Lacquer Peeling

[mrploppy]

My car has burgundy/metallic paintwork and for some years the lacquer has been peeling off in big patches (mainly the bonnet). The car's old (over 20) so I'm not inclined to spend a lot of money on resprays but I'm happy to spend my own time trying to improve the look if possible. Assuming I can remove the remaining lacquer on the panels where it's really bad (it might just peel off) I'm looking for advice on what to do next. The patches where the lacquer has peeled look quite a bit lighter than the rest of the paintwork - I don't know whether they've faded or whether it's the lacquer that gives it the deeper colour. I'm wondering whether a rub with T-Cut (or whatever's flavour of the month) for metallic paintwork would restore the colour. And if so, would it then be worth a spray with lacquer or should I leave as is. I don't have any fancy equipment so it would be a case of elbow grease and rattle cans. Thanks in advance.

[paintman]

As an absolute minimum needs the bonnet sanding back to sound paintwork & then respraying, so that's the existing lacquer & basecoat gone.
Ideally back to bare metal & start again to avoid any issues with the paint that's on it due to the adhesion issue you've already had.

T-cutting/polishing/sanding the exposed basecoat is only going to damage it further & make the difference more noticable plus the adhesion of the remaining lacquer is going to be suspect & sanding that off is going to cause damage to the basecoat under it.

Edited by paintman on Wednesday 1st November 17:05

[mrploppy]

paintman said:

As an absolute minimum needs the bonnet sanding back to sound paintwork & then respraying, so that's the existing lacquer & basecoat gone.
Ideally back to bare metal & start again to avoid any issues with the paint that's on it due to the adhesion issue you've already had.

T-cutting/polishing/sanding the exposed basecoat is only going to damage it further & make the difference more noticable plus the adhesion of the remaining lacquer is going to be suspect & sanding that off is going to cause damage to the basecoat under it.

Thanks for that. Pity, though, because that sounds like a job for a professional and would probably cost more than I'm prepared to spend on a 20year old car.

[Craikeybaby]

Is it a common problem with that model/colour? If not you may be able swap the bonnet from a scrap car.

[mrploppy]

I don't think it's a fundamental problem with the manufacture. More likely the years it spent abroad in baking hot summers, kept outside and not being garaged.

[Craikeybaby]

mrploppy said:

I don't think it's a fundamental problem with the manufacture. More likely the years it spent abroad in baking hot summers, kept outside and not being garaged.

In that case trying to find a replacement bonnet in the right colour may be easier.