His father said for him not to worry about the car because with the clear coat peeling , if not treated will spread all over the whole bonnet? And i read a few pages of panel beaters and they say roughly what my sons father said. I cant do it myself as i dont have a clue on how to do things with cars.It would be great if a person that does these things , are doing them at home as well, maybe might be cheaper but i dont know anyone.
I am not with his father, and he knows nothing about cars but he always has to be right.
Really it’s best if you just call a local body shop. Around here ten years ago they used to charge about $150 US per panel provided there wasn’t a lot of prep work. So I suspect now it would be in the $500 range or so. I agree that likely the rest of the flat surfaces may be going to need a repaint at some point but really a shop should take a look to see. You can do that one spot but it will require both the color coat and the clear coat so really it would be best to just do the whole panel. Just depends how the rest looks. On my Buick way back, I had just one area on the roof that had deteriorated in about 6 years and the rest of the car was just fine. I just re-did that one area and it was fine, but you have to do both color and clear.
Use your search engine and try and find videos showing how to use a spray can clear coat .
Example ( how to clear coat a car with a spray can ) you might need to try several different questions to find one that will help you.
Here in US, a 2006 car bought for a teen, would probably not be worth painting. If the car is mechanically sound otherwise, and your son is willing to live with the poor paint quality, then it might be a good deal. Otherwise, probably buying a newer car would be cheaper than painting this.
Another options are plasti dip and plastic wraps. Your son could learn how to do it.
Before I was driving age I was doing painting and body work. Maybe this would be better to learn.
I figured my daughters first car would get wrecked, It was not, mine was! She did well
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There appears to be 2 other peeling spots in the picture, could be bird dropping though. Patching each peeling spot won’t give you the great appearance that you seek. This is not an isolated problem, all of the top surfaces will fail do to exposure to the sun.
My car began peeling after 15 years, first the roof, then the trunk and hood, now the top of the fenders and doors. It is not a case of “spreading” from the hood to the fenders, they simply had the same exposure.
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My wife (and now the kids), think I can fix anything. So when her Minivan was down to primer, she told me to paint it. It took a lot of explaining and you tube videos to convince her this is not a backyard weekend project. I have spray painted bumpers and other patches of the cars though. It didn’t come out as bad as I thought, but you have to accept the fact that it might turn out to be quite and eye sore.
He may well be correct, but here is my take on the situation:
The car is 14 years old, it could be harboring all sorts of potentially-expensive mechanical problems, and your major concern is in regard to a cosmetic issue with the paint? Really?
If this is a vehicle which you are truly interested in buying, you should have it inspected prior to purchase by a trusted mechanic. If he/she gives it a clean bill of health, then it might be time to consider the paint issue, and whether it could be used as a bargaining point to reduce the purchase price of the car.
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Looks like bird poo etched the paint considering that the rest of the hood look perfect…hard to tell on that picture though. I would sand and prime the area to prepare for painting.
The OP won’t care about this tip but others who read this might:
My experience with single-can clearcoat from the auto parts store is that it lasts only a year or two on an upward-facing surface (direct sunlight). If you want a permanent DIY clearcoat, you can buy two-part polyurethane in a two can kit. The catalyst comes in a can with higher pressure so you plug them together and it forces catalyst into the paint can. You will have just a couple of hours to spray it before it hardens in the can. You need a face mask with chemical resistant filters because poly fumes are really bad for you. Be sure to mask off the entire car where you don’t want to spray because the overspray floats off in a fog and gets everywhere.
I know that. I started my response saying that Craigslist is full of scams in the USA. My suggestion was to look for similar problems on your local Craigslist if you decide to look there. You area may or may not have crooks on line. It’s worth a check for local warnings.
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Look up Earl Scheib in the Yellow Pages.
I listened to the show when a woman who wanted to buy a car for her daughter called in for
advice. She had in mind a not-too-old safe used car and a bonding experience with her
daughter. Daughter had in mind the new Toyota Avalon her best friend had and no interest in
bonding with her mother. She was all upset. Not only do parents have to buy cars for their
kids, they have to make them happy too.
I’m only 67 (young for this forum). It never crossed my mind that my parents would buy me a
car (theirs’ either - would have given them a hearty laugh.) Who’s the oldest person here
whose parents bought him/her a car? Who’s the youngest who hasn’t?
Well, I am 53 and nobody bought me a car. We had a few friends that got a car as a present when we finished HS and honestly, it was a crowd I wouldn’t have wanted to be counted in anyway. First car was a barn find at age 20 that I slowly fixed and drove. We didn’t really NEED a car though, public transportation, and my bicycle was enough. One reason now I kick a** in the spin class.
Both my kids have a DL now. They have generally been assigned the third family car/the extra one with the understanding that it is a loaner.
I’m 69, and when I got my license in 1968, I simply took over the family car. My grandfather was then too old to drive, and my father hated to drive. I drove the family whenever they asked. Later in 1968 I bought a new 1968 Dodge with my own money. When my daughter got her license in 2000, I bought her a 1996 Chrysler Cirrus.
I repaired many of those, I worked at a Chrysler dealer until 1999.
In 2000 I bought a 1996 Dodge Stratus, one of the Cirrus, Stratus, Breeze trio. The clear coat started to peel 2 years ago, not bad compared to other vehicles in the desert sun. How is the paint on that Cirrus?
Or the history book. Earl Scheib is a defunct franchise in the states, kangaroo country will have their own common franchise auto body shops.
There are some paint shops that still carry the Scheib name but Maaco is more common here. While replacing the head gasket on my neighbors Nissan I asked how much he paid for the repaint (daughter didn’t like the original color). He replied $1,000. He could have sold this car for $2,000 and bought a better car. On the other hand they are not driving cars that depreciate $3,000 each year as many others do.
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No one ever bought me a car. I bought one when I graduated high school in 66 but sold it that summer. The next summer after my freshman year I bought my VW myself. In high school a friend’s dad owned the Ford/Merc dealership. We thought he should have had a pretty good car, but the car he and his siblings were given was a 53 Ford (in 1965). It was not a bad car except the heater blower didn’t work and got cold in the winter. I really can’t think of anyone back then that was given a car except driving the family car.
More than you might suspect. The Holden Monaro was known here as the Pontiac GTO, and the G8 was a rebadged Holden Commodore. And then the Commodore got shifted over to be rebadged as the Chevy SS after Pontiac was killed off.
Oh, and some years of the Buick Park Avenue were based on the Holden Statesman. 
OP, the clearcoat damage is on the hood. While that’s going to require a re-spray, even if you neglect it, the damage won’t spread beyond the hood unless there’s already damage elsewhere. Since you guys don’t get much snow there in Adelaide, rust is probably not a concern unless your house is within a block or so of the beach (salt spray). So, as a first car, a little blemish on the hood is nothing to be upset about.
@Barkydog is right though - this is a 14 year old car. It’s almost guaranteed that something is wrong with it. You should have a mechanic inspect it before you buy it to make sure the stuff that’s wrong isn’t catastrophically expensive.
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