wheel well paint trouble
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Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 2,866
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From: gresham oregon
wheel well paint trouble
I thought about getting protection of some kind behind the front and rear tires to protect the paint. I put it off, cause I couldn't decided if I wanted clear plastic or guards. I notice now I have stripes on the paint behind the tires.The paint has stripes of a lighter color because of the debris hitting the painted portion. I applied some fine cut McQuires to see if I could polish it out, but the stripes reappeared. Should I get some compound thats more agressive or do you think I am in for a touch up job? I dont know anything about body and paint. 
Lepus-temperamentalus
Joined: Apr 2004
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From: Roswell Ga
Shoot a PM to MyBlueC5
He's a pro painter and can give you good advice on this. Personally, I'd just go after it with polishing compound, but he'll probably tell you I don't know what I'm talking about. If he does, listen to him!
He's a pro painter and can give you good advice on this. Personally, I'd just go after it with polishing compound, but he'll probably tell you I don't know what I'm talking about. If he does, listen to him!
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Sounds like it would be better with a touch up job, but checking with a good body shop is a great idea. Wouldn't want to paint anything that you really didn't have to.
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Thanks Jack,
Hotrod, I sent you an email... at the time I read your email, I hadn't read this post so disregard when I was trying to understand whether it was "stuff on the paint" or stone chips. After reading your post here, it was much more clear.
When you say "lighter colored stripes" from debris caused by the tires, are you talking about a discoloration which usually looks like an area that could be described as "light sandblasting"?
I'm trying to differentiate if there is something physically on the paint or the paint is chipped from being peppered from road debris.
Obviously if something is on the car, it can be wiped off with laquer thinner or some sort of solvent.
If it's just chewed up from road debris (I would say it has stripes because obviously the tread part of the tire won't kick up anything), there isn't much you can do except sand and repaint it. The problem is, the paint is basecoat/clearcoat....
That means, once the damaged area is repaired, primed and refinished, you would clear the entire panel. You would end up refinishing both fenders, the rocker panels and possibly the qtrs. Because of the style of the cars, there is no "cut off" point which means you couldn't paint from let's say, a bodyside moulding down...
Not to mention, the front and rear bumpers would have to be removed so the clear doesn't "bridge" itself between the seams of the adjacent panels.
I have the same problem on my Nassau blue and the problem shows worse with the darker the color.
There is one trick though. If your car is black, I have taken a small amount of black paint on a rag, wiped the area so the paint eventually fills in the stone chips... then wipe the area to remove it off the good surface... if you do that a few times (you have to do it a few times as to build up the thickness)
If done correctly, it will help so it doesn't look so noticeable. Again, there is no substitute for refinishing.
I hope that helps, if you want to send pics, I can make sure we are on the same page.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Mark
Hotrod, I sent you an email... at the time I read your email, I hadn't read this post so disregard when I was trying to understand whether it was "stuff on the paint" or stone chips. After reading your post here, it was much more clear.
When you say "lighter colored stripes" from debris caused by the tires, are you talking about a discoloration which usually looks like an area that could be described as "light sandblasting"?
I'm trying to differentiate if there is something physically on the paint or the paint is chipped from being peppered from road debris.
Obviously if something is on the car, it can be wiped off with laquer thinner or some sort of solvent.
If it's just chewed up from road debris (I would say it has stripes because obviously the tread part of the tire won't kick up anything), there isn't much you can do except sand and repaint it. The problem is, the paint is basecoat/clearcoat....
That means, once the damaged area is repaired, primed and refinished, you would clear the entire panel. You would end up refinishing both fenders, the rocker panels and possibly the qtrs. Because of the style of the cars, there is no "cut off" point which means you couldn't paint from let's say, a bodyside moulding down...
Not to mention, the front and rear bumpers would have to be removed so the clear doesn't "bridge" itself between the seams of the adjacent panels.
I have the same problem on my Nassau blue and the problem shows worse with the darker the color.
There is one trick though. If your car is black, I have taken a small amount of black paint on a rag, wiped the area so the paint eventually fills in the stone chips... then wipe the area to remove it off the good surface... if you do that a few times (you have to do it a few times as to build up the thickness)
If done correctly, it will help so it doesn't look so noticeable. Again, there is no substitute for refinishing.
I hope that helps, if you want to send pics, I can make sure we are on the same page.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Mark
