Clearcoat fade

I have about three places on my roof where the clearcoat is fading. Can't afford a new paint job and most places don't spot paint. Any suggestions? Thanks.
A little editing
I meant some good ways to do it myself.

 

Dupli Color makes factory colors in spray cans!! Prep paint and then hit it with 2K clear ....

 

A good detailer can help slow the progression, but eventually it will takeover.

 

This is a decent experiment - if you want to diy with rattle cans you would want to sand a smoother transition, but maybe it would help you decide if your clear coat is that chipped and missing:

https://youtu.be/M_v8qPqPmr0

This will give you a decent 10 foot paint job and maybe a decent 5 foot paint job but that’s what I’m assuming your going for / your budget allows. These are good beginner all in one videos; I’d suggest doing a bit more viewing on other guys’ channels who go more in detail too. But his process provides decent results if you just want to make things shiny. Don’t think this is a master class in paint repair.

https://youtu.be/7AJ1JVl7yTY

https://youtu.be/IQF9ZrzxkCE

 

I had severely corroded clear coat on my roof and hood. I just went ahead and repainted it myself because once the clear starts to go, there’s no saving it.

I sanded down the panels down to the factory primer coat, then used an HVLP spray gun to do a base coat clear coat paint job. It cost me about $300, the base coat was like $100 a quart and I used two. The leftover money paid for the clear coat, and primer.

That cost assumes you already have a spray gun, a decent air compressor, sanding blocks, and all the right sandpaper, polisher, pads, and all the buffing compounds. A pneumatic dual action sander will help immensely, but it’s possible to do with an electric palm sander.

Even if you had to buy all that stuff it’s still cheaper than a respray at a body shop.









Here it is before cutting and buffing. The orange peel will go away once that’s done. The process goes 1000 > 1500 > 2000 > 3000 Grit > Hard Cut > Medium Cut > Fine Cut Compound > Wax

 

I did rattle can on an CRX, it was black too. It had much smaller panels which made is easier to work with. The trick is I did lots of color sanding. That took out and orange peel and minor runs. and it looked pretty good afterwards. It is a ton of work though.

 

Mine is doing the same thing. It's the unfortunate nature of clear coat. UV rays wreak havoc on it. If you had it garaged, it would really slow down the progression. Mine is not garaged, and I am planning on painting it within the next year. I will use single stage instead of clear coat. I am not a fan of clear coat.

So, your options are- leave it alone, spot fix the area, or paint the whole car.

 

Hey Ron, go to post #28 in the link below.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/polishing-a-turd.682274/page-2

 

Hate to say it PO but a good way to do it yourself is to do a lot of prep work and finish work. That's why paint shops are so expensive.

 

'how bout a picture of the fade. Solid or metallic ?

 

Thanks to all of you for the advice and comments. I'll probably go with one of the instructional videos on youtube.

 

Take your time in prep. The painting part is the fun part if everything before it is nice and neat.