Greetings,

I noticed these white spots on the top of my 98 TF last year, initially I thought it was some sort of acid rain and didn't takemuch notice. It slowly started to spread and the whole top is peeling like some kind of extreme case of melanoma!! I should have taken notice but have I left it too late? :( Is this really due to acid rain? or cheap paint? I'm not sure if the previous owner had the car resprayed at some point. But why only at the top? also it's slowly crossing the top and reaching the side doors :(

http://img10.imageshack.us/i/dsc00937in.jpg/

http://img35.imageshack.us/i/dsc00936ua.jpg/

http://img38.imageshack.us/i/dsc00935h.jpg/

Anyone seen this before? No solution other than respraying the whole car?
Any help is much appreciated guys.

TIA

That, my friend is what they call "paint cancer"

Unfortunately it's going to need to be sanded back and resprayed. It's usually caused by a mix of being out in the sun all the time and contaminants being left on the paintwork.

oh crap! i dont think i can afford a respray :(

yes its unfotunate, its due to car not being cleaned often or never (in most cases). Various acidic elements being obsorbed by the paint, it mostly happens on roofs or bonnets i,e flat surface that has most sun exposure, UV rays accelerate the process. At this stage not much you can do besides taking to panel beater & getting it resprayed. Always wash your car regularly to avaiod this, also various paint protector systems are out there like autoglym, sinex. If you are on the budget, you cant go past Nufisnish once a year car polish, from memory its about $9, i have tried most products out there & Nufinish performs extremely well, you might doubt once a year claim but still worth the money.

Anyone seen this before? No solution other than respraying the whole car?
You don't need to respray the whole car, just the affected areas. I doubt respraying the roof would be more than a couple of hundred dollars. Then do some regular detailing (I'd recommend polishing every 3 months with a product like this (http://www.waxit.com.au/proddetail.asp?prod=PB0021&cat=54)) to protect the other panels (and to keep it looking good ;)).

thanks guys much appreciated. I deserve this for being too lazy and not bothered about the car much. I was working back then and was using public transport mainly but that shouldn't be a reason :D Anwhow, I'll take it to the smash repairs nearby and ask for a quote. I really should be looking for work soon, savings running out. Worse xmas year ever.

There is a cheap fix possible. Use a plastic scraper to remove all the dead topcoat (the white stuff) and carefully rub the edges of the bare areas with 1200 grade wet and dry. The colour coat is quite soft so do this carefully. Buy a spray can of topcoat clear and give the whole roof a couple of coats. Let it dry and rub with buffing compound. Won't look as pretty as the original paintwork , but anything is better than the current appearance!

There is a cheap fix possible. Use a plastic scraper to remove all the dead topcoat (the white stuff) and carefully rub the edges of the bare areas with 1200 grade wet and dry. The colour coat is quite soft so do this carefully. Buy a spray can of topcoat clear and give the whole roof a couple of coats. Let it dry and rub with buffing compound. Won't look as pretty as the original paintwork , but anything is better than the current appearance!

Interesting idea... have you tried doing that to get clear coat scrathes out? I mean really deep ones that cant be polished out, ones that went through the clear all the way but didnt damage the color coat....

Interesting idea... have you tried doing that to get clear coat scrathes out? I mean really deep ones that cant be polished out, ones that went through the clear all the way but didnt damage the color coat....


I haven't tried that, but it should work.

Got three quotes. one for $1500 and one guy said $1000 cash

and the last one said $850, maybe I can get him to do it for $750 cash

Here is the breakdown of work from the last shop I enquired

Remove & Replace mainly moulds Front screen, Drip Rail and Tail lamp - $62
Repair & Align - Paint Strip Turret - $93
Refinish - $673.90 - I've the breakdown for these figures
Remove & Replace rear screen - $99, he said I can get away with this by using a masking tape but I prefer to have this done to avoid any sort of peeling in near future.

quote sounds decent?
thanks guys

$750 sounds about right, for a proper workshop (im sure people who work at home & hire spray booths can do this for $300), but you can probably get better deal although not by much, where abouts are you located, i can give you details of a good panel beater.

