Paint Issues, clear coat failure?

Hey everyone,

I haven't been posting lately, recently I have completed painting my trucks frame entirely as shown in this thread : https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/kbs-rust-seal-review-picture-heavy.374144/#post-10273853



So I have won my battle against rust on my frame and under my truck but I have found a new "issue". So my trucks paint is black sand pearl, and I noticed this the other day:














I knew that some scratches on my roof had went to the metal and rusted a little bit. I was wondering what causes this? Is it UV exposure, mechanical scratches, or what? I mean the paint is fine like 95% just those areas where there are scratches. Obviously those scratches don't warrant getting the roof painted, but more or less wait until they get worse to actually go all out. Whats the best way of preventing it from getting worse?


I have used the Duplicolor all in one scratch fix and it worked pretty well, I got it in the right toyota color too. I fixed the biggest scratch on my roof with it, and it looks decent for being a touch up ( I bet you cant find it in the pictures )

I was just wondering whats the best course of action?

Thanks

Tom

 

At minimum you want to try to get as much rust out of the scratch before hitting it with touchup paint. Something like this would help.

$10 Scratch Brush, Fiberglass (Colors may vary)

http://www.amazon.com/Scratch-Brush...4227033&sr=8-1&keywords=Fiberglass+Rust+Brush

Paint it actually porous. As time goes on, dirt, grease, salt, bird droppings, tree sap, road tar, the sun, etc, attack these pores. This is why we should wax our vehicles. Not the spray on stuff either. A good wax that has to be applied and removed. Whats happening is after it's applied the wax dries in those pores and you're just removing the excess on top. Now when all those contaminates hit the paint they're only sitting on top instead of penetrating into the pore and removing a little bit when being removed. If your paint looks good, but doesnt feel like wet glass when you move your finger across it, you should consider clay barring it before waxing. This removes most of the contaminates and most of the old wax out of the pores as well. People are usually surprised by how amazing their paint feels after a clay bar and wax compared to just a wax.

 

Yeah I sanded to bare metal to apply the paint. I personally didn't know it was porous, thank you for the excellent response.

My one question is, given the condition of my paint with the scratches on top, would wax even do anything and I am assuming clay barring it will make it peal off?

I am not a paint expert by any means haha

 

Yeah the roof is beyond most of that. A lot of places will do just the roof pretty cheaply. It's the most common area that goes bad as it gets a lot of abuse from the sun and from the windshield washer fluid. Another option that could be done fairly cheap, would no longer require wax, and is DiY, is monstaliner. It's a modified, close pored paint that takes a lot of abuse. I've had a lot of people asking abotu my truck say they want to do it to just their roof for the same reasons you have. They have a bunch of colors, and they'll send you like 5 color chips free so you can find one that matches your paint. Only draw back is it goes on with a texture.

 

all these trucks have this same issue. my 99 looked like yours for a few months then literally started peeling large strips of clear coat like it had sun burn or something and half the cab roof plus the front fenders and doors had large dull sections with no clear coat left.

the paint has reached the end of its life after 15 years and the clear coat is degrading and is no longer bonded to the color paint under it so it is peeling off of it. the only solution is to sand all the clear coat off to the color layer and then respray the whole truck because even the spots that still look good will soon go bad as well.

that said, how well is the color paint still bonded to the metal so if your going to the trouble to sand all the clear coat off, you may as well do it right and go to bare metal so you know the new paint will last another 15 years.

instead of repainting I traded minre in on an 04 but im expecting it will need a paint job in the next 4-5 years because that seams the limit to how long the factory paint will last

 

factory paint actually lasts longer than most auto body paint jobs. It can last for several decades if properly taken care of. Follow these steps and your paint job could outlive you.

1. Use the correct soap. A good car wash shampoo. NEVER use soaps not meant for cars, especially dish soap as these can dissolve the wax currently on the paint essentially removing the protection.
2. Dry the car after washing it. Water contains minerals such as lime which will slowly attack your paint. There is no point in washing off dirt if you're just going to reapply it right after washing it.
3. Clay bar. This is an often over looked, but very important step. it adds about 20-30 minutes, but should be done at least once a year BEFORE a wax, possibly more if you live in a corrosive environment such as the coast or the salt belt. This will literally remove contaminates and wax from your paint that you can't see, but you can definitely feel.
4. Wax. Not the spray on stuff. a real wax that needs to be applied, dried, and buffed off. This is the number one way to protect your paint. Over the decades automotive manufacturers and high end paint shops have recommended waxing your vehicle anywhere from 1-3 times a year depending on your environment.

If you only want to do the entire vehicle once a year there are some spots I recommend touching up on their own.
A. The roof. This is often one of the first areas to go bad. It has a near 100% constant exposure to the sun, and also get attcked by windshield washer fluid that we design to attack things it touched like bugs. Hit it with a wax every 3-4 months.
B. The hood and top of fenders. Similar to the roof these areas have a high exposure to the sun. Additionally they are the number one target for bugs, bird droppings, tree sap, windshield washer fluid from the vehicle in front of you and road tar and grime. Hit these every 6 months.
C. Window areas. We like our windows to be clean, so most of us wash them after washing our cars, but what about that bit of over spray on the paint? This is attacking the paint and wax. Some of us also like to ride with our windows down and our arm out the window, resting on the paint. The oils and dirt in our body are attacking the wax and paint as well. Hit these every 3-6 months depending how much you wash your windows.

You can find several good examples of people's paint lasting 30-40 years by following these steps, and the paint often looks as good or better than when it came off the factory floor. I know it SOUNDS like a lot of work, but really it is only a couple of hours every 4-12 months. Less if you have a professional do it for you.

 

Just bought one from ebay. Thanks ... I always wondered how to fix these tiny rust spots, before they get bigger.

 

How tiny are we talking? A friend of mine's truck had super tiny specks of rust, but over large sections of the body, but the paint still looked decent. I took a clay bar to a section of it, hit it with the detail mister, rubbed the clay over it, and bam, they were gone.