ndhduong

my legend's OEM paint has the same problem as many other sherwood green legends: the clear coat is coming off, mostly on the roof and the trunk. I would love to restore its paint to the original condition (and get rid of the d**n factory defect of the sherwood green, of course ).
Anyone has any specific idea/suggestion to solve this? (repaint? place? estimated cost?). And I'm living in San Jose, California
Big thanks,

ndhduong
94 legend L

ps: btw, this forum is awesome, helped me solved the telescoping wheel problem last week with the fuse # 15 (thanks again guys )

 

Hotstartup

sup man, check out my sig

ChrisK

If the clear coat is peeling there is no other way to restore it but by repainting it. I'm not sure if it is a factory paint defect though since my Sherwood Green Pearl paint as well as the few others I have seen locally have no such clear coat problems. Maybe it is a acid rain problem since we don't get any of that type of weather in my area that could be why we don't have that problem.

LegendGS

Yup, you don't really have much of a choice other than repaint. In fact, I'm having my sherwood green repainted right now (it's been in the shop for the past 5 weeks :p)

How much it costs will depend on the type of job you want. Down here in SoCal, I got quotes of $2500 for a complete paint job. I went with another shop that quoted me $3500 because the first quotes did not involve stripping all of the mouldings, bumpers, mirrors and lights off. I decided to pay the extra $ to get it done right.

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LPB

You are in California. You have a 10 year old car. It is the UV that breaks down the clear. Time for a repaint. If you habitually leave the vehicle baking in the California sun, buy and use a car cover. Prepare yourself. The vehicle through normal wear and age will begin to cost you in replacement parts -- such is the nature of maintaining and operating an older vehicle, especially one 10+ yrs old.

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ZiggyB

I've seen many of that color here in Arizona faded out and even other dark colors, the U.V. just kills it when the car's out exposed all the time. A very good product to seal your clear coat and protect is FinishFirst polish a synthetic resin that will create a very high gloss wet look shine and allows you to layer it for even greater depth. My car has at least 8 coats of this and it shines like a mother..

ndhduong

$3500 is not bad if it really does the job (how many years warranty on the paint? has clear coat?).
however, 5 weeks is kind of long

btw, the clear coat is just another protective layer, rite? how does waxing affect/protect this clear coat if it's applied too often?

ndhduong

ndhduong

Ok, once I have my car repainted, what would be the safest way to protect the clear coat/paint?
One thing that keep me wondering is that my old Mazda, with the same sherwood green and clear coat, 10 years old still looks good (I could say perfect) without any waxing (only wash). Now my Legend is washed and waxed often but the clear coat keeps comming off and drives me nut! and both cars are in California
Why so...?

94 L Coupe

jno2968326

i have had a sherwood green LS sedan for 10 years and my paint and clearcoat look as good as it did 10 years ago .i washed it at least 3 times a month with wax and this florida sun is no joke.

MysticalLegend

How many coats of paint for that price?

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ChrisK

Clear coat is nothing more than paint with no color. Clear coat is paint. Waxing can help protect any paint because it adds a layer of either carnuba wax, or synthetic polymers on top the paint. Some synthetics help block UV. As LPB mentioned, UV can start breaking down paint. Also, comtaminents like dirt can bod to the paint after a rain and if your car is not washed regularly. Once these particles get embeded in the paint (Clear coat in this case) it can allow water and other things to get under the clear coat in that area and literally lift the clear coat over time. Wax and other protectants help add another layer of protection. Technically, waxing or polishing removes are very fine layer of paint (Clear coat) from the car unless the polish is absolutely abraisive free. Even if that was the case the application cloth could be a little abraisive. Therefore, it is possible to one day remove enough clear coat to expose the under paint color. However, we are talking about micron layers being removed so it probable would take tens of years to break though the clear coat unless you are using a rubbing comound everytime. I wouldn't worry about waxing too often. The only problem is that everytime you wax you are adding potential swirl scratches and you are not really adding any added protection if you do it more than say twice a month (Some say even more than once every few months is a waste of time) so there is no need to over wax.

smoovie--smoov

go with British Racing Green

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Smokinfastlegend

i actually think the problem with the sherwood green legends was that it wasnt preped properly before they applied the paint. Reason being that almost every sherwood green legend in the 94-95 model year had this problem of peel. Unfortunately, being that it took 10 years for them to realize the paint quality was crappy for the long run, us green legend owners have to suffer because there is no longer a warrenty. You guys are all lucky, it cost about 2500 for just the roof, trunk, and hood and to fix minor damage for my legend. And now to fix the door problem (sister backed into the car) it would cost 3500 because they say they have to replace the door skins!

Sorry, rant off. Had to get that off my chest.

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ndhduong

So 2500 total for repainting the roof, trunk, hood and all scratches? same sherwood green with clear coat?
how was their job? I would like to know the body shop's name and any valuable experience you had from them, since I'm looking into doing the same thing. thanks.

again, *$@# the factory defected paint!

MysticalLegend

My paint is in near perfect condition......then agian it only has 54K miles and lived most of it's life in some old lady's garage

I need to take more pics....i've taken the pin stripe off.

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I'm Not Judgin, I'm Just Sayin
----------------------------
1995 L Sedan

Konig Imagine (opal)
18x7.5 225/40/18 +45
H&R/Koni Reds/SPC 67330

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../DSC01501a.jpg