Chalky Paint
 

This chalky spot on my trunk lid (with a wee bit on the adjacent fender) terrifies me a little bit. I had an '05 GTO that started to do that, and that whole car ended up needing a paint job (which I never did, because I gave up and traded it in on this Camaro).

So I'm having GTO flashbacks. Is this the same thing? Paint turning chalky in the hot AZ sun? Precursor to a complete breakdown of the clear coat? I hope not. The car's only four years old. I'm handy with a buffer, but I haven't buffed the snot out of the car. Only two-three times in four years, I think. I keep wax on it, but I'm not waxing it incessantly.

Note: The car WAS in a body shop for two months. I just got it back. Those who've seen my other posts know I got rear-ended in early March. All the damage was down low, so the trunk wasn't affected. They did have to rebuild some of the understructure, which they sprayed red (even though no one sees it), and then put on a new bumper and exhaust. I thought maybe this was overspray, but surely they masked off the rest of the car. Also, you can't feel this. Overspray usually feels a little rough. This doesn't.

No, I think this was already there, and I only noticed it in the morning sun today as it reflected off the paint. So . . . what am I looking at? When you look straight down on it, the paint looks glossy and fine. It's only at this oblique angle that you see the problem. What's the mildest thing I can try? I really like Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, as it's pretty gentle. Also thinking of trying that new Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Polish & Wax, which is supposed to do mild paint correction.

I take it that car lives outside?

Definitely looks like paint deterioration... (I've heard reds typically deteriorate faster than other colors, not sure if that is true or not).

4 years in AZ can be tough on paint and if it already had a defect brewing, ya kinda what it looks like there; clearcoat failure.

I garage it at home, but workdays it sits outside.

Looks like clearcoat failure to me. I'd stick a paint gauge on it and see how thin the paint is in that area. That'll tell you if it can be buffed out or not.

Well, darndest thing. I used a little Meguiar's Cleaner Wax on it and the chalkiness disappeared. I'll keep an eye on it, but I'm going to consider the problem solved for now.

Great news!

Maybe time for a car cover if it sits in the sun a lot?

Thanks. I've used a car cover on previous cars, but they're a mixed blessing. You do get shade, of course, but unless both car and cover are ALWAYS clean, dust trapped between car and cover can result in scratched paint. All it takes is a little wind to make that cover shimmy a little.

So . . . yeah. Pick your poison.

Yeah, I hear ya... I guess scratches can be polished out, but sun damaged paint will likely need to be replaced.

Tough to tell from the photo whether that's a paint defect or surface contamination of some kind. Judging from your resolution with the cleaner wax, I'm betting it's the latter though.

I would clay bar the entire vehicle, do a light polish, then hit it with a high quality sealant like Wolfgang Deep Gloss. I can't back it up with anything scientific, but like 2SSCapt, I tend to think red deteriorates (fades, particularly) without diligent protection.

From what I was told a ceramic coating provides some pretty good UV protection, might be worth looking into...

Keep in mind undiluted alcohol can do this, can turn clear coat milky white.

What percentage does it need to be to cause this? The people who did my ceramic coating told me to use distilled water/alcohol combo to clean off anything I might need to (bugs, water spots, etc). I use about 50/50 distilled water and 91% IPA (so guessing around a 45% alcohol concentration).

I said undiluted so what I referred to is 100%. You never need to mix IPA, as detailers call it , Stronger than 30% alcohol /70% water.