Roof Paint Screwed!!! Help!!

So apparently procrastinating waxing your truck is BAD idea. I washed my truck this weekend only to find this crap on my roof in 3 places. I was very dissappointed in myself for not caring more for my trucks paint when it is still in pretty decent shape for being 7 years old.

So my question is how can I fix this without dropping tons of $$$$ into it? I was thinking of wet sanding down and painting it with the duplicolor paint matchiung stuff, or just primering in to stop it from spreading. Anyone got some suggestions?





This one is the worst. You can see the paint coming up right in center when you look at it up close.

 

You say the paints coming up? Like peeling? But you can use a compound, or meguiars swirl x or scratch x. (if its not peeling) should take it pretty much back to normal.

 

Try some rubbing compound, and then polishing compound, and then wax. If you are up for it and know what you are doing then try wet sanding, polishing compound, and then wax.

I would start with that before I even thought about repainting, especially if you are repainting it yourself.

 

So you both think that this might be fixable without doing paint? I'm not sure if it's actually peeling as I was too scared to try rubbing my fingernail on it or anything for fear of making it worse.

Would you do it by hand or get a power buffer? I know the wet sanding should probably be done by hand so as not to take too much off.

 

I'm not saying its fixable without doing paint work, I'm just saying start with the cheapest option, which is a some rubbing and polishing compound and your labor.

Its hard to say how bad it is with just pictures, although the pictures make me think you could buff it out. If anything, its on the roof so unless you are 7 feet tall you wont see it everyday, so if all you do is some rubbing compound and a good coat of wax at least you will prevent future damage and make it look a little better.

 

My roofs pretty tore up too bud...compliments of the AZ sun

The rest of the truck is fine lol...The trucks pretty tall so I can't see the roof anyway

 

By hand. Just use some strong elbow grease. Should bring it all back to life. I actually saw in my wal mart here meguiars had the the step kit with the compound, polish and wax. And then you could add a sealant.

 

Also, I would start by hand with polishing compound and see what that does. Then move up to the more aggressive rubbing compound and *possibly* an electric buffer. But I would only use the electric buffer with polishing compound and wax, not with the rubbing compound.

 

I guess that's an option...but IMO as a last resort.

 

You know, I've seen your sig pic probably 1000 times and until right now I never noticed that it was black. Looks good.

edit: Why didn't you paint the hood black? Too much black?

 

I'll give it a go this weekend and see what I can do. I'll let you guys know how it turns out. Thanks for the advice!!

 

Great advice^^^^^
Also if u do fail, before painting I'd consider taking to an experienced detail guy who is experienced with a power buffer.

 

X2! Yep, a good detail shop can sometimes do wonders on paint.

 

The 'dots' that are appearing in the lower right corner of picture #2 lead me to believe that the clearcoat is almost gone in that spot. It's hard to tell for sure though, from a picture. If that's the case, you're essentially hosed and the problem area will only get larger with time.

Like the others said, you might try polishing it first to see what that does. However, stay away from rubbing compound as it is way too aggressive. Your entire paint job (primer, base coat and clear coat) is about the thickness of a sheet of paper.

Of course I recommend our polishes but if you would like to go with the competition I recommend Meguiar's M205.

 

I had a similar problem on my roof... but much worse tried wax, polish, wet sanding, buffing.... but somehow they were scratches and they were just too deep. I finally ended up sanding to smooth it out and then hitting it with some rattle can paint. Nice part about the roof is I don't see it much... and there are "seams" in the body paneling so you dont have to worry about blending it. I just took the paint code to NAPA and had them mix me up some paint. It is a pretty close match. I will wet sand and buff to shine it up next summer.... alas, the Alaskan winter is upon us and it is too cold to do any work. At least I got the scratches sealed up before they rusted... some of them were pretty deep.

I got the truck last Febuary in Arizona... I guess it's something about the weather down there that does that to the paint??? I also have some oxidation on the hood I am trying to get rid of . Rest of the paint looks great though!

Good luck!