Is this clear coat or oxidation?

[ozziegt]

Hey. I have some major paint problems on the top of the rear bumper of my car. I`ve tried clay bar and it didn`t make a difference so I`m afraid the clear coat has gone bad. I`m wondering though what can cause this? The rest of the paint is perfect.



See attached pictures and tell me what you think.



Thanks,

Osman

[Setec Astronomy]

Well, I`m sure you`ll get some other opinions, but I presume that your bumper has a urethane cover on it, so it`s not metal like (most of) the rest of the car. I have this same problem with my car on the side mirrors which are plastic and on the bumper covers. I am working on 3 theories...1) that because these parts are plastic, they are not baked with the rest of the car at the factory when it is painted because they can`t stand the temperatures, and/or for that reason the paint used there is actually different. 2) the paint used is different on the plastic parts because they can be flexible and the paint needs plasticizer to keep from cracking when the plastic flexes. And 3) that these parts heat up more or expand and contract more due to the different specific heat/coefficient of expansion relative to metal.



What I do know is that the clear coat is gone from the body color mirrors on my car. I broke one of them early on, and that body shop painted one lasted a lot longer than the factory, but it`s down to the color coat now, too. The bumper covers are a little chalky looking, and now my spoiler on the back is coming off blue when I polish it (my car is almost the same color as yours).

[imported_edschwab1]

Do you have anymore pictures?

Is this defect isolated to the one spot?

What have you tried besides clay?

What prior care has the vehicle received?

Any body or paint work done to the bumper?

What kind of car is this?



To me it looks like clear coat failure.



Eric

[Jngrbrdman]

Originally posted by edschwab1

Do you have anymore pictures?

Is this defect isolated to the one spot?

What have you tried besides clay?

What prior care has the vehicle received?

Any body or paint work done to the bumper?

What kind of car is this?



To me it looks like clear coat failure.



Eric

Ditto to all of the above. A little more info is needed before one can make a very good guess, but it looks like clear coat failure to me. There is probably some oxidation going on at the same time.



My dad taught me a very valuable lesson early in life. He asked me how I could tell if I should use a screw or a nail on a project. The answer was to drive a nail. If the wood splits, then you should have used a screw. Something similar applies here. Treat it like oxidation. If that doesn`t work, then its clear coat failure. You aren`t going to hurt the car if its clear coat failure and you are trying to clean it like oxidation. It will tell you which problem you have though. Good luck!

[ozziegt]

Originally posted by edschwab1

Do you have anymore pictures?

Is this defect isolated to the one spot?

What have you tried besides clay?

What prior care has the vehicle received?

Any body or paint work done to the bumper?

What kind of car is this?



To me it looks like clear coat failure.



Eric

The car is a 1994 Toyota MR2. It`s the factory paint as far as I know.

Yes it is only on the top of the bumper, but it is in different spots all the way across. Even the front bumper was in better shape, but I`ve put on a new bumper cover in the front. The rearview mirrors are fine.

I`ve tried clay, bug & tar remover, and just normal waxing and polishing.

I`ve had the car for the past 4 years and I`ve been using zaino on it...about 2 times a year. It`s been parked indoors most of the time and the water has always beaded great on it. I had a bike rack that I used a couple times, and it was sitting near the spots of the bumper that are "clean", but i don`t know if it was exactly on these spots.



here are some more pictures. They are 5 megapixel images so I am just going to link the folder: http://mr2.osmanu.com/paint



if you want some pictures of the car go to http://mr2.osmanu.com



Osman

[imported_edschwab1]

As Jngrbrdman stated try treating the spot for oxidation. I think the bike rack abraided the surface, and trapped moisture thus causing premature failure of the paint at the bike rack contact points. Looking at the pictures of the whole car, the rear bumper paint looks to have good gloss and good color match, expect for the contact points. I would try DACP or other similar heavy polishes on the spots.



Let us know how this turns out.





Eric

[ozziegt]

Actually it`s the opposite...the bumper is messed up and only clear at the contact points. I`ll take the bike rack out there tomorrow and check for sure.

[mrbean]

I just bought a 94 Integra (Red) and it got the same problem too



on the spoiler , it looks like the color is fading (not as fresh or sharp ) look dull



i wanna ask ur guys. let`s say the clear coat is gone it`s pointless to put any wax on right ? or is there any way to save it ?



if it`s just oxidation then clay it and use polish will help right ?



thanx

[Jngrbrdman]

clay doesn`t do much for oxidation. You need to clean that paint with something to get it off. Use a product that is designed for cleaning paint and you should be good. Red seems to oxidize faster and more obviously than any other color. Milano Red (or `milano pink` as most integra guys call it) is one that seems to have frequent complaints about oxidation.



The paint would have had to be taken pretty good care of on a ten year old car for it not to have some problems at this point. Clean the paint up and see what it looks like from there. If there is more damage than just oxidation, then you can deal with it at that point.

[imported_bckpack]

Take a look at my post from this weekend. I worked on a friends 1991 Celica with ridiculous oxidation. I was able to improve the look 1000%. Time will tell how long it lasts before fading again but for now it looks great.





Celica Transformation