Paint on Hood Very Bad, Options?

The hood is factory as far as I can tell. Also to answer other questions. there is no rust or flaking paint. Just the cloudiness.

 

Then, wetsand with 1000 see how it looks, if it's good get it recleared

 

Just so I understand, I'm going to wetsand with 1000 grit. What am I looking for to determine if it's good?

 

It will look better.

Edit: you might try a little experimenting on the underside. Try wet sanding, then compound, then a polish.

I suggest the underside bc you’re actually removing paint as you probably understand, but if you remove too much and cut down to the metal, you’ll have bigger problems.

 

When your done sanding that the paint looks new and shiny and not deeply damaged

 

Also, take it easy on the high spots as these areas are more vulnerable to the cutting action of sanding / polishing.

 

Lets say I do nothing. What's the risk besides it not looking so hot? Can I protect or seal what's left and make a decision down the road?

 

Unless you keep it garaged then the base coat with the pigment color will begin to rot and fade badly as it will no longer have the protective clear coat to protect it, eventually the base will flake off and rust will form if you live in a corrosive area.

If you want to tell if the pigment is still good like others have mentioned then after wet sanding it simply pour water on the hood and if it looks like new for a few seconds before the water dries off then you know a clear coat can fix it and clear is all you need.

 

How does it look wet? If good, clear is the route to go.

 

Op, my 2 cents having spent the past two decades doing autobody/collision repair, at the same shop, (I'm the lead painter). The cloudiness (faded dull clear) is your clear coat degrading. You will not be able to buff or polish it out. It has lost all of its UV protecting properties, which is why it is dulling out. You also cannot just wet sand it and clear it, as your "new" paint/clear job is only going to be as good as what is underneath it. Meaning that if your base layer is already failing, anything you put on top of it is a band aid, it too will fail from underneath. Any reputable shop that is going to give you a lifetime warranty will tell you that you need to strip the hood down to bare metal, and apply a good acid etch metal primer, followed by a sealer, then basecoat (color) then clear coat. Most of the cost associated with repainting your hood will be the time to strip the hood down to metal. You could strip the paint off yourself with 80 grit, followed by 180 grit, and then take it to a shop to paint, which would save you the 4-5 hours of strip time they will charge. It still would most likely be a few hundred bucks to paint. Paint itself isn't cheap these days. (I do recommend taking the hood off to paint it). Most large name shops will have a camera that can take a picture of paint in good shape and come up with a respectable color match. Red normally matches well anyways. You might also try to bypass the front office of the body shop and talk directly to the paint shop to see if they do side work... As for the rest of the truck, if you polished it up and it looks good, use a good paint SEALANT, not wax. Its really easy to use, and provides UV protection, where wax "burns" off at a certain temperature, and provides no real protection, only a temporary shine. I use Chemical Guys products, and love their Jet Seal. Its like 40 bucks, but a bottle will last you years. They have a million You Tube videos on car care. Hope that helps, or you can always just flat black it for like $20 in rattle can, lol.. all depends on what your looking for. I can help with anything paint related if you have questions. Good luck!

 

So I had a local detailer come out today that several local friends spoke highly of. He reviewed the areas and the entire vehicle and found that it had been completely repainted. He showed me how the paint inside the door jambs doesn't exactly match the rest of the vehicle. He believes it was repainted with single stage which is why we're seeing what we see. It wasn't a quality paint job because he can see what he referred to as Orange Peel indicating complete sanding wasn't done. He tested some polishing on some spots and I was very impressed. He thinks the correct course of action is a full repaint (which he doesn't do) but offered me a few options to extend the life and improve the appearance. I'm reluctant to invest $2K on a paint job having just bought the vehicle. If, after a year, it proves to be a reliable vehicle, it would make sense to do so. By the way, he offered two options, one is a combination polisher and wax that looked really good. He estimated between $200-300 to do the work (based on about 5 hours of labor) and the other option was just a polisher which would be about the same amount of labor, but would allow him to then apply a ceramic coating if I was interested. He hasn't gotten back with a quote for the coating, but he ballparked in the $700 range. He said he can't apply that coating over wax.

 

Just put a paint sealer on it so it doesn’t get worse

If you’re wanting to fix it it’s gonna cost big bucks

 

You would be lucky to find a full quality paint job for only 2k

 

Thanks for the input. Curious, on the topic of repainting, how much do I add to the repainting cost to change the color? I assume a quality painting job would be very thorough, right, so changing from a red to say a silver or gray would be very complicated?

 

I use this stuff on my truck

$20 CAR GUYS Hybrid Spray Wax | Advanced Car Wax | Long Lasting and Easy To Use | Safe on All Surfaces | 18 Oz Kit with Towel

https://www.amazon.com/CarGuys-Hybr...ay&sprefix=car+guys+paint+&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1

Works great, protects the paint from UV and keeps the grime from sticking. Water just beads off too.

Can’t see the justification to put a lot of money into fixing or repairing this sorta thing

 

I would remove the hood and take it to Maaco, they quoted me $600 for a hi-rise camper shell prep+paint, so a hood should be less than half that.

If you want to do it yourself it's easy just time consuming. Buy some primer, color, and clear coat of Duplicolor brand from AutoZone or PepBoys. Sand the hood good, prime it, color it, and paint it.

Good luck! The only way you'll get better at something is by doing it.

By the way, I use this stuff every four months on my truck and motorcycle. My local airport mechanic guys use it on the planes they detail.

$45 Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant | High-Gloss Finish & Durable Protection | Hydrophobic Formula Repels Water & Contaminants | Easy Application for Long-Lasting Shine | WG-5500-FBA | 16 fl. oz.

https://www.amazon.com/d/Car-Polishes-Waxes/Wolfgang-Concourse-WG-5500-Gloss-Sealant/B01AGELUJE

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/just-got-my-truck-re-painted.610597/

CoreysIRTaco just got his truck repainted for $2,000 by a local shop near him and it looks excellent.

 

But a few hundred to have a detailer apply a thorough polish and wax is reasonable right? Considering to do the same work I'd need to spend a huge amount of manual time or invest in a quality polisher. I could then seal it.

 

He quoted you $700? Personally I wouldn’t spend that

I guess it’s not a terrible idea to get it polished and waxed. Not sure how good of a polish it could possibly be if your clearcoat is already failing. You could always wrap it

 

The 700 was for the ceramic. It was 2-300 for a complete polish and wax. Recall, he found that it's not clearcoat, but we discovered it was a complete single stage repaint on the vehicle at some point along the way.

 

I thought the early red ones WERE single stage. My BIL had a '98 that was and I sure never had the impression it was ever repainted.

White and red was how I had heard it, not black.