Question for the body/paint guys

[Pony]

Looks like U/V fail to me from either cheap clear without adequate protection or just not enough film build. Yea, you're gonna have to take it all off down to the factory finish or the primer in spots where they repaired.

I'd get a cheap compressor, a decent D/A sander (fine sanding pattern/finish DA) and a couple rolls of 150 and 320 grit paper.

First take a new razor blade and holding it almost flat see how much you can get off with that on the big flat areas. Be careful not to let the blade catch and dig into the surface.
Take the sander and 150 grit, keep it flat as possible and basically try and just take off 80% of the top layer of paint. (just the clearcoat) I usually try and do a 15x15 area then move on to the next area. Don't focus on the edge, try and take the whole section down evenly. .instead of just doing a little spot then a little spot It's easier to keep it flat doing a bigger section all at once.
Once the whole panel is done switch to the 320 grit and take off the remaining 20% and the basecoat. be as careful as possible not to get into any repaired areas, if you see primer and it looks stable, leave it alone.

Talk to your painter and see if he would prefer to prime and final sand it and how much extra that would be. We hate when people bring something in already primed and the customers saying "It's ready for paint" 9 times out of 10 it's not, and the paintjob looks like shit if we just shoot it. (of course it's the paints fault then, not the poor bodywork says the customer).

[KevinD]

Thanks Pony. I totally understand what you mean about bringing in a car "ready to paint" I'm going to try and take the truck to my painter and have him give me a quote on them doing all the work first. I just know it's gonna be a couple k though. Not sure I want to spend that much on this truck. It's an 03 with 208k miles and it's my work truck. I may just leave it as is, and give it to my daughter when she starts driving. I'm sure that I am capable of doing the prep work. It's the downtime involved that's gonna most likely prevent me from doing it myself.
If the shop can do it for 1500 or so, I'll almost definitely let them do it, and then I will do the prep on the Camaro myself, though I'm going to have to read up on composite panels and how to prep them first.

[Goofy]

Just noticed this thread, looks like PP has it covered I'm not surprised the company went out of business........ 3 year old repair looking like that We give a 3 year warranty on all of our paintwork......... we'd be out of business in seconds with stuff like that

[KevinD]

Another option I'm debating is to start hitting the junkyards and find good orig paint metal (bed, doors, fenders) then all that has to be repainted is the roof. The bodyshop/painter I will be using Is a place I found in the town next to mine. They've been in business for 30 years, have a lifetime warranty on paint. I had my CSRT4 repainted there after the wreck, so far it still looks fabulous. (Funny thing is, two of the guys I was on the Fire Dept with for 15 years work there, and I knew it, had just forgotten about it when the hail damage happened.)

[Pony]

Just noticed this thread, looks like PP has it covered I'm not surprised the company went out of business........ 3 year old repair looking like that We give a 3 year warranty on all of our paintwork......... we'd be out of business in seconds with stuff like that

Most of the shops here do a lifetime warranty for as long as you own the car. (rust not included).

Another option I'm debating is to start hitting the junkyards and find good orig paint metal (bed, doors, fenders) then all that has to be repainted is the roof. The bodyshop/painter I will be using Is a place I found in the town next to mine. They've been in business for 30 years, have a lifetime warranty on paint. I had my CSRT4 repainted there after the wreck, so far it still looks fabulous. (Funny thing is, two of the guys I was on the Fire Dept with for 15 years work there, and I knew it, had just forgotten about it when the hail damage happened.)

I think that would be a lot more expensive depending on the prices in your area. Here just a clean bed alone would be $1500+

[KevinD]

That's possible. I haven't found any good prices yet (in the right color) Just exploring all my options.

[Pony]

Not a bad thought but the likelyhood that you'll find all those parts with decent paint, no damage and in the right color for a reasonable price is slim. A number of years ago the bigger boneyards caught up with the industry and now network part availability and shipping nationwide. They know exactly how much that part costs new, how much aftermarket and price them slightly below. We get stuff shipped from all over the country.

Smaller boneyards get the scraps because the bigger ones can now afford to bid more. It's really driven the used part prices through the roof in the last decade.

[KevinD]

Yeah, sigh, I've noticed that : junkyard prices going up. Trying to find decent interior parts for the Z28, and the Ram. Note to all...NEVER, EVEr under any circumstances use ArmourAll on you interior plastics. Over time, it (along with sunlight) causes major cracking and failure. I use Mother's now, designed for plastics (not vinyl like ArmourAll)

[Pony]

Good tip!
Armorall will dry out the plastics. Also drys out the tires but most people replace those often enough.

[KevinD]

Yeah, just wish I had known it 9 years ago. Hahahaha

[Scuzzbopper]

You can save yourself alot of sanding by stripping that shitty paint off with a razor scraper. It takes a little practice to get the light touch needed to not go too deep but it's super easy. I use this technique quite often. Especially on early to mid 90's Fords. They used a terrible primer sealer for those years and the paint just lifts off like scraping your windshield. Use caution on the rounder parts, try to keep the blade in contact with the paint as much as you can. I know the Ram has very few level planes, I hate working on them because of that, but take your time. If the paint resists the blade leave it for sanding, if it flies off like snowflakes, you're on the right track. I stripped a '92 'Stang in 3 hours like that. Right down to that shitty black primer sealer. Then just wet sand, reseal, reprime and repaint. Easy cheesy brah.

[Pony]

Yea Scuzzy, I love when the paint just comes right off like that, really does make life easy.

[Goofy]

Most of the shops here do a lifetime warranty for as long as you own the car. (rust not included).

You dont have the same shit on the roads that we do

[Pony]

You dont have the same shit on the roads that we do

I live in Cleveland Ohio, right in the heart of the "rust belt". They mine salt from under Lake Erie and use it generously on the roads all winter. Rots the hell out of everything.

[Muddy]

I've got a 98' Dodge Ram and the paint on the hood and roof started getting tiny bubbles and recently it all (75%) came off in huge sheets.. Im interested in getting it repaired but I think they will have to strip the thing down to bare metal..