One of the things I dislike so much about my car, is that even though I took care of it, the clear coat still peeled off everywhere, mostly on the roof, hood

This is because of a @!#$ty factory paint job, and living in Miami

I plan on buying a better car in the future, and keep the cavalier as a daily driver, and I wouldn't dislike it so much if the clear coat wasn't delaminated

I got quoted around $700 by Maaco, but probably the cheapest paint they have

My brother did this to his Nissan Sentra that had clear coat peel, paid around 700 and it turned out good, but who knows how long this paint will last

It seems like a waste of money to me, even though I want the car look a little better

Mine started last year, mostly the hood but not bad considering it stays out doors all year. It's a shame everything costs so much but have u considered a vinyl wrap? Suppose to be cheaper and long lasting


ReD RaiN

I HAD that problem. I searched for the most cost effective way to cover it. I was leaning towards a wrap when I saw the 50 dollar paint job. I HAND sanded my entire car. Paint is stupid cheap. I went with a two tone black and white. Paint I used was a boat paint from Lowe's. 11 bucks a quart. I couldn't be happier with the outcome. My wife thinks I'm a genius. Its super labor intensive but if you got the time, it's worth the investment. My car has always been a good runner, now it looks just as good.

joe satriani wrote:One of the things I dislike so much about my car, is that even though I took care of it, the clear coat still peeled off everywhere, mostly on the roof, hood

This is because of a @!#$ty factory paint job, and living in Miami

I plan on buying a better car in the future, and keep the cavalier as a daily driver, and I wouldn't dislike it so much if the clear coat wasn't delaminated

I got quoted around $700 by Maaco, but probably the cheapest paint they have

My brother did this to his Nissan Sentra that had clear coat peel, paid around 700 and it turned out good, but who knows how long this paint will last

It seems like a waste of money to me, even though I want the car look a little better

You're seriously still here whining? LMAO

You really need to get a life bud.

I get the feeling this guy works for gm or something and his sole job is to attempt to get people to gradually dislike certain cars and somehow persuade people to purchase newer vehicles from gm and what not.

the car sucks, and the painting sucks as well, same thing happened to mine. I have seen older cars with still intact paint jobs, yet a 03-04 cavalier is already a mess?

lmao

Ever thought maybe the car was repainted poorly? Even if you bought a car brand new, shipping damage does occur. And dealerships don't want to pay a lot for it.

These cars were made cheap .I'm sure you got yours cheap. So with that said cheap paint , cheap interior and cheap suspension. But the engine's are strong and for the most part reliable. Why we jbody guys love them. We buy them cheap drop some money into them and have a nice reliable car for half of a new car.

I have it on my rear passenger quarter along the trunk lid on my 03. DO NOT go with Maaco, they're paint jobs are cheap for a reason, they suck. My buddy had an S10 that had to get repainted 4 times by them because the paint they put on peeled off in big chunks all the way down to the metal. Proper prep is the first step and good quality paint applied by someone who knows what they're doing when mixing is why most body shops that are reputable are more expensive.

ck03bluefire wrote:I have it on my rear passenger quarter along the trunk lid on my 03. DO NOT go with Maaco, they're paint jobs are cheap for a reason, they suck. My buddy had an S10 that had to get repainted 4 times by them because the paint they put on peeled off in big chunks all the way down to the metal. Proper prep is the first step and good quality paint applied by someone who knows what they're doing when mixing is why most body shops that are reputable are more expensive.

In that case, a quality paint job will cost you more than one thousand dollars

makes no sense to spend that much on car that is currently not even worth $2000 just for cosmetic purposes, when I can save those 1k to buy a better car in the long term future

If the car was a classic, or something very close to your heart, where you have the money, and other cars, it would make sense, but as your daily driver, which is the only thing you can afford right now, makes no sense. I don't mind though, when you're driving you forget about it, but still wouldn't mind have it look clean

If it is just clear peeling and not rust. Then scuff it all with some 180g and feather out all the edges and pasti dip it some cool color.

Nicholas Reilly wrote:If it is just clear peeling and not rust. Then scuff it all with some 180g and feather out all the edges and pasti dip it some cool color.

it would look terrible, also its all over the hood, roof, trunk

I wanted to go to maccoo, but I'm afraid its not going to last more than 3 years if lucky, I want it fixed, but I find it ridiculous to spend that amount on a car that is not even worth 1k now

I am taking this issue head on over the next two weeks. I posted up a paint restoration thread in the General > Maintenance & Repair area. Doing it myself and looking at ~$750 and a lot of elbow grease for a paint job that will last for 10 years. It's super easy to do as long as you have some friends and a desire to learn. This car probably isn't really worth it as far as finances go but I don't care about that. Cavaliers are great for practicing, learning, and cheap parts. If you can polish a turd, you can polish anything right?

Polished the old turd:

Before:






After:








2002 Blue LS Sport Coupe 5-speed
My Paint Restoration Project --> http://www.j-body.org/forums/read.php?f=11&i=170933&t=170933

I feather the edges with 600 then 1200, next I Acetone wipe to clean and "reactivate" the base color (red for me) and then I reseal with exterior grade high gloss clear polyurethane right out of the $9 spray can from Home Depot. It has worked pretty well for me with my 99 for the past year and a half. It stops the peeling dead in its tracks - until of course the next area lifts up on another part of the body. It has been the roof and the trunk lid for me. I am still on my first can though it is about 2/3 used up now.

99LN2 Cavalier wrote:I feather the edges with 600 then 1200, next I Acetone wipe to clean and "reactivate" the base color (red for me) and then I reseal with exterior grade high gloss clear polyurethane right out of the $9 spray can from Home Depot. It has worked pretty well for me with my 99 for the past year and a half. It stops the peeling dead in its tracks - until of course the next area lifts up on another part of the body. It has been the roof and the trunk lid for me. I am still on my first can though it is about 2/3 used up now.

I hear about feathering all the time and know what it is but is there a technique to it? Got some of my own to do. Trunk and hood mainly for me


ReD RaiN

Nothing specific, the clear coat has a thickness to it and to have less of a bump you need to bevel the edges. For my quick patch-ups, that are by no means perfect I just sand around the periphery being careful to not remove the base coat and then wipe clean with acetone on a clean rag and then apply the coating. I use pure acetone and not nail polish remover with all of the extra fragrance junk in it. You can still see the bump even with my sanding but it is not as bad. If I really wanted to make it better, I would block sand with wet paper after the first coat around the same periphery to further reduce the contour of the bump and then apply a second coat to really level things.

It works good enough though for my current purposes. Good luck.

The clear started to go on my '03 sunfire about 3 years ago. It started on the top and then spread from there. About a year ago, I had a chunk of paint the size of a football come off of the passenger side rear fender. Super frustrating. I went to a local auto body shop and had the entire car repainted. It made me pound to drive it again. I also had a RK Sport ram air hood installed at the same time.

Mine was peeling off on the roof, trunk, a little on the quarter panels, and on the fenders, ended up professionally repainting the whole car.