What's the condition of your paint?

[jeep_boss]

Curious about the condition of everyone's paint and mileage. I cleaned up a few more rock chips and a few streaks of worn down paint today, I noticed some other areas (mainly on the hood) where the paint is starting to splinter.

Another question for everyone - to what degree do you care or give up on maintaining paint issues?

 

[01CuHed]

2001 Wrangler Sport/Fire Amber with 58,218 mileage and because of covered parking my paint finish held up well. When I purchased my Jeep new it was not my daily driver which accounts for the low miles. I was told back then to take this Jeep out in the desert and drive thru creosote brush in order to "pinstripe" it so you won't later have to worry about keeping up the finish....it's a Jeep...drive it like one. HaHa! Kind of hard to do for some when you are still making payments on it!

 

[JMT]

I’ve got 63K on my 05’. The OOwner used it as a ranch Jeep. He banged a couple things on the hood and evidently used the back end a lot. The color is great, no oxidation, and it gets a lot of attention, but the hood, tailgate and rear of bed could use a repaint in my opinion.

For me paint appearance is important. I’m often told it’s too nice to have on the trails. Thing is, I haven’t damaged the paint on the trails, at least nothing I couldn’t buff out.At some point I don’t think you ever give up on maintenance if you can do something about it

 

[BigWheel88]

64k on my 03' Paint is generally ok got rock chips and some spots on door sill where my foot rests or my dog jumps in and frame or along tub where hardtop sits where rubbing happens. At those spots it got down to grey primer. I had a mishap where i was half parked in garage and opened hood all the way and it hit top of garage door and made a good sized scratch on top front of hood which went down to metal so I just got a touch up paint pen in body color and fixed it up just for the sake of rust no forming but it is not smooth and is easily spotted. I do have one desert pin stripe on one of the doors but have not cared enough try to buff out.

I try not to be to concerned with it unless I feel it might cause a rust problem or cause paint to peel

 

[BayTJ]

Yeah! I have an 02 with 65k and the original owner must have kept it parked under a car port as the bird droppings killed the hood for the past 10 years. The acid caused paint stains I can’t remove. Plus there are some rust spots starting to bubble on the gate and fenders. Rust is a pet peeve for me so I may get those repaired. If I did get the rust and hood fixed and resprayed it would cost me $800. With such low miles on an I6 Sport, it’s probably worth it.

 

[jeepins]

98 with just shy of 240,000mi and just got it freshly painted (and still putting it back together slowly). Never garaged and sat out in the Texas sun. Hood, cowl and tops of the front fenders were fading.

 

[RussTJ]

I'd like to comment more on the cleaning of a vehicle. I've always done a decent job of mechanically maintaining a vehicle, at least as well as finances allowed, but twenty years ago I started keeping my vehicles cleaner, inside and out. Back then, we changed a few vehicles within a few months of each other and I found myself cleaning both of them from top to bottom, inside and out, to prepare them for sale. Then I got kinda angry with myself because I knew how to take care of this stuff but wasn't doing it for myself or my family, just for the new owner. Made a change back then and I'm happy I did.

 

[MellowYellow]

The paint on my 04, Solar yellow, is in great shape. 115,000 miles and very few rock chips on the front. No fading, rust, etc that I can see. Funny, though, that this should come up now. I'm making an appointment for a free wash-wax-inspection because of overspray issues from a company sealing pavement at work!

 

[TJDaveX]

04 TJ. 56,000 mls. Some scratches and scuffs from wheeling, but otherwise great. Cleans up nice...when I clean it.
Lives in my garage most of the time.

 

[cliffish]

05 102K, impact orange, some rock chips, scratches....starting to take down and fill in a little bubbling on both front fenders, I then wet sanded with 2000 grit and used multiple steps of Chemicalguys.com products to bring back the shine...I might do the rest of the Jeep this way.

 

[JeepZilla380]

Paints holding up well on my 05, lots of pin stripes from wheeling and just a bit of crows feat showing up on the front end of the hood. Got me a dual action variable speed polisher I plan to try out on some of the pin striping. So many stickers on the jeep to dodge around.

 

[jchadscud]

Mine looks good from 10 feet out. Up close there’s some evidence of rock chips, bird attacks that weren’t cleaned promptly and some swirling/orange peel. Some peck marks on the doors and sides, but not too bad.

Do we have any forum experts on paint reconditioning? I’ve talked to a few places about paint correction/detailing, but haven’t gotten any responses that left me with confidence that I’d be happy with the end result. A wrap was suggested, but I feel like up close I’m going to OCD over the seams, hinges, etc.

Anyone done anything to improve the paint quality without a full respray or wrap?

 

[tomtaylz]

Mine could be better, working to get parts repainted as I have funds. Rock chips and some peeling around the seams on the grill/good and then a big spot by the windshield is down to primer

Some chips and things on the tailgate too.

