Need help with a paint defect!

[Setch]

I ended up having to park my 96 Mystic Cobra outside uncovered for about 2 years, before it was parked it was fully polished/sealed (obviously wont last 2 years). the only spot I could park it in was near train tacks (fallout)

Fast forward to the present it now has a nice home inside a garage, but while parked some nasty things happened with the paint

The defects almost look like bubbles on the surface, have a texture and you can see how it has formed on the panels as water would drip down the car (visible on the mid door picture. looks "milky" in the reflection.

I have clayed with no success
polished via flex 3401 with orange LC pad and menzerna SIP (just seemed to clean up the reflection a bit, texture was still present)
I haven`t had the heart to wetsand as the car has been polished about 2x in its lifetime. I have a paint depth guage but just for total thinkness, battery is dead (doh) but if I remember correctly the car was around 110 micron deep.

here are some pics!




this spot only has a small amount of damage...



"hazey" look from the side...



and a nice pre damage picture


Thanks for any help anyone can give!

[Cooter]

Looks like orange peel.

[Ronkh]

I really don`t see "defects".

As far as the haze is concerned, the orange pad and sip is pretty aggressive, so I suggest you step down some and then clean up the da haze that way

[Accumulator]

Setch- Welcome to Autopia! Sorry to hear about the damage...but I gotta admit that I can`t see it in the pics either.

Anyhow, I`d start with a decontamination using ValuGard`s "ABC" system (approved by Ford). Then re-evaluate. I`d do that before I started taking off clearcoat.

I like that you`re being cautious about taking off clear, even though it doesn`t sound like it`s been subjected to many polishings yet. Still...that 110 sounds low; my only Ford experience with with Crown Vics, but they have a lot more than that; I quit thinning at around 115 or so and I`m very conservative about such stuff.

[Setch]

I`ve got experience with polishing, but im always sketched out working on my cobra due to the cost of respray.

mystic clearcoat metallic is primer/base(black)/metallic and then clear, so im thinking 110 is quite thin for sure.

the best way I can describe it is that it feels like heavy overspray. the appearance is like super super thin orange peel. massive light dispersion when viewed under light.

in the pictures above the white glow around the light is not metallic flake (looks like it tho) that`s what the defect looks like under lights!

[Stokdgs]

It could be your car got hit with someone`s overspray during the time it was outside..
If anyone next door repainted their house, it could blow over and stick to your vehicle..
If it indeed was acrylic latex house paint, it can be removed with a chemical - whatever the can says to thin the paint with, or remove it..
It could be something as simple as Mineral Spirits..
If you feel something on the paint that was not there last time it was polished, then its either fall out - a lot of it, or it got hit with someone`s stuff from painting outside nearby..
Epoxy paint would probably be the hardest to remove, Im thinking..
Hopefully, it was something that will be easily removed..
Regarding the paint thickness number you quoted - 110 - please remember that this is the Total thickness of all material on the surface of the panel measured - NOT the thickness of only the Paint and Clearcoat, ok ??
Now, if you have the $ 3k+ DeFelsko meter that measures each layer of material, you may get a better idea of how much paintwork you have to work with..

Good luck !
Dan F

[Setch]

About to tackle this head on.

But just for fun here`s a video from yesterday! not looking bad!

[allenk4]

I believe it is dieback and I dont know if it can be corrected on your vehicle

Is the color changing effect caused by the CC or the BC?


There are photos on my FB page of an older Porsche with dieback that I corrected with CarPro Denim Pads, M100 and my 3401

[MiVor]

`is better to keep the rubber on the tires.`

[Setch]

WOW. that`s pretty much exactly what it looks like.

the change color metallic is the 2nd layer (top layer) of BC on this paint.

strange it would happen now that the car is so old! looking around it looks like a problem exclusive to respray issues.

i`m working on the car today, I will get some pics up!

I clayed half the roof last night, took me about 45 min to do half of it.

was working on about 1x1 sections, folding the clay about 10 times until the gunk stopped coming off. was ALOT of yellow/orange coming off.

I picked up some carpro iron x , trix and snowfoam today to try and remove the bulk of it. at this point it would probably take 6 hours to clay the car.....

[Setch]

Made progress today!

Decontaminated the surface and learned a few things

What I learned.
- Carpro iron x snowfoam is hands down the worst smelling..... anything on the planet
- Carpro trix is the 2nd worst smelling anything

Steps taken
Rinsed car off
Snowfoamed with iron x snowfoam *puke*
washed
Sprayed car with trix 1 panel at a time (waiting about 10 min)
washed
Sprayed car with iron x 1 panel at a time (waiting about 5 min)
washed
rinsed
Snowfoamed with iron x snowfoam
washed (new batch of soap/water and clean water in 2nd bucket)
rinsed
dried


It was obvious at this point that the decontamination had removed a TON from the surface of the paint. I could still feel (and see) gunk remaining..... so I grabbed my clay and went to town on the roof.
This was taken after all of the above! still tons of something on the car.

so I folded and kept going! Getting better now!


I folded once more and went a third time, came back clean this time! lets move on to the fun stuff.

I taped off trim and tried Menzerna power finish+ white pad. The results were great! still some small pock marks but much better.
This is one of the better photos that shows a nice tape line, also puts the damage into perspective!


As good as it looked I thought a bit more cut would help remove just a bit more. I ended up going with power finish + orange pad

and results..... much cleaner!


after doing the first half of the roof it was getting late, decided to only take on half the roof tonight!

Finished with 106 FA + blue pad

Protected with Dodo juice purple haze

Photos of the finished product will be shown after the 2nd half tomorrow!

Judging by the rood I am going to have to get pretty aggressive to tackle the drivers door. its by far the worst spot on the car. im thinking the rest of the car will only need white+power finish and 106 FA+ white as it has little damage to it!

[Setch]

I also learned that my Samsung s5 takes great pictures of clay in my hand, and yet horrible pictures of my paint (never seems to focus correctly)