I have owned my Jaguar xj6 1996 since 2006. And the paint issue has been a nightmare. I keep getting chipping, and cracking in the same areas when I repaint the car. Does anyone know if its true if the car has been painted to many times that the paint will not stick anymore? I have gone through 2 full paint jobs, and 2 touch ups and am still having a issue with the paint lifting up. If anyone can help please, and if anyone lives or knows anyone in the south florida area that is a good painter that can correct my problem. thank you.

 

Sounds like a case of poor surface preparation to me...?

 

yea I was thinking the same, but its happened from 2 different shops, and the first shop told me the reason it was happening was because the car has to much paint on it..

 

If the original layer is what had poor adhesion to begin with, then yes, it will continue to have problems. If its the newer paint that's not sticking to the older paint, then its poor preparation. It is also not a good thing to build up too much thickness, because paint is softer than metal and therefore the second, third, etc. paint jobs have a softer base underneath them.

To find a painter, now is the season. This weekend, go around to the local car shows and every time you see a classic car with a nice paint job, ask the owner "Who did your paint work and if you don't mind telling me, what all was involved and how much did it cost?" You might be shocked at some, but you'll find a few done at reasonable prices. Notice I said to ask "Who" and not "What shop". I learned the hard way that its the guy who actually lays the paint who ultimately has control over the quality and these guys can move around from shop to shop. When you visit a shop, tell him you saw a particular car that he painted and that way he'll know that's the level of quality you are expecting. Good luck.

 

Why is it that Jag hasn't figured out how to make a good, long-lasting paint job? The roof on my '96 XJ6 is shot, with the clear coat peeling so bad I took a plastic paint scraper to it, then used a paint brush to put on some new clear coat. Luckily for me, there was enough paint left that it's still pretty much BRG on the roof, so it doesn't look as bad as it was before. And the hood has lots of "crow's feet" on it, so I'm sure it'll be the next to go. My wife's '92 MBZ 400SE, which is black and silver, has 130K miles, has a MUCH better original paint job, with no where near the amount of clear coat peeling and other warts that my Jag has.

I took it to a shop that's done some work on a couple of cars I've owned in the past ('07 Saturn Sky, '94 Taurus SHO), and asked them to give me a quote. They walked around the car, popped the hood and trunk, opened the doors, etc. Walked inside, then told me to do a "quality" paint job, it'd be around $3000! Yikes, and that would be all out of pocket. So I guess I'll live with the warts on it for now.

Sounds like the next paint job needs to get down to bare metal, be prepped correctly, no humidity in the booth (since you're in FL), and hope for the best.

 

hi thanks for everyones help so far. I really do not want to let the car go as I spent a lot of money customizing it. The paint really kills me because I feel like im always spend 1,000-1,500 every year to try and correct the paint job. At first it looks good but a few months in it beings to show its cracking and lifting. Do you think going down to bare metal will help? pdupler says if the original layer is what had poor adhesion for the beginning than it will keep doing it? I dont wanna spend another 1,500 to try again

 

I live in Tampa Bay and have another thought; the Florida sun and heat really raise h*ll with the paint, leather and wood of our Jaguars. Both of my cars need paint jobs, re-veneering and leather and carpets...

 

its always best to strip down to metal after its been repainted once.too much paint is not good,and factory clear coats have always been a problem with age.its best to keep your car out of direct sunlight as much as possable...steve.

 

Looking at where you live, I would suspect the paint is too thick to withstand the continual heating/cooling of the Florida climate. Paint thickness is a toss-up between giving sufficient protection to the metal, and being so thick the expansion/contraction of the steel and its paint layer causing unacceptable stress in the paint layer.

What areas are cracking and chipping badly ?

 

Excellent point about paint thickness, expansion and contraction. That little plasctic housing for the eye level brake light on the boot lid on my '95 XJS expands and contracts so much the paint actually "splits". I have to strip, sand repaint every two to three years the paint gets so bad. I once read Wayne Estrada's solution for his problem - he removed the light and replaced with three chrome "buttons". I have my buttons...

