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Removing clear coat

Tileman2003

Tileman2003

Tim the Tileman
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Location
Northern CA
OK, this is probably the wrong place to post this but with the vast knowledge base on this site I'll give it a shot. I have a 1985 Beaver class A 30' Motorhome with 19,000miles on it. I acquired it from the original owner a few years ago, this thing is a beauty... on the inside. The outside is a different story, the body is fiberglass gel coated withe stripes and the lower section painted, and the whole thing was Clear Coated. The Clear Coat , like most '80 era paint jobs, looks like crap. It's coming up in patches and makes the whole rig look funky. I have tried several things like, fine scotchbrite, wet and dry sand paper, and strait razor blades. The problem is I don't want to damage the painted portions if I can help it. Any suggestions? I'm ready to just have it painted, or do it my self, but thats a lot of sanding and paint. and if I have someone else do it thats a lot of money that I can put into that 100 gallon tank to run that thirsty 454... Any suggestions would be helpful...
 
As you may know, the shine you have comes from the clear coat. Just a wet sanding with 600 or finer paper being carefull not to go thru and the re-shoot the clear coat and it should look like new. You could try sanding with 1200 first and then buffing with a light compound, sometimes that will bring it back pretty well.
 
DMitch said:
As you may know, the shine you have comes from the clear coat. Just a wet sanding with 600 or finer paper being carefull not to go thru and the re-shoot the clear coat and it should look like new. You could try sanding with 1200 first and then buffing with a light compound, sometimes that will bring it back pretty well.
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:iagree:You have nothing to lose anyways,might as well try to buff it out!
 
Tileman, clear coat is just that clear. They first spray a dull base coat paint and then spray the clear over it. Did you try to do any buffing? Are you sure it is clear coat? If not you can and you want to test, go in a place that won't show to badly and water sand a small spot with a 1200 wet paper. If it's clear coat you should see a white residue as it dries up.

My guess is the old clear is coming up because the surface was not preped properly. Unless they painted over the gel coat, I think you will find the color should be under the gel coat. Sounds like you should have color, gel coat and then a coat of clear. Is that what is happening?
 
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Sorry, 66FLH's remark went right over my head, LOL. Thought tileman replied it was green clear coat. LOL
 
dentpusha said:
what i mean is what color is the rv?
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It actually is a off white fiberglass gel coat, with 2 colors of brown stripes painted over the fiberglass. Then they clear coated the whole thing. She was built in 1984 so you know how bad clear was back then. I actually had great success removing all the clear off the gel coat with a razor blade scraper. I saw a video of a guy who stripped his Corvette this way. If your careful this works perfect. The problem now is the painted stripes, no razor blades here. I think I'm going to wet sand and shoot new stripes.
 

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WELL I DOUBT YOU GOT MUCH CLEAR COAT LEFT ON THAT BADBOY.IT MAY LOOK GOOD AFTER A GOOD BUFF JOB,BUT ONLY TILL IT RAINS ON IT
 
I've been working on it for the past few days, and it's looking pretty good. I still am opting for a new color scheme . But thats a lot of freaking paint....
 
She looks pretty good, peeled off 90% of the clear and gave her a good wash. Next is the stripes. I'm really working on the air intake and exhaust, trying to get this BB Chevy to breathe. I pull a 18' boat with her and my mileage really sucks when I tow. I'm working on a cold air intake and kicking around some ideas on improving the stock dual exhaust. I saw a set of Flowmaster's on Craig's but there 40 series and I think they might be to loud. This is a very heavy MH solid oak cabinets throughout and every option you could get on a '85 Beaver. no pic's right now I put her back in storage until my next trip.
 
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