light abrasive so it will remove the surface contaminants in the clear so might make it look better by removing the white residue, but it won’t repair it. Likewise, wax will cover it but you are still covering damaged clear coat. Anytime you see white, that is damaged clear. Bite the bullet and repaint the roof or live with it until the base color coat starts to crack and peel too and rust starts to form.
not in my experience
Honda factory paint was very thin in those years and Honda Civic owners went through this.I suggest you plastidip the area or use a vinyl wrap on your roof.A carbon fiber imitation vinyl wrap would look good on it
Thank you, do you mean do that right on top of the roof as it is or repaint then do the wrap?
Usually,a vinyl wrap is installed on good sound paint. In your case,I would sand the bad spots lightly to smooth out the flaky clearcoat, then spot prime the area.Use a good quality aerosol self etching primer to prevent any rust from forming.
