Jim Wyrosdick Via e-mail

Question:

You would be wise to determine why the paint that’s currently on the car is peeling off in areas. The most common causes are underlying rust or poor surface preparation prior to application of the paint. Other possible causes include defective paint, a mistake in the way the paint products were mixed, excessive moisture and/or very cold temperatures when the paint was applied, incompatibility between the paint and undercoats, and incompatibility between the paint and the car’s body material.

If you don’t figure out why the old paint is peeling, you run a serious risk that the new paint will do the same thing.

You can fix the areas where the paint is peeling yourself but the results will probably not be particularly pleasing if you use a can of spray paint. If you remove all of the loose paint, fix whatever caused the paint to peel in the first place, sand the bare areas to feather them into the surrounding paint, and do a skillful job of spraying on the primer and paint, it will certainly look better than paint that’s peeling, but definitely will not look as good as a professional repaint.