The truck has some major problems when it come to the paint. It has scratches all over the hood and fenders. Most scratches seem to be in the clearcoat. I'm trying to figure out how to get them sanded/buffed out. What grit should i use a what buffing compounds will i need. this stuff is new to me. Also I have a little rust on one of the rear fenders that i want to fix to. I would put a picture with this but no sure how. And I need to take a pic.
Dave

 

If you have scratches in the clear coat, especially all over, it is likely the clear coat is failing. You can't buff it out, you need a repaint.

 

Deep scratches will require wet sanding. Compounding won't work. But be very careful not to sand through the clear coat. Look up some videos on you tube on wet sanding and fixing rust.

 

I found out the hard way that trying to get the surface scratches out by hand doesn't work. Yes, the major stuff is sanding/buffing out nicely. I lightly hand sanded the scratches with 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper, with water. Just use the sandpaper a little at a time and check your results. Then I used an electric sander/polisher to buff everything back out. Then a wax. This doesn't do anything for the deep scratches tho, that would take a repaint and I'm not going to do that. The truck is looking a lot better now!

 

Looks ok now but in a year or two lookout disaster it sucks my 98 Dak looked great till last year then wham bubble mania it rapidly progressed till now my roof and hood look like crap. I dont even try any more the clear coat is dead no polish or wax will help.


Nothing can stop or fix it the clear coat just dies its life hit its allotted life span.


Only fix is a paint job $2K or higher


Moving to Hot Arizona killed it fast

 

And we can all blame the experimental clear coat formula that DCX tried and failed at...

 

Just one other quick question. I sorta rubbed off the clearcoat off in one tiny spot. can I hit it with some can clear-coat? What sorta cleanup I can do to prep it?

 

That new clear coat your thinking of applying will never hold the problem is the old clear coat is dead lost all its ability to hold to the color coat only way to fix it is a complete new paint job.


Hard to understand I know but all you will get is a temp fix that will come off rather quick.