What to do?? Paint is leaving me!

[DaButt]

So my 84's paint is going away, fairly noticeably. See the quick snaps below, the pictures don't really do it justice, though. There are parts of the paint that are just not there- it's actually turning kinda white. I've waxed, clayed, and generally taken care of the car (not recently, as the pictures show- plus it like to "mist" here every night), but I haven't had a garage for the last 3 years (in Georgia). The sun just beats the paint up, nothing I can do- I guess I could have gotten a car cover... but coulda shoulda didn't.

Anyway, I'm not sure I'm going to fork over several grand for a paint job, since it's probably more than the car is worth. My gut is telling me to just embrace it, let it age naturally... I mean, I've seen some old 911s whose owners have just decided to let the car patina naturally and it looks pretty good. With that though, I'd kinda have to stop using Back to Black, shining the DBs, etc to keep the look consistent throughout.

Or am I making it out to be a bigger deal than it is? I haven't tried the 3M product range- should I do that before I throw in the towel? The thing is I'm probably going to keep this car forever, so it's gotta be something I can live with. Maybe one day down the road I'll pay for a full respray, but it just doesn't make sense now. With only 132k on the clock and as much cash as I've put into her for maintenance I'm not sure I could part with her anyway. The fading paint just might be something that endears her to me further.

At any rate here's the photos-





What to do? Thoughts? Help? Tips? Criticisms?

I'm open to anything.

[15Michaeljoseph]

personally, that would drive me crazy. I know money is a factor here, but save up little by little for a paint job is what I'd do. IDK the circumstances, but there are some pretty cheap car tents out there too.


--Mike

[E30furdayz]

Wet sand the car with 3000 grit sandpaper, clay bar it, polish it out and wax it. All under $100 and its an amazing trick to recover your paint.

[DaButt]

^^ Yeah, I've heard that before?

Does that really work if the clear is gone and the paint is on its way out? I thought that was for cars whose paint was still very much alive, just beat down and dingy. No?

[kwill22]

You need the clear coat because that is what you're buffing/polishing ect. If you do it without the clear on you're taking away paint and you'll be worse off than before. Sounds like you need a proper paint job. Clear is what makes the paint shine and once that's gon there's nothing left to make the paint shine

[Mr. Tasty]

You need the clear coat because that is what you're buffing/polishing ect. If you do it without the clear on you're taking away paint and you'll be worse off than before. Sounds like you need a proper paint job. Clear is what makes the paint shine and once that's gon there's nothing left to make the paint shine

wut.

You are practically left with a single stage after the clear coat is gone. You can still correct the paint by sanding/cutting/polishing.

[kwill22]

I didn't say you weren't left with paint. I said once the clear coat is gone you are down to paint and you don't really wanna go buffing and polishing on the paint. Unless you plan on putting clear over it again, otherwise itd really be a waste of time and money. There would be no protection for the paint without the clear


wait is the paint single stage were talking about

[N2MYE30]

Your paint is just about gone but as a last resort, some elbow grease may be required till you get fundage for paint. I had the same problem and here is how I helped it out... Good Luck!

[ForcedFirebird]

wut.

You are practically left with a single stage after the clear coat is gone.

No. Single stage and base coat are very different compounds. Single stage is very thick, base coat is a very light layer with heavy/thick clear on top. You try sanding a base coat and it will cut through very easily, and even if you could get it to shine, it would quickly dull.