Hi all

My Fabia estate has been an amazing little car but a few years ago the topcoat started to peel off the bonnet, then the roof plus other smaller areas at the front.

It looks terrible and I have seen it on other orange Fabs of a similar vintage.

I'm guessing it is something to do with the painting at that time, however my question is whether to attempt repaintng it myself (doable and I'munlikely to make it look worse!) - maybe it is only the topcoat though the paint is getting paler under UV exposure, etc. Or should I just buy a new bonnet from a breaker's, if I'm able to find one?

Any comments will be appreciated. Thank you.

Painted 16 years ago and at least not a Red one with that pigment, but Skoda Gigaro Red seems fine.

So are you capable of cutting back the lacquer / top coat and then if OK re-lacquering.

Maybe try finding a bonnet, maybe better than yours, but if it is a 2010 might it not be just as yours is now next year.

Best go see a local Body shop / car painter maybe of the self employed mot National Repairers and get an opinion and a price to sand back and respray.

I suspect they will not be interested. I am an Ex car sprayer..

Thanks for that.

I spoke to one guy and it was going to be uneconomical.

I am pretty handy but im guessing it may need new paint as well as topcoat. The paint layer is pretty pale. Those plus time will cost me more than a replacement bonnet, which I could refit quickly enough.

I could try a bit of topcoat on a section to see if the colour revives, i suppose... 🤓🤓

5 minutes ago, mlteenie said:

I could try a bit of topcoat on a section to see if the colour revives,

And then you run the risk of the rest of the car looking faded and drab. Spray with caution ...

Current state. Somewhat embarrassing!

@mlteenie Holy camoly. I have never seen anything as bad. I have seen peeling, even on Mk3 Fabia.

& back to Escorts & Cortinas.

?

So when did the start to show, and did you follow some type of road maintenance vehicle, tractor trailer, tanker or the likes?

Or, did you use some drive in car washing type place, hand washing or drive through?

Edited 4 September, 20254 Sep by Ootohere

See! 😩😳🤣

I noticed it starting about 7 years ago and every time the motorway speeds get to it, more top coat flakes off. It may be down to living in the SE (hot) and not washing it enough. I don't know but whenever I see another orange Fab, I check their paint. Similar story.

So not a #Mystery (Billy Ocean.)

You could try a polish/compound called frecklar it's a cutting compound normally used in the trade for bringing paitwork back from cars/vans that have had transferes on them, it might be worth investing in a polishing buffer tool to help you out, if it does not work you could like I did with my old MK5 Corinta is flat it down untill it's a matt finiish then clean and tack cloth it and use a simular pait colour and you could hand paint it or get it sprayed, mostly the prep costs the most so doing ths your self could save you quite a bit, I re sprayed mine myself I hired a commpressor and gun bought under coat and finish colours paint and thinners and did it in a mates garage turned out ok you soon get the hang of spraying, I have also seen some one use rattle cans but that can work out expensive depending on how many panels you want to spray, years ago i hand painted a car with a paint called re-paint and did the big panels with a gloss roller and hand painted thesmaller parts from a few yards away you would not know the difference but that's your choice

1 hour ago, Murdockman said:

years ago i hand painted a car with a paint called re-paint and did the big panels with a gloss roller

Mate did exactly the same on an old Bedford cf van but he used Dulux exterior nondrip gloss for metal with mini roller. Damn thing was shiny for years afterwards and looked surprisingly good.

If its just the laquer it might be worth rubbing down to a matt finish and respraying with new laquer. Have the same prob on a MK1 MX5(miata) project. Paint underneath seems solid but laquer is past it. Most paint shops won't touch it as the prep work would cost probably more than the cars worth plus they seem to be making a fortune with insurance jobs.

Alasdair

Up here in Inverness theres a good few cars with matt black bonnets and roofs. Suppose its to look like carbon fibre panels?? If you want to go down the boy racer look it might be an option.

From your pictures its pretty bad. If the car was younger I would be getting in touch with Skoda for an explanation.

Alasdair

Thanks guys, interesting comments.

Ill look into that compound. Do you think that pale paint colour will go if buffed?

I believe there are spray nozzles that can be attached to cans to ensure a better coverage. Ill only do the bonnet for now (if I don't replace it).

I thought of a vinyl wrap but I guess the flakiness below will show through.

Edited 5 September, 20255 Sep by mlteenie
Correction

A vinyl wrap would be good, but not until that bonnet is flatted right back to almost the primer and there is no moisture. A totally good surface to apply to. Basically the same as needed to repaint the bonnet.

Yes a vinyl wrap requires a flat surface other wise it does show the defects, a paint shop near where I live used to supply a mixed paint colour in thier own rattle can in 500mm quantaties so you got a good decent spray, if you clean the nozzle after a few passes it should work ok, the problem these days is the colour cans for the car are small cans unless it's black or white so you don't get the volume to spray a decent area with out problems, why not try a electric spray gun? might work better than the small cans but again you need to get the paint mixed and thinners

OK.

I think Ill look into the prep and spray business and hope an orange bonnet turns up in the meantime!

Thanks very much for all the comments so far.

On 04/09/2025 at 14:44, Guest_ said:

@mlteenie Holy camoly. I have never seen anything as bad. I have seen peeling, even on Mk3 Fabia.

& back to Escorts & Cortinas.

?

So when did the start to show, and did you follow some type of road maintenance vehicle, tractor trailer, tanker or the likes?

Or, did you use some drive in car washing type place, hand washing or drive through?

ill send you today my car pictures. be sure my hood is WAY worse then that

Ok!! 🤣🤣

I must ask what the hell happened at the Skoda factory then? All the orange cars from around that period are the same, it seems.🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

look at that monstrosity!!! I AM THE KING OF ORANGE PEEL!!!

If you lose any more I reckon you could just apply a clear top coat. Never seen one that bad.

Alasdair