99 civic lx green paint is fading off?

[Pawl]

This Civic is Forest green. It looks like it is has a slight metalflake in it.The trunk,roof and driver door are starting to show a faded whitish powdery ( no shine left ) look. I have looked at some other complaint forums with green cars around or the same year with the same problem.Many of those cars were painted and manufactured in Canada like the one I have.I am going to see the dealer but I don't think I will get anywhere with them. Honda can't brag about having a car that will go 300,00 miles and a paint job that is coming off at 87,000 miles. My daughter keeps this car clean.I do remember that the original owner who sold us the car had a whole supply of waxes and cleaners in the trunk that came with the purchase of the car. He said Honda sold him the products so apparently Honda knew something was up with the paint.Any thoughts?

[FrodoGT]

Um, its a dark color. Dark colors fade. Also depends on where the car has been for those 80~k miles. Also this is a 4g civic forum..not paint and body.

[CivicSpoon]

A Honda dealership certainly isn't going to fix the problem for free. You should take it to a detail shop and have them buff and wax the car. There's no guarantee that this will fix the issue, especially if it's so far gone that the clear coat has deteriorated for too long. Chances are the issue was caused by not maintaining the car's body...not waxing and buffing the car when it needed it. Leaving the car out in the sun all the time will also damage it as well. I'm not trying to say that there isn't a problem with the paint they use, but no paint is going to look new unless you take care of it. I'd also like to note that my car has the same problems as well, even after being repainted before I bought the car:

[Pawl]

There is no clear coat left in these damaged areas.I have been around cars all my life and by no means am I a paint expert. Other than the roof and trunk the rest of the paint looks almost new without ANY fading. My daughter has washed this car religiously but I can't say it has been waxed a lot. And still most of the paint looks really good. I did notice when I first saw this car when it was for sale that this color was very unusal compared to the more popular colors preceding it. I think they are always experimenting with colors and the customer gets the brunt of bad choices by Honda. I have a 93 Honda Accord that still looks really good when I put a coat of wax on it. There is no fading at all on this car. But I don't do it that often and the paint seems to weather the elements. I will never get Honda to admit fault because obviously it will cost them money.

[Christ]

First of all, this forum is for EF's.. a.k.a: 88-91 Civic/CRX... it's a tech forum.

Secondly, your paint problems CANNOT be blamed on Honda... especially since the vehicle is outside of it's warranty period, or will be shortly.

You're not the first owner, and as was stated before, you can't possibly know how the owner(s) before you took care of the car... washing it all the time is a bad idea, especially if it's not waxed, b/c the soap will eat away at the clear coat, and driving around with water droplets on your car will weaken the paint, due to the refraction of UV light. (Same reason you don't water your grass in mid-day, it will die.)

So unless she PROPERLY cares for the paint, she's not caring for it at all.

If you want to fix it, you can do it pretty cheaply yourself: Go to a decent paint shop, get some sand paper (1000 and 2000 grit) and a block.

Start wet-sanding the spots that you wanna fix, and keep sanding a good 3 to 4 inches past it.

sand them until you're down to PAINT not clear coat... remove ALL of the clear coating until you can't feel an edge by running your finger over it.

tape off a square area 1" past where you stopped sanding.

Spray a light coat of clear over it, let it tack for 15-20 mins, then spray another full coat over that.

Remove the tape, wait 24 hours, and re-block the area's that you've sprayed... use 2000 grit to do this step, and keep the paper WET. keep a spray bottle handy to remove debris periodically. once you can't see the line of the clear anymore, and it feels flat, you're done... now, get some paint polish and wax, polish up the whole car, and wax it well..

Wax needs to be maintained at least every two weeks to have any real effect on keeping the paint fresh.

If you have any more questions about your paint, or other questions about your model Civic in general, please direct them to the proper forum, they will be able to provide specific help better than most of us can.