Need help with clear coat flaking
 

Hey guys I need help with clear coat flaking. As you can see in this picture my Nite is as straight as the day I bought it brand new but.... on the top of the bed on the right and left side and on top of the left door the clear coat is progressively coming off faster and faster. I am going to have to do something fast, it is a lot worse today than a year ago when this picture was taken.

My question is, is anyone else having this problem with their Ford 150?

What I plan on doing since the truck is in such great shape I was planning on doing the sanding work my self and let Maico spray it. But I dont even know what type or size paper to use. But hey every one had to start somewhere right? What grit paper should I start with and finish? Can I just sand the lettering and pin striping off the truck? Can I use black spray can primer until I get it ready to paint?

Please...any suggestion would help.

Tim

http://home.windstream.net/brcrkd/nite600.jpg

First off.....find a better shop than Macco. Second if you want to sand and prep its not that hard. As for removing the stripe and lettering, do not sand it off. Try using a heat gun or hair dryer to soften the adhesive up (be careful not to over heat the area and damage the paint or warp the steel) and peel them off. The use laquer thinner or a 3M adhesive eraser in a drill to remove residual adhesive. Now if its just the clear coat coming off, then on the areas where its coming off, just use 400 grit paper. If you do go thru to bare metal, then yes a good spray bomb primer is good to use. Just sand with 400 again. For the rest of the panel I would use 1000 grit.

Now here is a big suggestion. If it were me, I would only remove the stripe, leave the 4x4 on. Heres why. A good shop can repaint and blend in the areas that need repainting with black. Then they can reclear down to the stripe location. Once the stripe is back on, and the shop did the paint correctly, no one will know what has been done. Same goes for the door.

Unless you are looking at repainting the whole truck, then just use 400 grit on everything.

Well actually I was going to paint the whole truck and was thinking of taking all stripes, lettering, decals and molding off.

And as far as Maico, I have had good success from my local on on an S10 drag truck...I realize they get a bad wrap but I carried that truck up there just wanting some color on it and was surprised by the paint job that came back....and for only $400

The reason I was repainting the whole truck is over the years I have had the front clip and the tailgate repainted due to hunting and farm accidents...so those areas are a little more fresh than the rest...so I thought I would just go ahead and redoe the whole thing before I retire the truck, rebuild the motor, put my lift kit back on it..etc

I am in the process of buying a 2002 F250 crew diesel 4x and gonna give the good ole truck the rest she deserves

So...go over those spots with 400 then over the rest with 1000. Wet or Dry?

I like those light covers.... Did your front clip have the corner marker lights? Id like to get some like that.

As for your clear coat peeling.. Mine is doing it also: on the hood and roof. The only way to fix it right is to sand and repaint it. Now, you can do it two ways: One, sand the clear coat off and put new on or sand it all bare and do all the prep work so Maaco does a decent job. Their paint jobs can be good but you need to pay for it. If you do all the prep work (sanding, filler, primer, trim) then give it to them it can come out quite nice.

Thanks...yea my lights are just like yours. Those covers wrap around and attach with velcro under the hood. I got them from JC Whitney at around 30 bucks. Although not shown in this picture I also have the rear covers now. I plan on taking all the molding, stripes, letters...everything and make it completely black and sleek. I already had the tailgate reworked flat and staight to where it looks like an new modle F150 with the large blue oval "FORD" in the middle of the tailgate. That cost me $40 and it just sticks on. It gives it a unique sleek look from the rear

That really is a beautiful truck. If you had to spend some extra money to get a full service paint job it would definitely be worth it. (just keep it waxed. I found out thats how it peels...) I didnt know they made rear covers.. ill have to check on that. Your black on black looks better than my black on blue would but one day ill get paint. Ive seen the new trucks with the one big oval. I dont know how yours looked but mine says F O R D across the back of it. I like that. Most trucks on the road now have the tailgate with the silver/gray and it says Ford on the bottom corner.

yea, mine doesnt look like the old ones...it looks exactly like the new ones. I will try to find you the link to those rear covers

I forgot I paid so much for the rears..LOL:

http://www.jcwhitney.com/GTS-SMOKE-B...4655_10614.jcw

WOW! those are expensive. Well... I just moved and cant find work so itll have to be something for the future...

If you want to fix the peeling clear correctly, the only way to do it correctly is to sand off All the clear and get to a good base for the new paint to adhear to. I would suggest using a straight razor blade to shave off the clear. Then use 120 grit to remove what is left. Then wet sand every panel w 400 if being primed or 600 if getting color then clear.

As for Macco, if they see you took the time to prep correcly , their paint job can be very good. I had a mason dump i preped and brought to them. All they had to do was mask the window openings(i removed all the windows,trim,grill, mirrors,EVERYTHING) They spayed the whole truck(dump body too), in non clearcoat,for $450. At the time the paint alone would of costed me double that. The truck turned out excelent. I seen the truck 5 years later and it still looked great. Maccos prep work sucks, but their paint work is very good. You have to figure, thats all the guy does all day, IS PAINT

Thanks Brad

I was thiking of removing all trim and emblems and give it that clean look. When I remove these are there going to be holes to fill or are they stick on?

Where the F150 emblems are yes. Not where the molding is

well I guess I could leave those

Here is the most recent pic of the tailgate...this was taken about a week ago whil I was remodeling this house

http://www.bearcreekwoodproducts.com/shop.jpg