I have a 90 Westy.  Silver with clear coat.  The previous owner takes
it down to Mexico and a kid asks him if wants the van washed while he
goes shopping.  Sure he says.

On his return, he finds every inch of the clear coat has been
scratched in a kind of swirling motion.  The kid was rinsing the soap
off the van with sandy water and a rag.  So now the van looks like
stainless steel.  Its quite cool looking.  The kid was stupid, but
consistent.

Moral of the story:  The clear coat is fragile. Don't try this at
home.

- Laurence

----------------------------------------
 Laurence Smith
 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
 90 Westy / 90 Subie 2.2 (in progress)
 87 GL / 91 Subie 2.2
----------------------------------------

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List
> [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
> Of Eric M. Ginney
> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 11:42 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: driver's side; clear coat paint peeling; 1989 GL
>
>
> How deeee!
>
> Been sittin here readin and listenin for some time.  Much
> thanks for all the
> brainpower rollin across these messages.  I have a
> pondering for yall:
>
>
> I have an 89 GL (white with pinstripes) westy and was
> getting ready to do
> some work on the fridge so pulled the flue vent off.  Then
> decided to
> replace the utility hatches after the ABS stub on the city
> water intake
> broke (and the electric plug door was laready gone....).
> So I pulled the
> utility ports, and then it began to rain.  And snow.  So I
> covered all
> openings with heavy plastic and painters tape.  I tested
> the tape on the
> flue vent area and deemed it no worries to the paint (note:
> this proves to
> NOT be the place to test tape's properties).  The weather
> in northwestern WA
> continued and the holidays and my 9 month old daughter kept me busy.
>
> Plastic and tape reside on van (in fine fashion I should
> add) for 2 months.
>
> Last weekend.  SOME Sun.  50 degrees. Daughter content.
> Time to work on
> Van.  I pulled tape off the flue vent without a problem
> (note: vent is
> located above the clear coat area).  Then the utility
> ports, and.....bummer.
> Losing clear coat in a big way (like, all the clear coat
> under the tape,
> dude).  Anyway, not a total surprise as there are a few
> spots on the drivers
> side that have already lost the clear coat (area between
> door and rear 1/4
> panel, but below the pinstripe/lateral line of van is only
> area with this
> clear coat--appears to be some sort of coating special for
> only for the area
> near the LPG and hookups ).
>
> So, enough rambling: what is the question here?  Well, who
> out there has
> this clear coat on their van?  I have been looking at every
> Westy I can, and
> it is not consistent.
> Have you had a loss of clear coat in this area?  Any
> disasters?  Beyond
> cosmetics, should I care?
>
> Basically I don't want any paint/rust issues. The area is
> already discolored
> (a bit more yellow/brown than the rest of our Westy's
> pretty wihite), and I
> would hate to actually lose paint, etc.
>
>
> Comments, questions, rotten fruit..............
>
> Eric
>
> '89 Westy GL
> Bellingham WA
>