Lacquer beginning to peel - any solution ?

[dooroy]

My bro-in-law has a 2003 Golf (red) and the lacquer has begun to peel slightly in a few places .
Is there anything that can be done to prevent the peeling getting worse e.g rubbing down the edges of the peel so that you remove all the 'loose' bits ( if that makes sense and then maybe giving it a coat or two of lacquer to seal it .
Opinions welcome - even one that says nothing can be done short of a respray .

[Rhubarb]

Your last line I'm afraid

Wash it with diesel and sell it

[Anna Rack]

Sanding and re lacquering could improve things if it's only small areas, but it will never look great.

[mayfly]

If you know who painted it it might be worth asking if they can do anything about it. I know a top class painter who had a problem with something like this, turned out the product was at fault and the company paid him to do the work again. Chances are in your case he didn't prep properly

[dooroy]

He only has the car about 6 mths - and it was a one owner car I think .
Very clean all round - had a few touch ups in places but small and well done .
He had it powerwashed at the weekend and now - surprise , surprise - finds a patch on the roof and a patch on the bonnet where the water obviously lifted the lacquer .
So don't think there is any easy solution .
Saw a 2003 Avensis (red also ) a few weeks ago and big patches on roof , bonnet , bootlid and doors where lacquer had lifted .
Thanks for replies.

[Deleted]

Constructive input: never rated VWs, they can't even paint em right, good sneeze has that laquer off. On the upside, at least he doesn't own a Polo.

[Deleted]

if it original finish from factory it would have lifted ages ago

[Karl]

Scrap it

[oli]

I find it interesting that when you see cars that have started to peel it doesn't seem to be age related. You quite often see a vehicle that's peeling then see half a dozen older ones that have perfect paintwork.
Secondly, they rarely seem to be peeling in only one place - If there's any peeling, there seem to be at least half a dozen places where the laquer is peeling off.

This suggests to me it's not simply a random age related thing.

I'm not sure why this is. Does it suggest some cars in the production left the factory with poorer paint finishes, or is it that the way some vehicles are kept makes them more likely to peel - Bright sunlight, lack of waxing, excessive pressure washing etc???

Oli

[Noberator]

Red is one of the worse colours to start to show signs of paint fade due to the sunlight rays.

It could well be the Factory original clear coat is peeling from the upper surfaces on the Golf due to the sunlight breaking down the bond.

Keeping the paint waxed once or twice a year should help reduce the problem of oxidation on paintwork.

[dooroy]

I think this is the original factory clear coat that is beginning to peel - starting at edges of panels etc .