preserving the paint?

[Pete M]

the clearcoat on my new baby is... gone.  in some spots there's a hint of the primer coming through.  Has anyone just gone ahead and buffed and hit it with quality clearcoat?  I know Don had success with it, but his paint was in better shape to start with.  There will not be any budget for a real paintjob anytime soon. 

[Eagle]

I haven't tried it, but I have considered it and I think it's certainly worth a try. It's the old clearcoat that goes bad, not the paint underneath, so I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work.

[Jeep Driver]

 Where  you see gray primer..........once the clear is gone the paint will literally wash away. 

 

Awesome (cleaner) and a scrubby will wash off the paint.

 

There is not enough to preserve. 

 

No sandpaper used. 

 

 

 

 

[Pete M]

at this point I'm not even looking for perfection, just to protect what I've got.  but that's a ways away anyway.  the Dakota and the Libby have priority.  and my father's surgery on weds has priority over them.  lots of time to contemplate.  maybe I can grab an old hood to practice on...

[dasbulliwagen]

In my experience doing body work, just adding more clear over top of what you have won't make it go back to normal, it will just make what look you have now shiny. Any new topcoat will give added protection to what is left, but it will still need re color coating to make it look normal again.

[Manche757]

On 4/7/2019 at 9:52 PM, Pete M said:

 father's surgery on weds has priority

 Hope your Dad's surgery goes well.

 

On 4/7/2019 at 9:52 PM, Pete M said:

at this point I'm not even looking for perfection

If you were looking for a first rate paint job, including under hood, inside cab and doors, what would would that cost, exclusive of any body work needed??  I need to have two MJs painted.  Any tips about finding the right shop?

[Pete M]

I've not gone through the process yet myself so other guys can probably do better with specifics, but I can speak to the importance of due diligence.  talk to every customer you can find, check the quality of their other work with your own eyes... aka: do your research.  It's like everything else on your truck but times a million since it's so visible, expensive and (hopefully) permanent.  anyone can pull the trigger on a spray gun, you want the guy/gal that knows what they are doing and takes pride in their work.   

[RustyRodder]

Pete, if you ever decide to do paint, I had my truck done down there in Marietta. Did great work! 

As for rates, Manche- All depends on what you want.  Scuff and shoot, with no real prep?  Cheap.  You can save some coin if you disassemble/reassemble yourself- take off trim, tape off bits, etc.  But starting condition matters.  I paid 2500 for an exterior shoot on mine, with jambs.  Did not do the bed(inside) or underhood.  But then, it had 0 rust and no major damage needing pulling/filling.  Color matters- black needs perfection.  White and silver can hide more.  

[rokinn]

Pete, I used Meguiar's Mirror Glaze Professional Ultra-Cut Compound with a buffing pad as well as some fine grit wet sand paper where the clear coat was still fairly thick.  Completely buffed and sanded off the clear coat and buffed off most of the oxidized paint on both the hood and top of the cab.  Also did some dent repair behind the wheel well as well and the bed rails.  I used rattle can primer and paint with the proper paint code on some of the areas where I had to get down to metal to bondo some surface rust and dents.  Paint matched perfectly.  I then clear coated with Cromax A-7480S.  It's supposed to be high quality non yellowing unlike some of the other cheaper brands.  The hood ended up with a fair bit of orange peel so I used buffer I purchased from HF and a pad along with the Meguiar's to clean it up.  Gotta be really careful because you can get down too thin in a hurry.  There is a compound with less cutting action also depending on how well the job comes out with the clear coat or just buffing out some of the surface oxidation in the old clear coat.  A little wax after it's cured and voila.  It's not like a new paint job but infinitely better than it was before.  Looks pretty good in fact.  Good luck.

[Jeep Driver]

8 hours ago, Manche757 said:

 Hope your Dad's surgery goes well.

 

If you were looking for a first rate paint job, including under hood, inside cab and doors, what would would that cost, exclusive of any body work needed??  I need to have two MJs painted.  Any tips about finding the right shop?

On the low end- $8,000 and I doubt you'll find a shop willing to do it that cheap.

If you are doing jambs and under hood.......doors are coming off and bed is coming off. 

 

I'll have at least $1500+++ in materials and countless hours. 

 

Prepare to be laughed at or at least snickered. 

 

Most shops won't do full paints, those who do, charge, time is money, shop space is time and money. 

 

Body work is not exclusive to paint, good shop may not paint over your work. 

 

If you want a blow-n-go..........well, you get what you pay for. 

 

I'm doing mine myself for several reasons. I found two shops that were willing to do NOTHING more than spray, both wanted $2000 for booth time and nothing else. I would completely strip the truck, do all body work, prime, sand......all prep and have the cab and bed delivered separately and supply all material. 

This is for a three stage paint, base-pearl-clear. 

 

I'm also painting the frame and underside of bed with single stage enamel, stock color no pearl. And black-out with undercoating. 

 

 

  No one is going to give me what I want. 

I stopped asking around because I realized they did not take me seriously, no one pays 8-10K to paint a $2500 truck. 

 

 

Why don't you get some estimates and report back?

 

 

[kryptronic]

I got a quote from my cousin, who owns a body shop in Baltimore, for $4000 to paint my 95 YJ.  Full job including under the hood, etc.  Bottom and inside to be bedlined by me separely.  That $4000 included materials and the labor on the base/clear.  I would have had to disassemble, do all the prep, primer and sealer and deliver/pickup/reassmble.

 

So Jeep Driver claiming $8000 is probably right on.  And way too much for a truck like these.  I'm going to learn to paint and put the money towards quality materials and equipment.  I've got more than one Jeep which will need paint over the next few years so that plays into my decision as well.

 

I'd like to see some quotes as well.

[rokinn]

Addendum:  Thinking about what I did a bit more.  I took down just the oxidized surface layer of the old clear coat.  You just have to feather the interface between the remaining clear coat and where it's completely gone.