Paint on hood above engine failing

[md21722]

My 01 XJ has what seems to be the fairly common problem of the paint cracking and flaking off above the engine. I've seen some that have a full 1-1/2' oval of damaged paint. Mine is smaller. I am wondering the best way to proceed. Should I take it to a shop? Get another silver hood? Try to fix at home?

 

[old_man]

Pix and year would help.

 

[md21722]

Pix and year would help.

Its an 01 XJ. I will try to get some pictures when the storm passes.

 

[in4aride]

Honestly I was very happy with the rattle can molar paint I got from quadratec to do my header panel. If you can sand it smooth and run a rattle can decently, it comes out damn good. For pretty cheap too.

 

[xj-grin]

mike means "mopar" not molar. don't use dental paint. I had good results with factory rattle cans too.

 

[Kittrell]

 

[old_man]

Depending on how bad it is, namely just the clear coat, you can wet sand it down with 1000 grit to clean up the edges and then reapply clea rcoat.

Most professional auto paint stores can provide even the base color in a spray can, custom mixed. The same goes for clear coat. You can do a really good job pretty cheap if you take your time and do it right.

 

[md21722]

 

[Kittrell]

Welcome to the 1999-2001 sh*tty paint/crows feet club! My '99 had that all over the hood and roof. Definitely a factory paint defect. If anyone remembers Kevin (Powerman) his black 2000 limited had this as well.

 

[old_man]

That is going to take a bit of work You really need to sand down to the primer level, ideally not to the metal, and reprimer, then color coat, and possibly clearcoat.

I recently have been working on that with my 85. I hope to finish it all this weekend.

While, given the right tools, it is not hard, it is a long and tedious process to do right. Without the right foundation, the paint will not last.

 

[md21722]

How do you get the color right and blend it all in? I'm not opposed to trying but I need a back out plan.. anybody got a spare silver hood laying around?

 

[old_man]

At this point I would repaint the whole car. If you are seeing this on one spot, you can be assured the rest are not far behind. You could paint just the hood. If you compound the rest, the color may come back some and the new paint on the hood could be close.

If you want to go further, compound the rest first. Take it to your local professional auto paint store and have them computer scan it. Then compare the scan to the off the shelf color. If they are close, go for it. If not they can custom blend it for you.

To keep it simple, if you aren't experienced in auto paint, I would go with a single stage paint, like originally from the factory.

 

[md21722]

I always figured it was the heat of the engine causing it because the paint on the rest of the vehicle doesn't look anything like the bad spot. Even if you look at the rest of the hood, the only noticeable problem is right there in that one spot.

 

[Kittrell]

I always figured it was the heat of the engine causing it because the paint on the rest of the vehicle doesn't look anything like the bad spot. Even if you look at the rest of the hood, the only noticeable problem is right there in that one spot.

That would be a good thought and was my first one initially, but as you can see on mine it covered the entire roof as well.

 

[Gunter]

the issue is UV light degrading the clearcoat. with practice a 6 in foam roller and a quart of Rustoleum can be made to look good.

 

[xj-grin]

yeah, its a mopar issue -- when I was dakota shopping the one I bought was literally the only truck I looked at that wasn't completely sunburned on the hood, fenders and roof. The hood on my 99WJ was so sunburned that I actually sanded/peeled the clearcoat off the whole thing -- paint stayed put, it just peeled clearcoat. Chrysler had a serious chemical issue going on around the turn of the century.

 

[1-tonxj]

Some sand paper a block...a couple cans of paint matched base coat from auto paint supply shop...not oriellys...a can of 2k primer and 2 cans of spray max or eastwood 2k clear in a can and you will have exactly the same level of repair a shop charges $800 for at around $150 using the good 2k primer and clear not solvent dry stuff from parts store .