 

so i just got 2 quotes, first place is macco, they said $1,500 and they will matchup as close as they can to the factory paint. and they will remove the back windshield to fix the rust around the window area. This includes repainting the entire car with a 4 year warranty. The other is a local paint shop, they are charging $4500! Crazy! But they said they will strip down the entire car paint it and remove mostly all trims and moldings, and use oem paint. That is to much money tho, I can rebuy the car for that with lower miles and a decent body on it.

My main area with the lifting with the paint is the trunk area around the seals and the trunk lid.

 

I have a 2004 XJ8 that is in very nice condition overall, but across the body has the sort of very minor scratches that you would expect in an 8 year old car. If someone were to touch up the scratches and little paint dings (not dings in the metal), there would be some minor work on many panels of the body. Does it make sense to have a shop touch up the paint in these different areas, or does it make more sense to repaint the car. I'm in love with the car and don't mind investing in it.

 

I've had many a car resprayed over the years. In fact the 04 XJR was just resprayed.
But I have only been happy if all attachments/moldings/windows etc have been removed, the car has been sanded right down (you will see primer, metal and colour in spots following the sanding) then based on your pocket book: 3 + coats of colour and 3 + coats of clear coat.
And there are varying qualities of clear coat, get the best! This proper thorough job costs much more than $1000. Incidentally I drive may car daily: from -40 to +100 F.
The one point to consider is to 3M clear bra or not. Personally, I don't like the finish but it is nice to easily wash away bugs and avoid those stone chips.
I am constantly told my car looks fantastic... that is, better than new. And I humbly agree. ;-) FWIW.

 

Essentially, repainting a car is all about labour. The higher quote is reasonable if all the trim items are to be removed and replaced, because this sort of thing can take hours and hours. Stripping paint is now normally done mechanically, not using stripper, and again is reasonably rapid. Preparation before the final coat goes on is everything in order to get a good finish. The lower price quote will probably give a good job within the boundaries of what is to be done, so trim remains on and is masked-up, and the original paint will probably only be flatted down and the new paint put on top. If the original finish is OK then the new paint will be OK, but if not, its a waste of money.

 

I always hate to hear of anybody taking any sort of classic or cool car to Maaco. They have their place doing what's often referred to as "10 footers" on such common cars as Honda Accords just so ordinary people can get, yes, mabe 4 more years out of them before being scrapped. (A friend of mine had a Jeep done by Earl Sheib for $400, but it purely an off-road vehicle and his single goal was that all four fenders be the same color.

But Maaco quality usually cannot satisfy anyone who really loves cars. I've seen a lot of classic car projects abandoned when the bargain paint job was a disappointment and they didn't have the money to do it over again correctly. In your original post you mentioned having gone through 2 full paint jobs already and still having problems. Sounds like you've already spent $1500 twice on such bargain work. If you go to Maaco, the only thing that can be "guaranteed" is that you'll be disappointed and have to do it all over again by 2016. If you'd spent the $4,500 in the first place (and that's still pretty cheap), you'd more than likely be happy now. The car may not be "worth" $4,500, but consider that very few classic cars are worth even a fraction of what it cost to restore them. People spend the money only because they love the car and plan to keep it long enough to get that much enjoyment out of it. Before you pull the trigger, try what I suggest in post #4. If you don't find a better painter you can afford, you'll at least learn a lot about what it takes to do a quality job.

 

Sounds very good. What kind of shop/individuals did the $ 1,000 job? Good post!

 

Any reputable shop will charge 1K for ONE PANEL. I can only imagine what kind of materials and time is involved in a 1,500K entire car paint job

When I had my XJS repainted, bumpers, fenders, doors, hood and trunk came of, obviously all trim and lights as well, everything was stripped to bare metal, and the last coats of paint where wet sanded in between. That cost a hair under 8K and while it is a high quality paint job it is by no means the very best. People spend over 15k repainting (not of-frame) their cars. If anyone is expecting anything from Maaco they might as well get a spray can and spray away at home.

Depending on where you are at the very *least* a quality job will start around 4k. I know of people who have had the same thing I had done for 5k, a bargain.

I drove my car with her ugly paint until I got the money to do a proper paint job. Anything else would have been a waste of money and time