 

[EJD]

'00 with 163k, my paint is alright for the most part, some chips, little fading, some trail scratches, and some pre-existing stuff but its not too bad. My cowl is the worst part, it has some major sun fading for some reason and clear coat is coming off.

I did buy one of these to touch-up my paint though and I have to say this is a nice piece to have: https://www.quadratec.com/products/...MIpt-xwqLi2gIVlspkCh2Nwge5EAQYASABEgIXrPD_BwE

 

[bobthetj03]

Nice thing about white, it looks good from 20 feet away. 158K miles, owned for 13 years. Sides have a fair amount of deep pinstripes, hood is starting to craze crack, and has a couple of small dents where I strategically placed my knee on it whilst recovering myself from an evil mud hole.
I like keeping my stuff sharp, but I've been pretty lazy this winter keeping it clean. I have a pretty good arsenal of detailing supplies. Just need to get off my butt and get it cleaned up. Just received an Autogeek order for a new AIO cleaner, so hope that motivates me.

 

[Steve Rodgers]

97 TJ SE, white, 193K, 3" lift, 31" tires
I'm pretty sure it was repainted at some point. It's in ok shape, some problems here and there. I'm going to clean it up and keep what is there in good shape. At some point I may get it painted or wrapped. I'm not too sure about wrapping, it's unconventional but it may be what I try, getting things painted here on Maui is very costly.

 

[CarsonTrailduster]

I have a recently purchased 97 with 186k, that spent most of its life in Lake Tahoe. The sun, pines, and winters took a beating on the paint. One of the first things I did was buff it out as I waited for parts to arrive. The paint overall was dull so I did a full cut, polish, wax. I would say the jeep was easy to do but that's in comparison to my Dodge quad cab which has maybe 3 times as much real estate. I picked the brain of a detailer for years coming up with a process that I could do to get good results but not have the time he would spend getting a car ready for a show. I spent quite a bit of money on all of the products and equipment but I do get a good durable shine, and its usually on a paint resto project in the begining.
I use a Harbour Freight (I know but it has worked flawlessly) 7" Buffer, black wool, Tan, Yellow, and Blue foam pads, and then micro fiber pad bonnets. The products are mixed brands but all of them can be one or the other according to the detailer. Heres the process, all products applied with a micro fiber application pad then buffer then product removed with pad bonnet then a clean micro fiber towel by hand. 1. Presta brand diamond cut with the black wool pad. 2. Meguiars Mist and Wipe with clay bar. 3. Presta swirl remover and blue pad. 4. Meguiars ultimate polish and tan pad. 5. Meguiars yellow wax with yellow pad. 6. Meguiars show car glaze with yellow pad. 7. Meguiars quik detailer mist and wipe.
It took me and my uncle about 6 hours and that was B.S.ing the whole time and checking out the jeep. I also had a small mishap with the buffer and one of the brake lights getting into an argument (the buffer won) that I had to repair. All in all it was easy going and the results were great on the sections that had buffable paint. My hood, cowl, and tops of the fenders have lost some or all of the clear coat so I have purchased some rattle cans from automotivetouchup.com and plan to try that out. Im sceptical but it has good reviews and I even saw it used on here somewhere and it looked good.

 

[cliffish]

I have to question...but shouldn't the clay bar come before any buffing work?

 

[JeepZilla380]

Mine looks good from 10 feet out. Up close there’s some evidence of rock chips, bird attacks that weren’t cleaned promptly and some swirling/orange peel. Some peck marks on the doors and sides, but not too bad.

Do we have any forum experts on paint reconditioning? I’ve talked to a few places about paint correction/detailing, but haven’t gotten any responses that left me with confidence that I’d be happy with the end result. A wrap was suggested, but I feel like up close I’m going to OCD over the seams, hinges, etc.

Anyone done anything to improve the paint quality without a full respray or wrap?

A buddy of mine who really does a great job on his black Camaro pointed me to this guy on YoutTube: Junkman 2000

He walks through the whole novice polishing process, and has a few other series on washing / detailing that are pretty good. Now I just need time and enough nice weather to try out his techniques.

 

[CarsonTrailduster]

I have to question...but shouldn't the clay bar come before any buffing work?

Yes and no. You can clay bar at any time, it removes anything stuck on the surface. It does not remove any product on the paint. I use it after cut to make it easier on me, and in a resto you want to use it before any product build back happens. So yes you could start with it but the cut part of the process is going to remove a lot of what the clay bar would be making the job then easier for the clay bar and more importantly the user.

A buddy of mine who really does a great job on his black Camaro pointed me to this guy on YoutTube: Junkman 2000

He walks through the whole novice polishing process, and has a few other series on washing / detailing that are pretty good. Now I just need time and enough nice weather to try out his techniques.

I'll have to check out his videos, I watched from where you had it marked and that is good info. The key to what I think he is leading to is get it right then have enough product on it to take the abuse so you don't have to work so hard to "Buff it out"