Need paint repair advice

Alright, this isn't for an Explorer, as I don't drive one anymore. This is for the car that replaced it, my 2001 Saturn SL (I know, lame). It is obvious the PO tried to do some paint work on it and failed miserably. The result is a giant cloudy spot in the middle of the hood. It looks terrible, and I want to try and fix it, but am not sure what the right way to do it is.

I don't own a buffer nor do I intend to buy one for this project, so I'll have to do the best I can by hand. I also don't want to spend tons of money, but I realize it's hard to do these things cheaply. Also while I'm at it, you will notice some rock chips in the paint I will touch up before working on the rest, so I can get rid of the imperfections of the touch up paint. It's not worth it to paint the whole hood to fix the rock chips.

Anyways, on to some pictures to help tell the story. It was hard to get good pictures of the problem, so I apologize for not being able to get better ones.

 

[Willard]

bump

 

[unclemeat]

The only thing that will really fix the hood is to remove the old paint down to primer, and repaint.

You can try wet sanding with a 2 to 3,000 grit sandpaper. Start with a small area and see if it helps. But keep in mind that sanding will reomve some of the paint/clear coat.

 

[shadowfigure]

I have heard some great things about the Dr. Colorchip kits. They use OM paint codes, check them out.
www.drcolorchip.com

 

[Flounder]

From what the pictures show, the damage is limited to the clear coat and not the base coat. Either the paint is oxidizing, or the previous owner used a harsh polish and never bothered to correct it. I'm leaning towards oxidation. If the damage is limited to clear coat and has not progressed to the point where there is no paint left to buff, you can attempt to correct it by hand--but you'll probably lose your arm in the process.

You'll first want to get a tub of Meguiar's Clear Coat Safe hand polishing compound. This costs about $5-10. Also pick up a pack of either foam or microfiber pads.

Wash the surface with Dawn, and then follow the instructions on the compound container. You'll basically mimic a machine polisher: add some compound to the pad, and start rubbing lightly in a circular motion using light pressure. Keep a towel handy to wipe off the dry compound and examine the paint. You should see the cloudiness slowly disappear. Keep doing this until you've corrected (to the extent you can by hand) the paint. Then, wash again with Dawn and apply your favorite wax or sealant.

One final note: correction by hand is not easy at all. You can't control arm/hand RPMs; you'll get tired; and the process will not be as effective as a machine. For oxidation, I'd wetsand with sandpaper in the 2,000+ grit range, as unclemeat mentioned, and then run through correcting and finishing polishes with a machine and then apply a sealant. But, if it's the route you want to take, it's there.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Flounder is correct- it does look like the start of clearcoat failure though... You will have to keep it waxed up frequently to prevent it from oxidixing back up.

BTW- thanks for the new sig line, Flounder

 

[GrillCosby]

Special Service

Well, in a case like this, you may just want to ask around. Chances are you will know someone who has a good body work friend that can do a job like this on the cheap. It reminds me of a story - me and a buddy went off-roading in a car he was test driving for a major auto company (who shall remain nameless) - needless to say, we nicked the car up a tiny bit and did not want to bring it in to a shop and belabor the point of returning it. Lo and behold, when putting gas in the vehicle a guy came by who admired the car, who turned out to be a body tech, he fixed it on the spot for about $40 bucks out of pocket and no one is the wiser. So my advice to you is hold out a bit and perhaps rely on the kindness of strangers.