what's going on here? paint cracked?

[theliman]

hello all,

i've got a couple areas on my hood where it looks like the paint is cracking. initially i believed, as did friends, that it was tree sap. but i didn't try to remove it at the time, because i wasn't sure, and now it looks like there is a small spot within the area (on the left) where metal is showing through. i'm not really sure. any idea what this is?

(forgive the brush on the left. needed something for the camera phone to focus on)

 

[flnycus]

You know i almost the exact same thing on a 2006 4r sport, i would like to know what it is also...? Mine is immuclate i can only think that something hit it or it was some sap that i missed and started to eat at the paint? Ummm ive tried everything to remove it, scratch x2.0 etc, waxing usually hides it for awhile but it comes back.

 

[MikesToy]

Getter done before you have to paint the whole hood.

 

[theliman]

Getter done before you have to paint the whole hood.

Get what done, is the question. Pretty sure it is clear coat failure and I am screwed. Going to have a body shop look at it then take it to Toyota since it is still under warranty, but I know they will claim acid rain or something environmental did it, in which case they say they don't have to fix it. I know it wasn't bird droppings. Sap is possible, but I still think it's absurd to have paint so terrible that sap will cause that kind of damage.

 

[wolfgang]

Hood of my '03 (black) did same thing - it is clear coat failure. I keep it waxed too. I though it was from all the hot air and BS generated by Wash politicians!

 

[theliman]

Hood of my '03 (black) did same thing - it is clear coat failure. I keep it waxed too. I though it was from all the hot air and BS generated by Wash politicians!

did you do anything in particular to contain it? doesn't look bad as it is now, but there are a few spots, and i'd like to keep them from growing if possible.

 

[wolfgang]

I haven't done anything about it yet. Thinking of using rubbing/polishing compound to remove the flaking clear coat and then waxing real good. What started as one 2x2" area has be joined by other smaller "flakes" on the hood. I fear the fix will be sanding and repainting of the entire hood. Right now I'm working on the corrosion on the SE alloy wheels before winter set in.

It seem that ever since the auto industry moved from high-VOC finishes - the finishes have become less duable. Remeber when water based paint was first used on cars - seems blue and silver cars simply shed their paint.!

 

[audiqtr]

it is definitely something that ate up your clear right there. It could be sap, bird poo, spit, eggs and a thousand other things. If any one of these things stay on your car 1-2 weeks, quicker if it is hot and if it is on a horizontal panel, it will cause this damage. You can make it look better by polishing, sealing and waxing, but from that pic, I can almost confidently say that it won't go away.

I'd clay bar, Light polish, seal and wax and live with it.

PS. High grit/heavy polish might pick up the rest of teh clear and some of the base, that's why I recommended light polish.

PS. Warranty doesn't cover environmental agent damage.