# Lacquer peel - not quite - but need some advice please



## Roverman (Jul 21, 2015)

Hello all,

New to the forum but I'm hoping this is the place for all the restoration work I'm doing... on my Rover 200.

Car is some 20 years old, and has suffered terribly with lacquer peel on the roof, hatch, spoiler and bonnet. These have now all been re-sprayed and the colour match is pretty good too.

Side panels are all in good shape and worth trying to restore rather than re-spray right now.

The one thing that is letting the car down is the tops of the front wings, which weren't re-sprayed with the bonnet as I went for 2K solid.

They're showing the early signs of lacquer peel in the form of what appear to be thin scratch lines. I saw these develop on the roof and hatch and deteriorate quickly into patches of lacquer off, needing a full flattening of those areas.

Photos attached...

On the hatch and roof, these "scratches" were present along with the peeling - but they were deep - all the way through the lacquer. As I sanded, I could see the scratch lines broaden and then white-out as I got through the lacquer and hit the paint underneath. Then of course, you're soon into the primer (I never managed to break through onto metal) which means a re-spray, although I was fully expecting that on the hatch, roof and bonnet anyway and therefore didn't care if I hit primer.

So questions:

1. The lacquer scratches on the tops of the wings are fainter than I've seen elsewhere on the car. Does that mean they don't run all the way through the lacquer layer?

2. These "scratches" don't appear to be degenerating to lacquer peel anywhere near as quickly as they did elsewhere on the car. They've been present for years and don't seem to be getting worse. Anyone know why?

3. Is it likely I can affect an improvement on the lacquer scratches on the tops of the front wings just by removing some lacquer but definitely not hitting the paint? I.e. less "removal" than I had to do elsewhere to get them to disappear?

4. What would you recommend for achieving this if I took to taking some lacquer off? Wet and dry 1000+ grit, maybe used wet? Cutting paste like G38? T-Cut? Autoglym paint restorer? Anything else?

5. Something that's always bothered me. If someone on here confirms I can do it just by taking some lacquer off, then I'm paint sans-lacquer on the tops of the wings, i.e. I'll need more lacquer. What finish do I leave on the paint (and possibly some remaining lacquer) before I re-lacquer the area? To my mind, lacquer seals in the paint finish underneath, so the paint layer has to be as polished as it can be before the lacquer is applied. But then I've seen people say you still have to key the paint layer before the lacquer is applied. Finishing paint in say 1000 grit leaves it with a dull, matt-finish, so won't putting lacquer on top of such a finish just leave you with a dull, matt colour protected by a lacquer layer?

Any help and advice provided by the wise and knowledgeable of the forum would be gratefully received...

Those photos...


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## muzzer (Feb 13, 2011)

I am not 100% positive but that looks like the top coat has cracked/crazed. As to wet sanding those marks, if they are only superficial then they should come out quite nicely and still leave a certain amount of top coat left. If they are all the way through then as you know, it's respray time.
Without trying to teach you something you might already know, when you wet sand or machine polish a cars paint, you are removing the top coat in microns and so the general idea is to remove as little as possible. The trick is knowing how thick your paintwork is and how much of that is top coat. You will need a paint depth guage for that.
Have a look around this site, there are plenty of threads where people have photo documented their wet sanding and also a few guides to wet sanding that are very useful.

Hopefully some of this will be useful for you


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## muzzer (Feb 13, 2011)

As to polishing the paintwork, you polish the top coat rather than the actual paint colour itself so no need to clear(or top) coat over polished paintwork. Now once you've sanded something, you need to polish it to bring it back to the finish you desire. Have a look in the showroom section or the studio section, lots of threads involving wet sanding clear coat and then being polished back :thumb:


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## rich9 (Jan 28, 2014)

If you sand out the scratches it's likely you will weaken the lacquer even further and it will be even more likely to flake and peel.

As a DIY job you could try sanding them out carefully not breaking through to the base, then apply new lacquer. But it will not be as long lasting or durable as the 2k that you had professionally applied. It may be acceptable if the car is kept garaged for shows, but on a daily driver 1k lacquer on a large area tends to craze and dull over a couple of years exposure to the elements (sun). But to me it's a risk as the lacquer is already showing weakness - you can't build a solid house on a weak foundation.

You definitely do not want polished paint before applying lacquer as it will not grip. You need to have a P800 finish and the lacquer will totally fill and cover the scratches.

Really the best job would be to get it done by whoever did the other painting.


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## Roverman (Jul 21, 2015)

Thanks to both of you for your advice. I'm going to give it a go in a small area first - VERY carefully - just to see if I can affect some improvement. I'll report back on what I find...

The plan is to get the rest of the car re-sprayed too, but when funds allow - I'm just trying to affect some improvement perhaps for a year or so. Getting the front wings re-sprayed won't be a problem, but the doors - I have rubbing strips that apparently cause a multitude of problems when removed (rusty bolts break and are an odd size that can't be replaced easily, etc.) and of course, I have to figure out how to get the door handles and locks out.


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