Hello everyone. I am new to the Jeep community and just bought my first car, a 2002 Wrangler Sport, about two weeks ago. As you can see in the photos, there are some spots near the license plate and gas valve that are chipping/peeling pretty bad (and got worse after I washed it), as well as some weird scratch marks. Any tips as to how I could prevent these areas from getting worse, and are there any quick, cheap fixes I could use to cover them up until I can afford to get them professionally fixed? Thanks!
How to prevent / fix paint peeling?
- Thread starter cuchran34
- Start date
There's no way to prevent that other than getting a good paint job and taking good care of it from the start.
It looks to me like that paint job is done for, and it's just going to slowly continue to flake off.
The only way to fix it would be a new paint job or touch-up paint in those areas.
It looks to me like that paint job is done for, and it's just going to slowly continue to flake off.
The only way to fix it would be a new paint job or touch-up paint in those areas.
Oh yes, you could buy the correct touch-up paint from the dealer and easily do it yourself. Those are pretty big missing pieces of paint though, so it's going to be a lot more noticeable than touching up a tiny rock chip. But, from several feet away, you probably won't notice it.
Oh okay awesome. I will probably end up doing that for the time being until I can afford a real paint job haha. Even if it is a little noticeable that's fine with me for now as long as its covered up. Also can I still buy the touch up paint from a dealer even if I bought the Jeep from a private owner?
Yes, you can buy touch-up paint from the dealer or usually any automotive store. Usually there should be a white label on the door jam of your drivers door with the factory paint color / code on it.
Good call!
That would explain why the paint is chipping. Generally a factory paint job won't do that, which means someone likely resprayed it and did a half assed prep / paint job.
TJ2
TJ Expert
That painting process was not done in proper sequence. The bondo and the primer, then the first coat, the intermediate coats, the top coat, then the curing times in between coats, the precipitation, humidity, and temp. when they applied the layers, etc. In short, there is no easy fix. If you do touch-up paint, the end result quality will be worse than you think. I happen to paint these two TJs from my garage and learned quite a bit from those mistakes.
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Man, I guess I'll be waiting a while then to get that professionally fixed. My frame is rotted and my brake lines need to be replaced (didn't even pass inspection) so those are first up on my long list of things to do 
looks like I bought something that needs a lot more work than I thought it would. Thank you all so much for your help though, I really appreciate it!
looks like I bought something that needs a lot more work than I thought it would. Thank you all so much for your help though, I really appreciate it!I actually just looked into it and I don't have the chili pepper red, I have the factory "flame red". The chipping may just be from general wear and tear. Thank you for the suggestion though, I honestly never would have thought that a previous owner repainted it.
jeepndogs
TJ Enthusiast
Someone did a quick scuff and shoot on that. Unfortunately they didn’t prep the surface well enough. There really isn’t anything you would be able to do that will help at this point. And having a shop repaint it at this point is going to be costly. Any shop that will paint it properly will want to strip it all off, if you find a shop that is willing to paint it without stripping it off you probably don’t want to use that shop. Additional layers over a poorly prepped surface will make it more prone to flake off.
Possibly then there was accident damage on the left rear that was poorly repaired. Is it just that corner.
Yes the only peeling/scratching on the whole Jeep is that back right corner. The rest is fine, which is why I just want to do a touch up on that area rather than getting a complete paint job.
It is whatever it is for whatever reason.
To me it looks like the paint is peeling off the primer. Hopefully the primer is planing on staying put.
Regardless, if you are going to do some touching up I'd try to lightly chip off whatever else is still there but loose around those spots and hit where ever you are going to paint with some 400 or 600 grit wet sandpaper. It won't take much energy to do it but giving that primer a fine "textured" surface is probably what should have, but didn't, happen during the existing repaint. I'd also remove that tail light and do whatever needs done under there at the same time.
Also I see you're location is PA but that scribbled out license plate looks like OH to me. Based on that and my
<location description maybe we're not too far apart.
Oops, I guess your plate looks like some older OH plates.
To me it looks like the paint is peeling off the primer. Hopefully the primer is planing on staying put.
Regardless, if you are going to do some touching up I'd try to lightly chip off whatever else is still there but loose around those spots and hit where ever you are going to paint with some 400 or 600 grit wet sandpaper. It won't take much energy to do it but giving that primer a fine "textured" surface is probably what should have, but didn't, happen during the existing repaint. I'd also remove that tail light and do whatever needs done under there at the same time.
Also I see you're location is PA but that scribbled out license plate looks like OH to me. Based on that and my
<location description maybe we're not too far apart.
Oops, I guess your plate looks like some older OH plates.
Hi there! I actually am in PA but waaay on the east side haha. But thank you so much for the tips, I will definitely take that into consideration if I go to do some touch ups myself! So far that white primer underneath seems like it’s staying put, it’s just the red over top that’s giving me issues. If I go that route I will definitely post some pics of the end result. Thank you again for your help
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