Paint question 96 Tahoe-cracking peeling

[inthechateau]

So the paint on my Tahoe is getting old and the body is starting to put out some rusty spots, but over all she is still pretty solid. Several areas the clear coat is cracking and in some places gone all together and the base coat has not weathered too well. My question is this, Do I need to sand off all the clear coat to get new paint to stick? The areas where the clear has grazed and cracked I know I need to remove tot he base coat before priming and repainting, but the areas the clear coat is still good can I get away with just scuffing and going over it? Been a while since I messed with paint and this will be my first top/base coat attempt, so I'm looking for tips and tricks to make this work out. The local shop wants $3800 to do the paint. Geze, whole truck is not worth that.

 

[SwampHound]

Could you post some pics of the paint?

 

[Nak]

I'm in the same boat as you... Very curious to see the consensus here.

Out of curiosity, why are you set on a base/clear coat solution? I've been advised by several paint gurus to go with a single stage paint. (No clear coat.) Today's two part paints (not two stage) should be superior to your original paint, even though it had a clear coat.

If you go with a two part paint (paint + hardener) be EXTREMELY careful of the fumes. The stuff is VERY dangerous to breath, it can literally kill you. Even if you can't smell it through your mask, you can still be injured by the fumes. (The toxic level is much lower than the level required to smell.) There is a 3M filter cartridge rated to handle low levels of the stuff. (Isocyanates are the ingredients that are so bad) But really, the filter will only handle very small levels. If you paint in a garage, you're going to give yourself health issues unless you used some kind of fresh air breathing system. Do your research and make sure you use the stuff properly.