Last week a customer brought in a 1992 F-150 that still had the original clear coat

I worked on that old truck last Tuesday at my shop in Tucson, and the clear coat was peeling off in big sheets after 30 years in the desert sun. I had to strip it all down with a DA sander, which took me the whole day, and the paint match was tricky because the original color had faded so much. Has anyone else run into old factory clear coats that just gave up completely after a couple decades?

2 comments

2 Comments

ellis.susan1mo ago

Sounds like that clear coat threw in the towel and decided to retire after 30 years of hard work. Bet you could hear it screaming "I quit!" with every pass of the DA sander. Matching that sun-faded original color must have been like trying to find a needle in a haystack blindfolded with one hand tied behind your back. At least you didn't have to deal with rust too, right?

charliehill1mo ago

Honestly, I had a similar situation with my old '92 Mazda Miata last year. The clear coat on the hood was just gone, like it evaporated in the sun. I ended up buying a test pack of spray cans from the auto paint store and sprayed a few different shades on some scrap metal to see which one matched best after wet sanding. The trick for me was to pick the lighter shade since the whole car had faded, then add a tiny bit of white to the final mix. It still didn't match perfect but close enough that you only notice in direct sunlight. No rust is a huge win though, that would've turned a weekend job into a month long nightmare.