advice on horribly deteriorated auto paint/clearcoat

[sleepy hollow]

My nieces use a family car (2003 Mitsubishi Galant - black) with an abominable looking finish.  The roof has oxidized almost to bare metal as far as I can see, though have not had time to test it.  The rest of the car is "2 tone" where the clear coat has delaminated leaving a dull oxidized half separated by a very unappealing jagged line of white clear coat that is about to flake off.  Now they cannot afford to repaint the car and it is not worth it IMHO.  Is there anything that you all recommend to at least improve the look?  I have a buffer and have done paint restoration before such as after fixing my trucks rotting rear fenders.  Came out well.  Used the two-part clear coat and paint matched base.  But this is the whole car.  And, again, not worth that expense or time.  

Any suggestions are most welcome to spiff it up.  Thanks.

[JosephP]

role with it?  The car won't be worth a lot at resale either way, right?

(before opening the thread, I would have bet it was going to be a Chrysler product...see this on those pretty frequently)

[sleepy hollow]

role with it?  The car won't be worth a lot at resale either way, right?

(before opening the thread, I would have bet it was going to be a Chrysler product...see this on those pretty frequently)

Right, I expect it will be a token trade in or a junker by the time it is "used up."  

I have heard that mitsubishis and some other japanese brands have had some issues with paint adhesion. But after 17 years hard to complain.  Chryslers were horrible in the old days, but I am taking 80s and 90s and they were not alone.

[jteneyck]

You could have an art fest on it with Krylon spray paint.  If you are old enough to remember the hippy years you'll get the idea.  Or let the local high school autobody repair class practice on it.   

John

[barnowl]

Back in 1970, I had a 61 Ford with a very faded flat light grey paint.

Dull as dull can be. Pretty sure this was long before clear coats were used.

I went into a Sears store, and bought a gallon of some kind of paint.

I believe it had a acrylic base of some sort.

I painted the car with a roller. No special prep at all. 

Seriously.

Looked pretty good, all things considered.

Shined, too.

Lasted until I got rid of the car in 73.

[TDKPE]

Earl Scheib not around any more?  Any car, any color, $50?

[Admiral]

Here's a guy who rolled on thinned Rustoleum; actually looks pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=LXbIJ4M37lw

[Snipe Hunter]

Sleepy, you've lost the clear-coat on the upper surfaces. There's nothing you can do except repaint. Th cheapest way out would be to use someone like Macco. They're about the only people who will still shoot single stage enamel. It doesn't have a clear coat so it won't sparkle. The whole car will need to be painted or you'll have a two different colored car.

It will look ok for a few years but it will not look like a new car finish. It will look a lot better than what you have and hold off the top surfaces from rusting. It's only a matter of time before the top starts rusting. The paint that is left in your car is porous not that the clear is gone. It's certainly worth the price. They'll get as good match as you can with enamel.

If you want to do it yourself, assuming you have paint equipment... it's a lot of work to prep a whole car and you'll wish you paid someone. But if you're brave, this stuff from eastwoods is pretty decent.

[sleepy hollow]

Apologies for not closing this one out sooner but life has its many distractions.  Anyway, my BIL and I ended up taking a Saturday in February to do our thing to the finish of my niece's car.  He bought a rejuvenator product and spent a lot of time and elbow grease working with that product.  I was surprised how much it improved the look of the delaminated sides of the car.  Really impressive.  Certainly not good as new, but completely camouflaged the de-lamination lines.  

As for the roof, we ended up removing the paint to bare metal, and then painted it with a rattle can matching Nissan primer/paint that my local auto paint supplier provided.  2 cans were about $100 as I recall.  Then we clear coated with the 2-part epoxy clear coat that can be purchased on line.  2 cans of that as well.  Here's the crazy part though.  We had to do this work in an unheated garage on what turned out to be one of the coldest days of the year.  I warned my BIL that I could not be responsible for the quality of the paint job given the temps (in the 20s that day).  He said we had no choice as my niece needed to go back to school the following weekend and certainly the car needed to sit for a couple days to allow the paint to cure.  So it was that Saturday or never.  

We gathered all the heating devices we could find and I found an old halogen work light to add to them and we deployed those in the garage.  Maybe we got the place up to the mid to upper 40s.  I also suspended the halogen light above the car roof so it heated the surface.  My neice used a hair dryer and kept a steady flow of warm air over the roof as well.  Under those conditions I sprayed the roof with first the black primer/paint (3 coats, using up the rattle cans) and then 3 coats of clear from the rattle cans.  It was hard to get a good idea of the quality of the job in the poor and varied light of the garage.  But we stayed with the heat throughout the application and for a good half hour after the final coats were applied.  Then we left the car to sit and I actually never came back to see the car (done at my in-law's vacant house midway between me and my BIL).  

Apparently the car got rave reviews from my niece and her mother, my SIL.  My niece called me about a week ago to thank me again for the great job on the car.  She loves how good it looks compared to previously, and has no compunction about being seen in it
.  So, there you go.  Apparently successful project completed totally agains all the rules.  Desperate fathers using desperate measures for their daughters.  

Thank you all for your input as well.

[Cooler]

In 1971, my neighbor, Elliot was home from college.  His shamrock green VW Bug had been emblazoned with an all-over paisley design.  It was particularly nicely done.

Then one very sunny day Elliot came home with a gallon can of green Rustoleum and a 4" wide brush.  Twenty minutes later he had an all-green car again. 

I asked him why and he said, "Too many F****ng tickets."

Another friend painted his entire pickup truck with a Flit-gun.  From across the street it looked fine.  Up close, "orange peel" does not do that finish justice.

For those too young to remember the Flit-guns (used to spray DDT), here is an image:



Since only the upper surfaces seem to be damaged, this is a perfect time to make it a two-tone finish.  Red and black look good.  Rattle cans on the surface will do the job.  Scuff the surface.  I'll bet that the old finish will make an excellent base for a contrasting color.



Or get the roof "wrapped" with another color.  But for cheap, you can get the  upper surfaces painted with probably  5 or 6 rattle cans and some masking tape.