Chinook RV

Hi, we have the teal colored Chinook Concourse, with the usual problems of clear coat peeling. A while back I did try to slow it down with some new clear coat, but it was a dull shine which didn't match. We're thinking of trying to at least fix a couple of spots enough to pass the "too old to park here" test.
Question: armed with the color codes for the rig as posted on this forum,
Where do you get the paint?
What clear coat do you use?
Thanks for any help!

Any competent automotive paint mixing shop will be able to match your colors if you provide them with the correct mixing ratio/numbers. Clear coat is just clear coat and any brand will suffice. You will need to specify gloss/satin/flat or whatever sheen you prefer though...dano

To do this job correctly is a painstaking. Obviously when the clearcoat was applied there was some type of problem with adhesion. Either the painter waited too long after painting base coat to apply clear so the clear did not bond properly or inferior quality clearcoat was used or the clear coat was not as good in quality at the time. In any event there is a problem with adhesion that is common to all of these rigs. Remember there is no paint on the white fiberglass portion...only where the stripes are. Therefor the proper repair would be to mask off all of the striped areas with a durable tape that will protect the gelcoat from the sanding process. Then ALL of the clearcoat would have to be sanded off (down to the base coat or even further) To be totally safe the base coat should be sanded off as well. Then you are literally starting over. As you can imagine this is a tremendous amount of labor. I have been looking into the possibility of having all of the stripes blasted off. There may be some blasting techniques using soda or other media products that will remove all the clear and base without affecting or damaging the gelcoat. When I get further along on my project I will look in to this option further. (I have extensive pealing on my concourse.) I have at least had a preliminary discussion with a local media blaster who says he can do it. At that point I will decide if I even want the stripes repainted or not. (I own a body shop). Mark in San Diego.

Unless I mistaken Mark, the stripes are not painted on, they are decals with a clear coat painted over them...Just my understanding...dano

That is definitely incorrect. They are clearly base coat/clearcoat;

Didn't they use decals for newer Premier model to cut cost? For my Concourse, it is definitely painted.

Dano,

If you want to see more specifics on the Concourse stripe paint, there is a thread that lists many of the paint colors. They were originally on paper stickers on the driver's door jamb so on some Concourses they are no longer legible. Hence the thread to record them for posterity. For example the two blues used on mine were "1996 Ford Truck Indigo Blue Metallic" and "1997 GM Truck Bright Blue Metallic." Then clearcoat was used over the paint.

The pre-swoop Premiers used vinyl decals. I don't believe there would have been anything put over those.

Assuming there isn’t some kind of serious issue that Mark is referring to and that requires professional attention, then re-clearing your stripes is do-able by yourself and in your driveway.

My friend used to have a mobile paint touch up business and I watched him do probably 50 cars over the years. If the original clear coat is still present and the colour coat is still in good shape, all that is required, is scuffing the original clear, cleaning it with lacquer thinner and re-spraying with new clear in 2-3 light passes. There is no need to go right down to the gel coat or sand blasting anything down to the original surface ASSUMING the original paint is salvageable. If there is massive chunks coming off or clear that is seriously compromised in large portions because of poor adhesion, then obviously we are talking about a different job here, one that will require more in depth work.

In my own personal cars on areas that were scratched down through the paint and into primer and in many instances, into metal, you need to sand the area and feather the paint back down to metal. In these cases, you need to repaint the areas after spot priming which was done right over the original paint that has been properly prepped. Removing all the paint completely was never necessary, just the area being repaired, you might need to remove some paint as well but it would be the same process. Gel coat and fiberglass might need a different primer than metal so look into that. They do have adhesion promoters that can be added. Priming first, then after several light paint coats, with appropriate sanding and cleaning/prep in between, clear coat was added over the area and gradually enlarged to cover the repair and integrated into the original clear coat. He usually blended in 2-3 coats of clear. Final wet sanding with very fine sandpaper to blend both clear coats was then done, this also when fine dust particles were removed. I seem to recall about 1000-2000 grit or higher, always wet and adding a small bit of dish soap for lubricant. The last step was to buff the body in that area to fully conceal any blending. He used 3M products which I also used on my Chinook with glass like results. The results were perfect each and every time with no pattern detected by the eye. They even make automotive clear in a spray can now so you can do it in your driveway or in your garage, obviously airborne dust and dirt are a concern. On bumpers and the like, he added a flex agent. Obviously, the paint needs to match or you will be able to detect where one colour starts and the other ends. Correctly matched colours yielded perfect results.

Here is a video showing the process on a car with beautiful results and on silver no less which is incredibly difficult to match. They paint an entire fender and clear coat it with 2K products. I would personally have no concerns about doing exactly the same thing on a Chinook assuming you used the correct paint codes from the stickers on the door jamb as Blue suggested. Any paint shop can mix a spray bomb to your specs.

If I am missing something that is fiberglass/gelcoat related in terms of prep, sanding or painting, please chime in as I am always down to learn...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnILSQo_svI

dano