Andrei1984, I'm in the eastern suburbs. Most of the panel beaters I found are in the Bontany Rd area. Greatly appreciated if you recommend me one near my area. The $750 one was from Eastern Suburbs smash repairs. The other two are East Side collison centre and Underwood Smash repairs, underwood gave the most expensive quote. All of them said to use the Turrett paint.

I inquired about getting my roof resprayed also, and they said around $500 - $600 so the cheaper quote you got sounds about right.

is there a way you can stop it? I've noticed that on my roof theres a patch about the size of a 5c piece. How can i stop it from spreading or slow it down? Any ideas?

oh no! mine started like that :(

is there a way you can stop it? I've noticed that on my roof theres a patch about the size of a 5c piece. How can i stop it from spreading or slow it down? Any ideas?

You can't really. It's a contaminant in the paint that will only spread. Only choice is to respray. Once it's started, it doesn't stop.

If it just started i would suggest buffing with a cutting compound something like Mcguars Medum Cut 7 until you take the top layer off, basically the idea is to take contaminants of the paint even if it means making that spot bit larger, then apply paint polish to the area or if you can be bothered to the whole car (which you should), once again i recommend using Nufinish polish if you dont want to spend much.

gnome

In ragards to panel beater i dont know any around east suburds, i can give you contact deatails of this guy in Toongabbie, he doesnt charge a lot & his workmanship is good.

Thanks for that Andrei. Toongabbie is a bit too far. Im going to go with the cheaper quote I had earlier.

Sorry to go off-topic, I went recently asking for a quote for a catback. I got quoted $520 using Supercat parts + 2yr warranty and another one gave $470 for a Mercury brand. The last one said he can replace the front and rear for just $360 :D I also noticed Magnaflow mentioned a lot on this forum, is it better to go with Aussie made?

My dad had Mercury mufflers on his SS Commodore. I wasn't a fan - sounded cheap and nasty. Magnaflow are one of the better sounding mufflers but you'll pay a premium for them.

I really want to cut down the noise. Not sure what branded sports muffler I got at the moment but really want to reduce the noise, so want to go for something quieter.

Guess no one is bothered to show intreset in a old crapbox :D anyhow, I'm going ahead with the $470 quote for the exhaust. Idea is to make the car look buyworthy. So once I get a respray done on the roof and exhaust fixed, I'll put it up for sale sometime soon. Not sure how much it is really worth...done about 234k, all stock stuff. Got an avg sound system (jl spilts, alphine amp MRV-F345, Cadence FX3001 & a Cadence 12inch, pioneer head deck). Will be renewing the rego in dec for 12months once the repairs is done.

If you're going to put it up for sale and you want it quiet, why not swap your current exhaust with the stock exhaust of a current member? It's a win-win situation - they get a flashy muffler, and you get a quiet one for nothing. If you want to sell it, the stocker your car is the better.

If you want to replace it with a sports exhaust but something not as loud, look at a Lukey LR2779 muffler. It's the same exhaust that came on the Sports/VR-X models. There's a nice note but it's pretty subdued and doesn't really drone.

Guys, unless you have an idea of the real reason this happens and of how paint works, please do not pop your opinions in this thread or any for that matter

YOU CAN NOT do the job for $300, even if you use the cheapest crap paint the materials would come to that amount, let alone a booth hire

You can do screen in no worries, they can lift the rear seal rubber and mask it back. Is actually quite easy

The cause of this is actually the quality of the paint used in these cars, the clear coats were not as good then as they are now and clear coat has always been prone to lifting after a few years just as base coat goes milky or powdery after a few years

You can not scrape off the clear either, the base coat will not be a suitable base for starters and the base coat is generally very thin as it is only there for colour and not to cover as such

YOU CAN NOT do the job for $300, even if you use the cheapest crap paint the materials would come to that amount, let alone a booth hire


I dare to disagree, i had my rear bar, boot (boot also needed welding after i took of GT wing it had), & a quater panel done for $600 (KX color) at a proper workshop.

