In some small places on my hood and front bumper the clearcoat is pealing off. The paint beneath it is flawless.
That said, is is possible for a body shop to re-apply clearcoat and not have to repaint?

 

 

In order for clear to adhere properly they will have to do some sanding, that said if your down to base coat they will have to repaint then clear.

It would probably work out better if it were repainted instead of "spot" painting, this way they can blend everything in.

Good luck

 

Wouldn't look too good. You would still see the edges of old clear. And you can't sand on base.

 

If you just clear coat it, it will most likely continue to peel after a while. Mine did.

 

My apologies for not being clear in my question.
I agree that "spot work" would look like crap. I was hoping they could sand/prep the entire bumper and re-apply clearcoat to the entire bumper for uniformity, rather than having to completely repaint as well.

 

If it's just the bumper, you're only talking about maybe 1/2 pint of base coat if sprayed with an HVLP gun. Not really that much difference in material or labor.
The main thing is making sure what you're spraying over still has good adhesion. The only way to know that is to start sanding on it and sand it back to where the clear is no longer flaking off and leaves a nice feather-edge.
It may be difficult not to bust through the color in some places during sanding so you may not have a choice. If that happens, it is possible to spot the base and then do an overall clear. It's done all the time. HTH

 

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

 

I asked a trusted body shop that I use whenever necessary the same question. It is my understanding that for the chemical reaction to occur between the paint and the clear that the clear needs to be applied within 24 hours of the paint being applied.

 

Without seeing it, most likely, you had some minor damage to the front bumper and possibly the hood and a body shop blended the base paint and clearcoated the complete hood, front bumper and possibly even the complete front end. The reason for the peeling could be because the original clear was not sanded all the way (most common problem with the clear peeling). I say this because you mentioned the paint was perfect under the peeling clear.

Best way to repair it...resand the complete hood and front bumper. Making sure all the peeling clear is gone. They should remove the front bumper to paint. Depending on the color, you could get away with just painting the front bumper and hood, then reclearing. If it's a metallic, I would suggest blending into the tops of the fenders and the front of the fender (for the bumper), then reclearing the complete front end.
This ensures a perfect match.

Probably would cost about $700-$1000 or so to do the front end inc. materials

Of course, if you just want the front bumper painted like you said, they just need to resand it very good, and repaint and clear it.
Good luck

 

Wouldn't it be better to use a scotch bright pad instead of sand paper?

 

Scotch bright is good in some instances, but normally you should use sandpaper since the grit is more 'consistent' than a scotch-brite.