Hey guys,

My sister's Lexus ES300 has its clear coat flaking and peeling off real bad on the hood. I was wondering if there was someway to repair this. Would I have to get it repainted? Anyone have estimates of how much that would cost. Maybe it would be cheaper to buy a new hood? I will post pictures up in the morning but it looks absolutley horrible. It is bubbling up and you can easily remove it. I have a can of Duplicolor Clear Coat, what if I wetsanded off all the flakey clearcoat, put a layer of clear coat on top and polish it out? I do have a PC so if I could use that to my advantage that would be great. Any tips appreciated. Thanks!

 

yes, you can sand down your car and respray your clear coat, but i wouldnt unless you have lotsa experience painting cars.
way too easy to get the clear uneven, with clear sags.
if its a beater car that you want to learn on, go for it...
otherwise, leave it to the body shop-
no need to buy a new hood, but you can ask the body shop for an estimate and then compare to a new hood price (your dealer can give you that price)

 

Thanks for the advice Wanabe! It definitely isn't a beater car so I won't take the chance of doing it myself. As promised, here are the pics. I cringe just looking at it.




It was not that bad a week ago but she took it to a car wash and now it is just absurd.

 

Thats it! Its DONE! Take it to a body shop.

This is why sealants and normal detailing plays such a big part. Also this is why I always use a paint thickness gauge before I wetsand/cut the clear. Polishing too much/too often will cause premature clearcoat failure...

 

Big second on that one.

 

Welcome aboard Phil. Great to see you someone sponsor this wash and wax forum. It gets a lot more action than any other car specific forum i've been on.

Edit - you should have my first order.

 

The hood comes unpainted from the dealer. The only reason to ever see how much a hood costs is if there is unrepairable damage to the actual hood structure.