Hi,

A few months ago I had a small patch of paint on my roof turn from black to a dullish light grey as shown below.

Someone said something must have gotten between the clearcoat or lacquer or something and caused it to lose its colour. Anyway since I was at university this year I rarely saw my car, and the dull patches seem to have spread across most of the roof and the lacquer i think has started to peel.

And earlier when i was washing my car, the grey lacquer started to peel off when i was jetwashing the roof.  It looked a right state as the lacquer was grey, but when the jetwasher removed the grey lacquer, it revealed small patches of fresh black paint underneath, so I had no choice but to use my jetwasher to remove most of the grey lacquer and reveal the black underneath - even though I know it's very bad. :(

Now, what would I need to do to protect this top layer of paint??? I heard about sanding off all the lacquer and reapplying it??? Could i do a diy job or is this best left to a bodyshop?

 Body shop. I have never pressure washed my paint work on my car tho...might be why it happened? im not sure.

Hi Mate,

I'm sorry to say that it will now need stripping back to bare metal and the roof completely re-painting if you wanna do the job properly...    You may find somewhere that can simply re-laquer, which would be cheaper though...

Wigster. 

 could be one of two things really, either a stone chip where salt has got in and damaged the surface and lifting the clear, the grey is the clear delaminating from the base, or its been painted badly previously and there has been an edge say where the screen has been out.

best fix, is to blast of the rest of the loose clear with a pressure washer, then the screen comes out and the rest is then taken back usually with 180 and primed and painted again,

price wise expect to pay from £70 for the screen in/out then about £100 for the priming and paint side of it

jake

Hi guys thanks for the quick replies.

I'm not sure if I want it all stripped down and done properly, as the car is almost 10 years old soon, the rest of the paintwork (although in relatively good nick) is starting to show its age a little, therefore I don't think it's worth the money to get it fully re-done. Plus I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep this car for anyways.

Would getting a bodyshop to remove the remaining lacquer then reapplying the lacquer be adequate enough in protecting the rest of the paint underneath? Or is it a case of damage already been done underneath and potentially spreading more? (Hence getting it entirely redone). And if I was to get the lacquer reapplied only, what sort of cost am I looking at?

Jake, is that the price for getting it down to bare metal and redoing it?

 you dont need to go to bare metal, all it needs is a key, the base has stuck, but thats only microns thick, so the 180 goes through to primer, problem yo've got is getting a bodyshop to do that sort of job, i know we wouldnt as not all of the clear will come off and you will be left with a kind of mapping effect which needs to be sanded down,

its amazing how well a car can come up, you dont have to take the screen out, but you run a small risk of the same happening long down the line as your making an edge at the seal that is vunerable to the eliments,

if you spent £60 on a goos valet youd be surprised how good your car would look, and at sale time, it would add a few £100's

Good to hear I may not need to go to bare metal, as I would imagine it would cost quite alot to sort out. I think the windscreen may have been replaced by the previous owners before - however the 'delaminating' appeared at the rear of the car by the aerial, so must rule it out???

When I used the jetwash to blast off the top layer, the revealing bottom layer was really shiny black as it was wet. Upon inspecting it when it was dry earlier, the revealing bottom layer was not shiny black as I first expected. Instead, it was really dull and the corners of the peeling stood out ALOT. It only looks normal when wet, when dry it looks awful. Below is a picture, could you let me know if I can get it fixed without going to bare metal jake? As it's alot worse than I expected. :(

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/176/img2735ck9.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/592/img2736mm9.jpg

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/6706/img2738ln6.jpg

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/3719/img2739fb0.jpg

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/7941/img2740sk5.jpg when wet i thought it looked alrite yesterday evening,

Could it empty my wallet???

 thats defo been painted before lol, you can tell by the finish of the clear coat,

there are a few reasons why it de laminated, as i said before, edges chip moisture gets in etc, but does it have little bubble or what look like loads of little chips, these are micro blister, this is moistere in the air line while painting and can cause this, also the if the paint is left too long or not long enough the clear wont stick,

best bet is aerial off, flat the roof, then repaint,

£100 of a job

ps no need to go to bare metal, the sander will give enough key and go through where it needs too,

jake

 exact same happened to me!

check this thread out: http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/p/136272/910785.aspx#910785

Bodyshop wanted 200 for a complete respray.. i sold the car as it was..

I think its starting to happen with a number of dark coloured cars that are 10 years + old!

Painted before???

Is it worth getting in touch with the previous owners to ask where they got it repainted then? And then try going back to that company and question the quality of work?

I think there were some scratches or chips on the roof before, I think this could have contributed. Ah so aerial off, how about the seals beside the roof between the doors? Do these need to come off aswell?

And at £100 of a job, is that a diy price or bodyshop price if you don't mind me asking? Because if it's a £100 bodyshop price, I may aswell get them to do it.

Also, thanks very much jake, really appreciate your help mate.

adz2k6, £200 that's quite alot!

If i can get it done for around £100 like jake suggested I might go ahead with getting it done, otherwise might not be worth it, unless i can get somebody on detailing world or something to do it. :/

Yeh my car looks exactly the same as yours, plus it looks worse than it is because our cars are black. :(

 no we'd charge £100 + vat, the seals come off the doors by simply pulling, you drop the roof lining down and bobs your uncle, like you say if the window has been replaced it can be something as innocent as the glass fitter marking the roof with a tool, requiring it to be painted, dont worry its no biggie. and were a bodyshop.

you may get charged a little more being down south. i wouldn't diy it if iwere you.

if there was a warrenty its usually ends when the vehicle is transfered

jake

Cheers jake!

Just wondering though why would the roof lining need to come down??? Also, the front windscreen may have been replaced. However the delamination started at the back of the car; then spread to the front, which means it's probably not the cause probably.

Also, when you said painted before, do you mean a section was painted, or the entire roof was painted??

Yep I'll take it to a bodyshop, I won't be diying it. Thanks for the rough quote though, at most I'm probably looking at £150??

Also, could you verify whether it's the lacquer or clearcoat that is peeling?  I need to know in order to get some quotes. :)

 same thing, laquer is clear coat :)

the full roof has been done, theres a very small chance its original but i doubt it,

the lining has to be dropped at teh back to allow access to the nut holding the base of the areal down, thats all, not the full lining,

yeah £150 ish would be ok,

Thanks very much jake!

Without you i'd be clueless and would probaby have gone with a full repaint from bare metal.

£200 is the best quote so far, i've had quotes upwards of £300-£350 :/.

Do you think it will be much cheaper up north?

 yeah deffo cheaper up north but is it worth all the hassle and trouble to get up north for £50 haha

I have that on mine, it's a small area next to the sunroof, the previous owner used a pressure washer on it.

When I took it to the garage he said it'd probably been painted before, he says you're not supposed to pressure wash your car if it's had paintwork done on it (I never pressure wash it anyway)

I found a place in nottingham (I go university there) that will do it for £120, so I'll get it done up there and save £80!

Okay I had it done today, they parked the car outside in the rain when it was done so I dont know what the finish is like.

Anyways my radio does not work now, it doesn't pick up any stations (only a few), so I'm just wondering have they broken my antenna?