micro cracking in unknown clear

H

hapcj7

Promoted Users
Hi all,
I bought a very low mileage (25k) 01 f150 that came from OR...It is apparent to me that this entire truck was re-cleared close to when it was put up for sale.... I think it was from heavy UV exposure. The clear looks as if it was only 2 light coats..The LS of the truck is fine/good.... On the RS, the TOP sides of all panels have what i call micro cracking, not sure the correct description.. It looks as if someone took an Exacto knife and randomly put various sized scratches from 1/16- to 1/4". I cannot feel the scratches with my finger nail. These scratches "appear" to be in the clearcoat only, but not sure. The truck is dark blue and the scratches look to be white/grey. I sanded with 1500- 2000, to no orange peel, then cut with compound. The cracking is still present. When i apply heavy amounts of water, to me, it appears the cracking is mostly gone

This is only a work truck , but a nice one. For a "decent"repair, i was thinking of sanding with 800 grit and re-clearing the whole side. I do not want to re base the whole side of truck, which im sure is the proper/best solution..Does this sound like a probable/ decent solution? Id like to sand most of the clear off without hitting the metallic base- Is that possible?.. What happens if i hit the metallic base coat?... Again, not looking for perfection, but good results....Attached is a pic of the worst section- Not sure if the condition will be visible
Thanks
 

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Looks like the solvents in the primer, sealer, or base coat never escaped before a fast catalyzing clear was used. The solvent have to get out at some point, so they just split through the clear.
 
Pardon my saying so, but it's a fool's errand to clear over cracked clear. Especially on a vertical suface, since you can't flood the material into the cracks. Feel free to try it, but no professional would do that or say that you could get away with it. I give it a 5-10% chance of succeeding, short-term. Long term, it is going to crack even more.
 
crashtech said:
Pardon my saying so, but it's a fool's errand to clear over cracked clear. Especially on a vertical suface, since you can't flood the material into the cracks. Feel free to try it, but no professional would do that or say that you could get away with it. I give it a 5-10% chance of succeeding, short-term. Long term, it is going to crack even more.
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+1.
 
Thanks everyone.Not what i wanted to hear, but that is what it is! Appreciate your professionalism
 
crashtech said:
Pardon my saying so, but it's a fool's errand to clear over cracked clear. Especially on a vertical suface, since you can't flood the material into the cracks. Feel free to try it, but no professional would do that or say that you could get away with it. I give it a 5-10% chance of succeeding, short-term. Long term, it is going to crack even more.
Click to expand...
+1
 
I should have added i bought the truck about 5 years ago, so the solvents are long gone.With that being said, is my sand clear and re-clear still a big no no?.....
 
I don’t think you’ll be able to effectively sand the clear without breaking into the base, and you won’t be able to effectively sand enough of the clear to remove the issue.

If I had a panel like that on an old truck, I’d sand all the bad stuff off, seal with epoxy then rebase and clear.

I’ve used three different late model Motobase colors without color matching and they’d all been very close.
 
@ Lizer..Thank you,,, I sent Chad an email,,, I hope it was the correct Chad..I emailed Chad in Michigan
Does anyone have reviews on Nason,s basecoat?..That is one line available locally to me
 
I've used nason for years. It's thin, more layers required for coverage. Nason XL is better but cost more . I used the XL a while back and color match was good. I use a lot of different brands btw. Depending on what the need is.
 
"I sanded with 1500- 2000, to no orange peel, then cut with compound. The cracking is still present. When i apply heavy amounts of water, to me, it appears the cracking is mostly gone"

What you could try as a bandaid, is to spray a couple coats of clear over the already sanded area's that you have done. Spray a test spot of clear on a lower portion of the vehicle and see if that provides adequate results. You're probably going to need to sand lightly with 1,000 grit so the new clear has something to bite too.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
Being it's a work truck and 22 years old, I would drive the snot out of it and not worry about the paint. JMO.
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Yes, true, 22 years old, however this truck is very worthy of a repair. It now has 54k original miles and is completely rust free.Also, there is very little wear on it. The condition is about an 8.5.; Lariot model. I had the same truck with 213k miles on it and it ran perfect except for an exhaust manifold leak, but rusted to s...t... This new to me truck will probably outlive my full time work capabilities
 
hapcj7 said:
Yes, true, 22 years old, however this truck is very worthy of a repair. It now has 54k original miles and is completely rust free.Also, there is very little wear on it. The condition is about an 8.5.; Lariot model. I had the same truck with 213k miles on it and it ran perfect except for an exhaust manifold leak, but rusted to s...t... This new to me truck will probably outlive my full time work capabilities
Click to expand...

Ford trucks from 1985 thru 2002 had a known exhaust manifold leak issue, it was a poor design, so you're not alone. Ford was aware of the issue but never addressed it. They just took care of the ones that came back under warranty. I owned Ford trucks from 1986 until 2001 when I went over to Dodge Rams.
 
Obviously the paint is a problem on the whole truck, and you are going to have to strip a good portion of it for repair of the bad areas showing, so why not go a little further and strip and paint it all. Sounds like you might want to keep the truck for quite awhile. Even if you don't keep it long, it will have value for a long time with good paint.
 
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