Fixes for peeling clear?

I'm looking at buying a 2005 Volvo V50. It ticks all the right boxes: 6-speed manual, turbo, AWD, NAV, etc. Overall its in pretty nice shape and it truly is a one owner car. The downside is that its on a sleazy used car lot and not the original owner's driveway. The REAL downside is that its been repainted. Carfax showed a hit in the rear and that seems to have been repaired rather well. The history from the servicing dealer shows a repair on the right side over a year ago and thats where the problem comes from. Through either poor prep work or inferior materials the clear is starting to peel. One spot is the rear inner wheel lip-which I understand since it gets pelted by rocks and will chip. The other is under the RF door belt molding. Its obvious from the slight overspray they didn't take the trim off but masked over it. There is a line of missing clear about 3mm blow the trim with a ragged edge. If I pick at the edge I can peel off the clear. The rest of the bodywork on that side is OK. Not great but I can live with it. What I can't live with is needing a respray before the car is paid off in 2-3 years. So my question is this:

Can a body shop scuff/sand the car and re-clear it without doing a full respray? I'm thinking I'll remove all the trim to save money and get a better quality job than it has. Probably just need to blend the rear 1/4 above the wheel and the front fender/hood. Is this nuts? I'd rather not shell out for a complete respray and the labor (mine and the shops) right now but I want to keep the car looking decent for maybe 5 years, if I buy it. Its silver, which I know can be hard to match. Which might be another reason to re-clear rather than repaint.

I'd skip it but finding this car at this price with all the right options is like finding a leprechaun riding a unicorn that E36 M3s golden eggs. And pisses beer (good beer, not the cheap crap that tastes like piss anyway).

If you want to keep it "decent for maybe 5 years," you only real option is to take care of the problems now, or it'll look blotchy as you paint the car in different spots at different times over the next five years.

It had bad prep. Do it right now, and take care of it. Respray the whole thing. Your last 'graph justifies doing it right.

Yeah, silver its going to be a bear to match. If it's a keeper I'd get it resprayed properly - which might mean that they have to blend into the surrounding panels, I don't think you'll need a full respray.

And yes, I'd take the trim off if the bodyshop is OK with that, it'll save them work and yourself some cash.

triumph5 wrote: If you want to keep it "decent for maybe 5 years," you only real option is to take care of the problems now, or it'll look blotchy as you paint the car in different spots at different times over the next five years. It had bad prep. Do it right now, and take care of it. Respray the whole thing. Your last 'graph justifies doing it right.

Believe me my heart says "fix it right!" but my wallet says "are you nuts? Guess its Top Ramen for the next 2-3 years"! Honestly I'm wondering if a line of touch-up paint on the peel seem might slow it down enough. You would't see it due to the location, but you'd see a big peeling door if it moves down any further.

From what I've read it really can't be stopped.

In the year I've owned my camaro a quarter sized piece of flaky clear has expanded into a hoagie sized chunk of missing clear. Luckily it is just the bumper, and probably easier to replace than have resprayed.

Junkyard_Dog wrote: "Guess its Top Ramen for the next 2-3 years"!

You can do it - we're all behind you!

No one deserves Ramen noodles only for multiple years. Try the touchup line, or maybe find a shop that can "fade in" (?) new clear coat to keep the old from lifting anymore. Kinda like "caulking" where the clear coat is lifting. Maybe a pin stripe?? At least it's not rust!

Edit thought: There is spray-on "invisible covering" for the nose of a car--like a car bra in a can. I wonder if any of that stuff would work. I have no experience with it at all. Anyone?

BUY it then go to a place that does vinyl wraps.

OK lots of pics coming.

I did some very nice looking clear repairs to a $300 VW using rattle cans that came from the VW parts department.

Scuffed and peeling spot on the bumper

Quick rubdown

rattle can base coat. I only painted about 18" of the bumper.

matching clear from the kit

800 grit over whole top of the bumper

Then 3M polishing compound by hand

The only guy who noticed the blend was a pro autobody guy and he was told about it and spent long enough time looking for it to be funny.

Try a pair of rattle cans from paintscratch.com and see what you can do. I would do this again all day long.