Bubbling clearcoat, rain and vinyl wrap

Vat · Postby **Vat** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 8:59 am

So, the Jaffa was parked out in Brisbane's heavy rain on Friday. Result - a car with wet carpets, and the bonus was the water got under the breaks in the clear coat on the bonnet and the tops of the guards and bubbled it, so it's royally frakked.

I am intending to get the bonnet and guards repainted at some point, but was thinking through how to make it not look like total arse like it does at the moment. I had thought about plastidip, but then remembered vinyl wrap - better solution for me as I hate painting type activities. Might be cool to run a matt black bonnet for a while.

Main thought was do the bonnet first. Any ideas on prep? Do I want to try and get the surface as smooth as possible and get the clear coat off, or will the wrap simply go over it and smooth it out?

Apu · Postby **Apu** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 9:08 am

You'll need to get it really smooth - so sand and claybar!

I had to cover up some marks and holes on my Integra (replaced the wing) and it is visible, but less so as I used CF-look vinyl.

That said, if you are looking to re-spray, then I assume the rest of the car isn't great...so, balance out the effort - no point going for a pro finish if the rest of the car looks crap.

Vat · Postby **Vat** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 9:17 am

Actually, it's not too bad from the A pillars back, I was just going to colour match (not going for showroom here) when I got the bonnet and guards painted.

Thanks for the advice. What grade sandpaper do you think?

lizard · Postby **lizard** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 9:45 am

Vinyl wrap will not adhere to undercoat or sanded surfaces :wink:

Vinyl wrap relies on high surface tension same as window tint .

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:27 pm

So vinyl wrap won't adhere to grey primer?

Apu · Postby **Apu** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:35 pm

lizard wrote:Vinyl wrap will not adhere to undercoat or sanded surfaces Vinyl wrap relies on high surface tension same as window tint .

Really? Where did you get that from? In that case, why is the vinyl is sticking to my sand, puttied, partly primed hatch?

lizard · Postby **lizard** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:39 pm

bruce wrote:So vinyl wrap won't adhere to grey primer?

Vinyl wrap has a very thin layer of adhesive and any matt/dry surface will suck up the adhisive .Have you seen big air bubbles in wrap ? this is where the adhesive has let go of the wrap and bubbled . May not happen strait away but give it a hot day then :wink:

Vat · Postby **Vat** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:55 pm

Surely if you sand it down with something like a wet 2000 grit paper and then run a clay over it the surface will be smooth enough for the adhesive to take? That's pretty much what I was planning.

lizard · Postby **lizard** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:18 pm

Vat wrote:Surely if you sand it down with something like a wet 2000 grit paper and then run a clay over it the surface will be smooth enough for the adhesive to take? That's pretty much what I was planning.

Up to you

Why would you ever use a clay bar

Vat · Postby **Vat** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 2:47 pm

lizard wrote:Why would you ever use a clay bar

If you're trying to be helpful, why not phrase that as "I wouldn't use/there's no need to use a clay bar because..."? Combination of force of habit and ensuring the surface is smooth and free of contaminants, particularly the remnants of the sanding.

Apu · Postby **Apu** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 3:10 pm

Vat, it's a temporary fix. If you are planning on painting the car in the next 6-12 months...it's probably not going to be a big deal. Even if it bubbles off, you can do a quick fix.

RS2000 · Postby **RS2000** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 4:52 pm

Vat wrote:Surely if you sand it down with something like a wet 2000 grit paper and then run a clay over it the surface will be smooth enough for the adhesive to take? That's pretty much what I was planning.

Do you have patches with no clearcoat? If so, you won't get rid of the edges where clearcoat meets no clearcoat. This edge will be just as noticible under the wrap.

Cheers

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 5:20 pm

How would Plastidip perform?

Vat · Postby **Vat** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 5:26 pm

RS2000 wrote:Do you have patches with no clearcoat? If so, you won't get rid of the edges where clearcoat meets no clearcoat. This edge will be just as noticible under the wrap.

Cheers

Thanks, that was what I was wondering - I need to basically sand the clear coat off and get a smooth surface.

Was initially thinking the plastidip route but judging by a couple of experiments with clear plastidip you still get the aforementioned edges showing so prep would be the same, and the prospect of 'painting' an entire bonnet with the stuff sounds like a colossal pain in the rear (don't really have a great environment to do that sort of stuff), particularly compared to wrapping it.