Lacquer peel

[Kieron G]

Our Y reg diesel has a bit of lacquer peel on the N/S A post. Rest of the car is fine. I think it stems from a windscreen change.  I've tried removing the edge with T cut  to feather it in but had no luck. Can anybody give advice as how to tidy this up a bit without damaging paint underneath. Not a big problem but it lets the car down as paint is dark green it stands out. Thanks

[oilyrag]

I have a red 2002 which looks as though it has a skin disorder. There is no easy way to deal with it as the lacquer prefers to flake rather than 'feather'. After snow here the loose bits come off.   The only successful way I've dealt with it is to power wash the bad parts - this breaks the flake off back to a secured part, and the put a coat of clear laquer over the area. It is not easy to get an even finish with the lacquer and the 'edges' can still be seen, but from 15 feet it all looks pretty much the same colour!

[Kieron G]

Thanks for that. I've noticed that red Berlingos seem suffer worst. Just one of those things with a 20 year old car I guess.

[notsofast]

My 2001 M49 is also red like oilyrag's, and it also has peeled like it's going out of fashion - mostly the roof and, particularly, the bonnet. The latter I had resprayed a couple of years ago. Mine began going cos I didn't wash some pigeon s**t off quick enough.

Before the respray I used to use a fingernail to flake off areas that had delaminated and were looking 'opaque', which gave a marginal improvement appearance-wise, but always this led to more peeling from the new edge.  That's the problem once the peeling has started - though maybe your green vehicle will be resistent to spread (I've read on another forum that red is the worst colour for peeling/fading, due to it absorbing a lot of the ultraviolet spectrum.  Don't know if that's true though it sounds plausible.)

As an alternative to oilyrag's approach, have you considered any of those adhesive wraps to cover it up?  I haven't tried this yet, though it's something I'm considering doing on the front grille, which is also going. Though that's a more self-contained area than an A-pillar (and also you'd have to do the other A-pillar too for symmetry).

[Kieron G]

As you suggested I have got loose off with my nail. It does spread up to the roof slightly so I might leave it now. Just curious to know if there might be a way of smoothing the edges of the lacquer but think is best left now before I damage the paint as well

[oilyrag]

There's the risk, if you smooth the lacquer, of getting a reaction with any subsequent lacquer coats and it may wrinkle. The peeling spread on mine stops once re-coated, but it springs up elsewhere!