Laquer Peel - options?

Sleepy

I picked up a bangernomics Civic at the weekend which has a really bad case of laquer failure. I can live with it if needs be but obviously, I'd rather not!

I know to fix it properly would take a full respray which is pretty pointless on a bangernomics car that only cost a few hundred quid. What I was wondering was if there was a way to make it look somewhat presentable? I've read about polishes and treatments on-line that are supposed to do wonders for faded paint jobs but afaik, these don't help with laquer peel?

Would a machine polish and proper wax do anything for it? Or would that just be a waste of time?

listermint

It will have to be sanded back due to the laquer being missing and patchy on most of that paintwork machine polish wont assist that, the bits of laquer that are there would have to be removed via sanding. a good matching paint polishing could then restore a decent finish to the paint. Without relaquering, but as with any finish would have to be topped up often.

Sleepy

What kind of money would I be looking at to get that done? And how often is often?

I'm guessing the finish would need a really good wax job to protect the paint once the laquer was removed? How long do these tend to last?

listermint

What do you think of the 'rat' look' because if its bangernomics you want. then getting someone to restore that paint to something good will cost.

My suggestion was based on working solo. wet sanding the laquer off yourself and giving it a good polish with a DA or something you can borrow or rent. (preferably a DA to stop cutting up the remaining paint easily)

Curran

Paintwork is shot - there is no saving it!

Would plasti-dip or wrapping it be an option for you? Even if you were just to get a normal colour, white or black?

Sleepy

I thought that might be the answer alright Curran!

I'm not familiar with plasti-dip, I'd consider anything that was a matter of a couple of hundred quid but I'm guessing that a decent wrap job or spray would cost more than I paid for the car?!

Curran

YouTube Liquid Wraps!
Im not sure of the price a pro would charge to do it, but I think the paint is reasonable enough, and once painted, its a matter of patience to remove it from the necessary places - you might be able to do a decent job if you knew someone with the equipment!??

Sleepy

Unfortunately I don't and I can't see myself managing any kind of decent job with rattle cans!

Looks like it's just a "live with it" scenario

listermint

If I were you id get some very high grade wet and dry, sand the laquer from the boot (as its small and easy to access) and polish it.

To see if it makes a happy difference for you. If it does do the rest, in bits. Can be a fitness project for you.

JohnBoy26

My advice is to leave well alone and to just drive the car the way it is. Nothing except a repaint will fix that, which will cost more than the car is worth. Anything else will just make the problem worse imo.

At the end of the day it's a 15-16 year old car. It will still last the same amount of time weather you fix it cosmetically or not.

If it really bothers you I'd sell up and buy another civic with good paint. It's not too common to see laquer peel on that model, especially to that extent. The 5 door Civic of the time did suffer quite bad from laquer peel however.