Cheapest way to deal with clear coat failure on hood

[ganchan]

My 2000 Expedition is losing the clear coat on the hood -- it's not peeling, but it's faded pretty severely in spots. The rest of the car looks fine except for the roof, which is a less-glaring defect to casual observers.

I'm trying to figure out the cheapest strategy to make the hood look marginally less awful, so I'll have more money on hand for addressing life-or-death mechanical issues. Possible strategies:

a) I could just repaint it in the EOM color, but the new paint probably wouldn't match the color of the rest of the vehicle all that well.

b) I guess I could go with a totally different but complementary color, although they might leave me with even more of an eyesore.

c) I could just park it out of the way where people won't see it.

Thoughts?

 

[Blksmk]

Sand it primer and apply plasti dip or vinyl

 

[TobyU]

My 2000 Expedition is losing the clear coat on the hood -- it's not peeling, but it's faded pretty severely in spots. The rest of the car looks fine except for the roof, which is a less-glaring defect to casual observers.

I'm trying to figure out the cheapest strategy to make the hood look marginally less awful, so I'll have more money on hand for addressing life-or-death mechanical issues. Possible strategies:

a) I could just repaint it in the EOM color, but the new paint probably wouldn't match the color of the rest of the vehicle all that well.

b) I guess I could go with a totally different but complementary color, although they might leave me with even more of an eyesore.

c) I could just park it out of the way where people won't see it.

Thoughts?

Picture please...

 

[TobyU]

Care auction dealer trick is scrape the edges of clear off with single edge razor blade and buff with ---here's my plug again for best product EVER- PRO Ultimate Cutter Polishing Cmpd and Scratch Rmvr.
and/or degrease with pre-cleaner and spray with 2000 clear from can.

Will look a lot better.

Can also brown scotchbrite pad the whole thing and smooth the rough spots and mask and spray with duplicolor that matches and maybe prime it first...then clear....or wetsand for nice finish then pre-cleaner and clear.
You can do a hood with 2-3 cans of color. Maybe 2.

 

[1970Maverick]

I had my hood wrapped, when the Expy was new, with flat black vinyl because of the sun's reflection at sunrise and set. The hood on a 2017 Expy is pretty much flat and acts like a mirror. The wrap was less than $100 (not the entire hood , just the flat hump in the center). It's almost 3 years and it still looks like day 1.

 

[Aspen03]

Care auction dealer trick is scrape the edges of clear off with single edge razor blade and buff with ---here's my plug again for best product EVER- PRO Ultimate Cutter Polishing Cmpd and Scratch Rmvr.
and/or degrease with pre-cleaner and spray with 2000 clear from can.

Will look a lot better.

Can also brown scotchbrite pad the whole thing and smooth the rough spots and mask and spray with duplicolor that matches and maybe prime it first...then clear....or wetsand for nice finish then pre-cleaner and clear.
You can do a hood with 2-3 cans of color. Maybe 2.

He's not wrong. I prepped a truck for auction for one of my local dealer clients several years ago. You can get some pretty good results without paint work. Simple light cut and polish after trimming up the ragged edges of the clear. A mid grade wax to shine it up. Dude was thoroughly impressed. Threw me an extra $75 once it sold for about 500 more than he expected.

 

[Flexpedition]

The 1st gen Expedition hood is fully swap-able with the 97-03 (and some '04) f150 hoods. That said, by and far the most plentiful vehicle in all scrapyards of Texas. You are near certain to find multiple hoods in better condition than yours for not much money.