Clear Plastic film on bodywork

[Holmsey24]

3rd Gen.  

I have just noticed that there is a clear plastic like film on the bodywork that is peeling off.  Never seen anything like it.  It is an area about the size of my fist on the rear quarter. It has no colour to it but is peeling away. Almost looks like very thin sellotape.  Anyone else experienced this/any ideas?

Matt

[WillRayden]

I\'ve seen similar on other cars to protect the paint from stone chips...  Could be that, but it\'s only a guess!

Will

[WeasleRx7]

Sounds like the laquer coming away from the paint to me. Is it flexible like tape and plastic, or brittle?

Simon :wave

[Holmsey24]

It is very brittle.

[petemillis]

But seeing as your car is white I wouldn\'t expect it to have lacquer. Could be someone has lacquered it to shine it up in its previous life.

[Holmsey24]

Or it has been repaired??

It is peeling on the rear quarter panel right in your eyes view when you get in, would T-Cut help?

[WeasleRx7]

Sounds like the laquer to me then.  When the paint work is respayed I think the base colour would normally be rubbed down, to give it a key, before the clear laquer coat is applied.  If this hasn\'t been done properly then the clear top coat can separate from the colour underneath.  

I\'m not a sprayer so I might be wrong, and I\'m sure someone here will correct me!!

Simon :wave

[WeasleRx7]

I looked at another Red car before I got this one and it had the same problem.  It\'s cheaper to give a flat colour a coat of laquer to shine it up, then it is to rub down and respray.

[petemillis]

Matt, what year is it? 1992 Mazdas are renowned for paintwork problems. One of which is solvent pop which causes the lacquer to blister and peel away. I had a 1992 mica blue RX7 a few months back that was suffering from this on the tops of both rear wings. I had to take them right back down to primer on an area from the edge of the boot, across the waistline to the doors, back to the rear lights and half way down the curve of the wing. Then had to clean up, respray basecoat and new clearcoat. It was only a few hours work but solved the problem and you can\'t see where I blended it in. One body shop wanted several hundred pounds and said "the paint\'s very expensive". Cost be a tenner from an autopaint shop!

Whereabouts are you? If you\'re down within travelling distance of Brighton then I\'d highly recommend Danny at Beaconsfield Bodyshop to sort it out for you. Well keen prices too.

[Holmsey24]

The car is a  97 so shouldn\'\'t have needed shining up.  If I use T-Cut wil that be good enough to get rid of the layer of laquer on that particular panel.  Paint looks good enough underneath to retain the shine.
What do you think??

[petemillis]

T-cut won\'t get rid of the lacquer. This might sound scary but you\'ll need to use 400 grit wet and dry paper, with loads of water. You sand the lacquer down gently and you\'ll know when it\'s removed as the water running off will be white. Follow this with 1200 grit with loads of water to remove the scratches from the 400, then polish it up with G3 rubbing compound.

What\'ll happen in time though is that the lacquer will continue to peel from the new edge. It would be better to relacquer out past the affected area. To do this, remove the bad lacquer with the 400 grit as above, degrease the area with a clean lint free cloth and cellulose thinners, then wash down with plenty of soapy water follow by clean water. Dry the area off (can use a hair dryer). You then need to mask off panels you don\'t want to overspray lacquer onto. Check that there\'s no blistered lacquer left or that you haven\'t gone through the white paint to the primer. If you go through to the primer you\'ll need to respray a couple of coats of white again, and then flat down with 400 grit and loads of water before relacquering. Then spray new  lacquer/clearcoat. One thin coat, followed by another thin coat about 15 minutes later. If it\'s only a small area then you can accelerate drying time with the hairdryer again.

You then got to leave it for 24 hours for the lacquer to cure. You\'ll find it\'s not perfectly flat, so after 24 hours you need to flatten it down with 1200 grit and loads of water, soften the edges where it\'s joined onto the previous lacquered bodywork, and then polish up with G3 rubbing compound.

That\'s about it really. Sound horrific but it\'s pretty satisfying really...

[petemillis]

Speaking of shining up - I collected a white Evo IV (1996) yesterday and it was totally matt white.  Looks like the surface of the paint has been eaten away. Just got to see what I can do with that....

[Holmsey24]

Thanks for all your help Pete.