Red Prelude Clearcoat peeling
 

Hey all,

I am new to the car scene and I finally have a car I care about more than a regular beater. It's a 2001 red Honda Prelude. I know it's simple compared to what some of you guys have but I am new to taking care of my cars and I want to learn more.

So my problem is the clearcoat is starting to peel off and bubble on parts of the car. Some areas are manageable like the trunk and side panel, but some look really really terrible and I have no pride in driving her around.

The hood is by far the worst part. I have considered a few options on what to do with it but I would like to know your opinions for a car newbie.

Option A) Paint the entire car. This is obviously the best option for the car but I don't know if I want to drop $1800 for a new paint job on a car that's probably worth $4000 or so. I know a friend of a friend who does it so it would be cheaper than going to a place professionally. My mechanic says $1800 for an entire paint job is a pretty good deal but I am unaware.

Option B) Plastidip the hood myself or professionally. I could simply plastidip the hood myself for maybe $100. My friend is pushing me towards this option because he likes to pick up side projects but I am not very skilled at painting or these types of things. I could also go to a place who does this and get it done for maybe $200 I think.

Option C) Go to a wrecker and find a Honda Prelude hood and take it off the scrap yard and put it into the car myself. I am not sure how this would exactly but a mechanic mentioned it as an option. I am googling and there does not seem to be many around. So if anyone has more information on this. I am very curious about this option.

I could post pictures if you need but the hood is really bad and I don't know my options for painting the car. Would love to hear your opinions on it.

I don't know where to start but I would love to take care of this car unlike my first one.

I had a red prelude before and I had the exact same issue. Honda clear coat is crap and still is crap. First of all....
For option A, an 1800 dollar paint job is a pretty good deal but I'm not sure how it will look.
Option B, I wouldn't recommend plastidip as the dip fades over a few months and attracts a lot of dust. I wrapped my hood in carbon wrap for a few months to try it out but I hated the look. You may like it; wrap holds up much better than the dip.
Option C. If you do go to the wreckers make sure it's a post 1998 red prelude as the pre 1998s were a different shade of red than yours.

Edit: for reference http://imgur.com/a/nbRo5 my paint looked like that everywhere except the trunk and roof was like strawberry pink with crows feet

I'd wrap it...probably the easiest and longest lasting solution, maybe even cheaper if you know people who do it.
I'm not huge on the CF look but it's better than the peeling clearcoat look.

your chances of finding a hood at the wreckers is slim to none

1800 is a really good price for a paint job . Please don't pladtidip it'll look really bad, I think you'll regret it. An option is to rattle can the car yourself. I've had pretty decent results repainting a section of my front bumper. Wet sand your current paint, spray base coat then some clear. After that just wet sand the clear and compound the paint. You should get some pretty decent results.

http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?t=834823

red always fades the fastest

old civic was read and once the clear starts going it's game ova

Is that still true of newer cars? I just bought a 2016 bright red Ford and hope not.

OP, 1800 sounds great for a paint job.
BTW, don't discount your car as being "only a Prelude", the year you have is a great looking car and looks stunning in red!

Dang...





Paint or redo clear coat. I think you would be happier with the new paint job and as others have mentioned 1800 seems good. I paid a bit more than double to get mine repainted.

not sure if wrapping it is a good recommendation. i saw an old skyline that had major clearcoat peel that the owner tried to cheap out and cover it with vinyl, and you can clearly see the patches where the clear peeled off under the wrap :o

to do it right at the very least you will need to sand it down first before covering it up.

Save your money and pay your ticket :rukidding:

http://www.revscene.net/forums/70976...t-alberta.html

I dunno in the past Red and esepcially honda's red seemed to always be the worst, and i thought red in general was always bad due to the pigment VS the sun? could just be making things up though

Yea, I'm pretty sure the pigments of red paint are prone to fading. All red cars will eventually fade due to UV exposure. The same could be said for yellow cars.

Haha. Thanks man my game plan is go back to Alberta and pray! It's a pain in the ass but I did it to myself.

Is this plausible for someone who has little experience painting? I am not the best handy man and am a slow learner. I've had a lot of unforeseen expenses come up so the idea of getting her painted is taking a seat to the back burner right now.

I considered getting her painted a different color as well, I liked all the prelude colours. I was thinking extra hard on possibly the electric blue though.

Would it be easier to buy another Prelude that has the stock colour you want and just swap all the parts on over to the new vehicle? Then sell the red lude?

I remember watching you return that to stock on PP.com :alone:

Hey do you know what he is doing for $1800 dollars? thats a good deal. Make sure he sands the car down with 320 grit featheredges the parts where it is flaking from. i would skim it with body filler. sand it down with 320grit/apply self etch primer to areas where metal is showing/ put a sealer on the entire vehicle so this never occurs again (sealer is High build primer mixed with clearcoat and hardner) wet sand the entire car with 600 grit and mask and spray (a custom red paint) for $1800 if your interested i have a shop. Holla at me