Paint 1 litre = $30, clear cote, primer again around that mark & some thinner ofcourse & this is barely $100, if you get a mate to do everything $300 isnt far off, again im not talking about a proper workshop, only if you knoe some one with a decent compressor.

Guys sorry to bring this topic up again, does anyone know how hard is to take out the rear windscreen? The panel beater is recommending to take out the rear screen for a proper respray work. He is only charging $99 for it. Bit worried if he might crack it?!

when my car needed to be fixed everywhere told me that the rear window had to be replaced...not reused as the seal wouldnt work...weather they were bullshiting me i dont know. Surely if he breaks it he will have to pay for it anyways?

when my car needed to be fixed everywhere told me that the rear window had to be replaced...not reused as the seal wouldnt work...weather they were bullshiting me i dont know. Surely if he breaks it he will have to pay for it anyways?

that depends entirely

i know at our work, if we get the windscreen peeps to do a remove and refit of a window, they say that the windscreen may break - and that they will NOT pay for the replacement themselves due to the nature of the beast.
if it is an insurance job - the panel beater is 9times out of 10, able to charge the insurance company for the replacement.
private works - expect the cost to be passed directly onto the customer if it breaks when removing.

as for the costings of the resprays mentioned above.
the cheapest one - sounds a little too cheap - and the more expensive one, well he doesnt want your work
the middle ground quote seemed to be roughly where it should be.
the car shouldnt really need any repairs done to it - just paint strip and respray.
unless you asked them to take a couple of dents out while they are at it, there should be no repair time on it (or repair and align as your quotes say)

our workshop painted a harlequin magna a year or so ago - and while we removed the window seals along the drivers side, we left the front and rear windscreens IN the car.
being harlequin.. im sure you could imagine the possible fail if done incorrectly.

we also did a magor repair to the r/h quarter area of a TJ magna beginning of the year. the whole back end was painted and most the right hand side too (inc the whole roof) - we had the rear screen left in the vehc...

oh - remember, if paying by cash, there is no warranty and no receipt.

(sorry for epic post... but i felt it was related to the question as i do work in the industry)
sometimes, having a receipt/ warranty is a good thing...
(i stress this to all my customers, if you will pay by cash, there is no warranty offered in any way - just so they know upfront...)

Thanks for such elaborative reply doddski.


they say that the windscreen may break - and that they will NOT pay for the replacement themselves due to the nature of the beast.
Yep, one of the panel beater warned about the chances of breaking and said they cannot be held responsible as the job is done by glass specialists and they are quite experienced and hence chances of that happening is less


private works - expect the cost to be passed directly onto the customer if it breaks when removing.
I'm living on my savings at the moment :( so I went with the cheapo quote ($850) I put up enough with the ugly look, and I'm quite afraid that it may spread and hit my bonnet soon! Anyhow, the guy who gave me cheap quote signed in the quote paper that he will supply rear window if it breaks! He is that confident that it wont and boasted his 30yrs experience :)


we left the front and rear windscreens IN the car.
If this is the case, why are few of the guys I got quote from said its best to remove the windscreen to avoid future paint peeling? One said it may or may not peel within few months! If removing windscreen is such a risky business why bother even offering.


unless you asked them to take a couple of dents out while they are at it, there should be no repair time on it
Nope, I just asked to get the roof resprayed! If you care to look, I've uploaded the original copy of two quotes I got.

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9774/q1mg.jpg
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/9864/q2md.jpg

Both show the breakdown of work in somewhat cryptic way.


remember, if paying by cash, there is no warranty and no receipt.
Yep sure, but if you get offered that option. I was told it would be cheaper if I pay cash but the warranty bit was not mentioned. He said to bring it back if any issues. Surely, they would give you some sort of rcpt as a proof of work done?