Buying a car with clearcoat peeling

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read-a-holic, Apr 6, 1:02am
Ive just noticed a bit of clear coat peeling off my 2004 corolla, only bought from a dealer less than 2yrs ago. is this common? it is pale blue if that makes a difference. I am a little gutted to be honest, it started very suddenly, the guy at bridgestone who does my tyres said its common in toyota and honda from the sun.

elect70, Apr 6, 3:40am
Buy Euro car my old 96 E36 beemers paint is as good as it was new , dark blue metalic .

datoofairy, Apr 6, 3:44am
My 2003 Corolla has patches where the clear coat is peeling. I was gutted when I first noticed it as I love my car. Through contacts in the industry I had the roof, bonnet and trim vinyl wrapped and I get positive comments on it all the time. People are always asking where I got my car done. There are still some smaller patches on the doors and on the back but they arent as noticeable.

daryl14, Apr 6, 4:23am
Silver & white cars rust faster as they don't warm up and never fully dry out all the little cracks and crevices. My first car, a white 92 levin rusted out the tailgate long before the engine was ready to quit. Then we had a silver CRV that started to go in the A pillars. If looking at a 90s - 00s jappa you are gonna get bitten one way or another.

attitudedesignz, Apr 6, 4:25am
Bollocks.

read-a-holic, Apr 6, 6:17am
so what is the advice to do if you have a few patches of the clear coat starting to come off. the guy at the local tyre place said that a panel beater cut and polish helps? any truth in that?

tamarillo, Apr 6, 6:18am
Yes it puts others off and most certainly lowers the price. But seller should have discounted it already as it's pretty obviuos.
Waxing it every six months will slow down deterioration, or it needs paint. It's best when it just one panel as it can be painted relatively easily. If it's all over it's too expensive.

nesta129, Apr 6, 6:50am
I have realised that blue,green,white,red and purple colors are the common colors for paint fade and clearcoat peeling.
A wax might save it temporarily but in the end it will get worse.If it is one or more panels,find the cost to get it painted vs paying a bit more for another car with no clear coat peeling.I have seen clearcoat peeling off 2007 toyotas!
Also if waxing,well that peeling clearcoat eyesore will still put your partner off so you'll have to bite the bullet sooner or later to get it painted.
Cut and polish don't help with peeling clearcoat sorry.All the peeling clearcoat jobs we had done,painting was the only option.

read-a-holic, Apr 6, 7:02am
it seems to be the passenger doorframe up to the roof but not the roof if that makes sense and yes it is the pale blue, havent noticed it anywhere else yet, but it is fairly bad in the area its started, I guess I want to get it sorted but not sure what to ask for if I take it to a panel beater. yes female driver with no experience of this in previous cars. Actually pretty annoyed as would never have bought this car from the dealer if I was only going to get 18mths before clear coat started peeling! and it wasnt cheap either, and is a lovely car. Any advice regarding getting it sorted out would be most appreciated but I don't want to spend money at the panel beater if it won't solve the problem!

attitudedesignz, Apr 6, 7:06am
The best piece of advice I can give is 'Take it to a car painter not a panel beater'.

grangies, Apr 6, 10:33pm
Sounds to me like a clearcoat fade in / blend . It's where the painter has to melt in the edge of the clear coat to the original paint. The sun always eventually kills it, as it's not a sealed edge.

read-a-holic, Apr 6, 10:53pm
thanks, yes havent noticed it elsewhere yet - is that fixable?

gammelvind, Apr 6, 11:26pm
Everything with car paint is fixable, it all depends on whether or not you are prepared to spend the money. There are no long term easy cheap fixes.

grangies, Apr 6, 11:32pm
Where about's exactly is it on your car? .

The front windscreen pillar, or the rear quarter panel pillar?

socram, Apr 7, 5:18am
Far from it. My brother's white car never got any sun on one side. That side rusted out far quicker than the side that was in the sun. Stands to reason that in a cooler climate particularly, with a car permanently parked outside, it will rust faster than one that is garaged and a dark car will dry off quicker and therefore rust slower.

grangies, Apr 7, 6:37am
That all depends on whether the car was a pile of crap already from the day it left the assembly line.

read-a-holic, Apr 7, 9:54am
left front pillar

gunhand, Apr 7, 10:33am
If it is actually peeling clear coat then it's a simple but time consuming job. If it's peeling it will have jagged white edges and the paint underneath will be dull and rough feeling.
To solve this they (the paint shop) need to sand back affected area till the peeling has stopped, i:e they can feather the paint. then prime and paint again. The good news is the piller will run over the roof (its called a "cant rail" ) to the back guard. The roof will have a join to that rail so they wont do the roof as such. If they just blend halfway down the rail it will show eventually again, may not peel but the blend will show. If I was to do it I would paint the pillar blend the colour and clear the whole thing, rear guard and all.
Only bad news is unless all the clear is removed entirely it still could peel again elsewhere as the problem may be more than just that patch.
It's a hard one to guess at but a repair of the area could be just fine, but as a rule peeling clear isn't good news.

read-a-holic, Apr 8, 6:40am
thanks, I guess I will take it in to see a local car painter

read-a-holic, Apr 12, 4:43am
update - thanks for the advice, took it to a car painter type place today who estimated $1200-1500 to repair, they suggested I make contact with Toyota too as the car was only bought from them 18mths ago and is an EX signature class car. I realise I have no warranty now but as the car painter said you don't pay dealer prices to encounter this so soon after purchasing even if it is 2nd hand. I will have to get it repaired tho I think as it definitely is getting worse and I want to get it sorted before any further deterioration. Toyota took some details and will call on Monday to discuss.

lugee, Apr 12, 11:38am
My 88 CRX and 97 Accord are both completely free of any rust. Both also have immaculate clear coat despite many a day baking in the sun.

Maybe it's the fairly dry Christchurch climate?

read-a-holic, Apr 18, 3:03am
well the decision from Toyota is that its the luck of the draw and even tho the car was only purchased from their dealership 18mths ago they say not their problem as the car history does not show any spraying from them before sale to me, so I guess I just bit the bullet and get the repair job done through the car painter before it goes any further

manolo, Nov 1, 8:08am
Hi folks for a couple of weeks now we've been looking for a car as a cheap run around. I've come across a few mid 90s cars with noticeable paint peeling. They are usually red, blue or green. I don't mind it so much but it seems to put my partner off. Just wondering if we buy a car with the clear coat peeling and we wax and protect the existing paintwork will it continue peeling or can we stop it.

Also is it cheeky to ask for a lower price because of the paint peel- we are looking at private sales but also wonder whether it puts other people off as well

TIA

gunhand, Nov 1, 8:15am
If you can live with it live with it, it will continue to deteriate over time. The rest may or may not peel. Yes quite common with older cars. Putting wax on it may slow the progress. Good thing is you wont be paranoid about scratching that part lol.

kevlight, Nov 1, 8:21am
we got the roof and bonnet repainted on our 93, 5 door, hatch for $400 ,get a quote from a car painter when you do your test drive,and use the price to negotiate.