I have star shaped cracks in the paint on my hood only. No rust (yet) but many star shaped cracks. Anyone know the cause or best solution for this? Can I just have the hood painted if need be and not the whole truck, or is this something that will not get worse?

Thanks.

 

These are stress cracks, often caused by too much stress or flexing in the paint film. Commonly see these in old lacquer paint jobs, but not so much with seen in modern base/clears and urethanes used today which are less brittle. You have to find out what the underlying cause is, it can be be either in the material itself-it is often found in fiberglass parts which could require getting down into the glass for proper repair or just in the paint film and its application requiring stripping down to sound material, and could just be a matter of improper use or application of the paint. But also could be due to poor repairs done underneath. I think you might be fine just painting the hood, maybe blend into the fenders for color match, possible the hood may have been repaired and repainted at one time? But I'd try and investigate the cause so it doesn't happen to the new finish. May want to strip down the areas of the stress cracks and investigate whats underneath. Here is a link to the paint defect cracking, microchecking, ect.
http://www.ppg.com/PDSMaxMeyer/ShowD...&ShowPicture=0