Hood Paint Messed U -Repaint?

[mlgbwk]

Hi folks,

Need some advice on hood paint, looks messed up - from the pics you can see it seems the clearcoat is going bad on the hood and the previous owner may tried to wax it but made it worse, the bumper and quarter panel is fine, but hood is pretty bad. *Anything* I can do to make it look better except repaint? I was quoted $600+ for repainting the hood which I cannot afford..

Thanks in advance!

[cduluk]

It must have been re-painted at some point under poor conditions. You can notice the paint "pooling" around the windshield washer nozzle.

The only solution is to have it re-painted. As soon as the clear has started etching, pitting, blistering or peeling, it needs to be sanded down to the primer or base metal, be re-primed, colored and cleared.

Since it's a gold metallic, they'll most likely need to color blend into the fenders as well, and re-clear the hood and fenders. You're looking at about AT LEAST $600-$1000 for all that.

If they did the hood alone (which i wouldn't recommend as they'll have a tough time matching the aged paint to the fenders), $600 sounds about right considering the labor they'd need to put into it, to get rid of the damaged paint. :(

[RX350lover]

Hi folks,

Need some advice on hood paint, looks messed up - from the pics you can see it seems the clearcoat is going bad on the hood and the previous owner may tried to wax it but made it worse, the bumper and quarter panel is fine, but hood is pretty bad. *Anything* I can do to make it look better except repaint? I was quoted $600+ for repainting the hood which I cannot afford..

Thanks in advance!

I doubt you will be satisfied if only the hood is painted. Actually, just as there is right now a difference between the hood and the rest of the front of your car; if only the hood is painted, you will still have a difference in appearance after the new paint job.

I once had a new hood installed. I paid $2K for the hood and $3.5K for the body shop. The whole front of the car was re-done up to the two front doors. You do not have much choice other than having the whole front re-done if you are looking for absolute consistency in appearance. Make sure to not use products like rubbing compound or Meguiar's bottle 1 (of the 1-2-3 clean/polish/wax) on the hood because it will accentuate the difference even more. The installation of a hood deflector might make the whole thing slightly less noticeable.

[SW03ES]

The other option is to have a detailer wet sand and machine polish the hood. Find a good one and they can tell you if you'll be happy with the results before they do it.

You may be able to have the hood repainted and have it match okay, thats a real hard color to match but with these modern computerized paint matching systems bodyshops use nowadays, the matches are pretty good...even on older paint.

[mlgbwk]

thanks! i will try detail shop

The other option is to have a detailer wet sand and machine polish the hood. Find a good one and they can tell you if you'll be happy with the results before they do it.

You may be able to have the hood repainted and have it match okay, thats a real hard color to match but with these modern computerized paint matching systems bodyshops use nowadays, the matches are pretty good...even on older paint.

[smasood]

I have same color Lexus yr 2001. When I was transporting the car - carrier damaged the bumper. I went over lots of You tube videos - finally decided to do it myself before a professional touches it. Even If I personally had created more mess it would not have made a difference b/c a paint shop will charge same amount of Money.

I ordered Spary paint online (later I learned I can get it from Sherwin William paints and they pack it in a can infront of you in 10 minutes - Just tell them color code) and paint matched very well. Clear coat was not that successful as Duplicolor clear coats are horrible in spray can. Other better clear coats in spray can are U.Pol or google search 2-K clear coat in spray can.

However, in order to paint hood you will need to take out hood as spray can will not spray properly in horizontal position. You will need to make the hood Upright.

I did pay $300 to a auto body shop to fix the Front hood as it had a lot of damage from small paint chips secondary to bugs and gravel from interstate. He was able to match it pretty well. Since I know - I can feel a difference in hood and side fender but otherwise if I do not look under microscope - I do not find a difference.

Do NOT go to fancy body shop - any body shop can produce similar results for less money.