Help need advice paint ?

[spentplsr711]

I have a 99 Altima and the hood looks like crap. How do I fix it? Looks like its turning black. The camera don't see it as good as you can by looking at it.

[ezlife]

Put a drop of water on the hood, then use your finger and rub the water around with your thumb applying as much pressure as you can. If the spot looks shiny then you may need to buff out the hood. You can buy LIGHT buffing compound at any auto zone exc. Get a couple terry cloth towels and put your elbow brace on. The compound will turn black as you rub it into a 6 inch area. Take a clean towel and scrub it till all the black comes off. Now it should be shiny. After you are done with the whole hood wax it and keep it waxed. If you can't get the hood shiny with water or compound then you already need clear coat. The bad part is if you have the hood painted it will never exactly match the fenders. If you want it to match you will need to paint the whole car or find a shop that will do a fade. They will paint the hood, dust the fenders and then clear coat all 3 panels. Buff the rest of the car to match the fresh clear coat. Alot of shops will tell you this is substandard work but quite a few reputable dealers paid me to do it and I gladly gave a 1 year warranty in Florida's sun.

[SkiBumBrian]

Looks like the clear coat could be lifting, if it is it's a pretty easy fix. It has nothing to do with the paint underneath, just the sealer. If a buff like ezlife shows the clear coat is releasing get some 2000 grit wet sand and carefully sand the whole hood, removing the clear coat but DONT SAND THROUGH THE COLOR COATS!. Just take your time. After you pretty much have the clear coat off then go over the whole hood again with 3000 grit wet sand (of course you are sanding with water all this time). This should get your hood looking pretty good by now. Use some finishing compound paste and buff out the whole hood again then wash it really good. Use a good light and look for any imperfections left over or caused by your sanding and buff them out too. Go to a paint shop or good auto parts store and buy an automotive grade clear coat in a rattle can making sure the surface is clean, dry, masked, and ready to seal. Several light coats is MUCH better than thick ones. You can YouTube this, just look up repairing clear coat and there are mega videos on the subject.

[ahardb0dy]

I would try using Mothers pre-cleaner on the hood (whole car if it makes the hood look better), pre-cleaner will remove oxidation, if it makes it look better be sure to follow it with a wax as pre-cleaner is not a wax. If you can feel the black marks with your finger nail than you can try Mothers clay bar, it works really well. Wax after the clay bar too.

[adamzan]

Agreed. I used the claybar on mine and it removed all these little black spots. Which turned out someone had painted near my truck...

[ahardb0dy]

Had the same thing happen when I had my dakota, they were painting a building right next to our parking lot at work, had white specs all over the truck, clay bar took them all right off.