Cosmetic for sun damage?

[Lgibson]

So, 8 years of desert sun have taken a toll on our Corris Grey LR. I know the correct fix is a new paint job. In the meantime is there something I could apply to make it look better?

 

[f1racer328]

Could do a wrap, but they're not exactly cheap. Cheaper than paint though.

Is your clearcoat failing/flaking off?

 

[powershift]

It depends on the damage, but it might look slightly less bad if you polish it and if you use good polish it has UV protection in it so conceptually it may not get worse. Did you wash it and polish it on a regular basis? My last car has UV damage from the sun and I polished it 0 times in 12 years. I also didn't wash it religiously. With my LR4 I've had it about a month and polished it 3 times so far. I've got 2 more coats I'm going to do before calling it good and then in 3 months I'll polish it again.

 

[Longtrail]

What are peoples thoughts in terms of a good polish? I tend to use Autoglym super resin polish, it's a lightweight polish:

Super Resin Polish

A legend in the world of car care, used to remove minor scuffs and scratches and to restore gloss to all types of paintwork

www.autoglym.com

Curious to learn about other good ones, like powershift I'm in the process of polishing my LR4 regularly to spiff it up.

 

[Lgibson]

Could do a wrap, but they're not exactly cheap. Cheaper than paint though.

Is your clearcoat failing/flaking off?

The clear shows no sign of flaking. It just seems to be vaporizing, probably by heat. We see that very often in the desert. It is epidemic on darker colored Chrysler Corp vans with the angled hood. Not so terrible on flat surfaces like the LR hood.

No, it was washed regularly but never waxed. My SO's daily driver.

 

[powershift]

I have used Zainobros polish since the dotcom boom. It is kind of complicated and requires a lot of effort, but it shines nicely and their products have evolved over the years. On my LR4 I used 1 coat of Z-AIO to clean and lay a base coat, then 2 coats of Z-5 to hide some swirls and next I'm doing Z-2. Their towels are amazing, the yellow/tan ones are for Z-8 the white towels are for removing polish.

 

[txfromwi]

My regime for the exterior.

Painty Bits:
Wash it
Clay it
Touch up paint as required - I'm a hack at this part...
Klasse (German made liquid wax) - 3 coats
Carnuba Wax (spray on) - 2 coats (takes out any swirls and is crazy shiny)
Graphene - 1 coat - 303 Brand
Carnuba - another 2 coats

Light Up Bits
Wax the front, rear and fog lights with a soft paste wax - 5 coats
Wax the lights again - Graphene - 1 coat

Plasticy Bits, Window "seals", Door, hood and rear "gaskets"
303 Aerospace UV protectant
(Do this before cleaning the glass - you can clean off overspray at that step)

Wheely bits
Gel wax on the rims - 1 coat
Tire Black

Glassy Bits
Krystal Vision Glass Cleaner - amazing stuff - trust me

 

[Disco2014]

I spraypaint with rubbercoating and i´m very happy with that.
If needed i just doing the ugly spots again. And thats it

 

[powershift]

I applied some Zaino Z-16 to all the exterior plastic because it has UV protection and I live in a high radiation area. There is a surprising amount of exterior plastic on the LR4 including the windsheild nozzles on the hood, headlight nozzles, ground effect panels, mirrors, the cowel thing under the wipers, bumpers and Z-16 is also a tire dressing so I did the tires too. The aspect aside from UV protection that I like is a newness effect where it darkens the material slightly without a greasy look. Its a silicon based chemical. Overall the LR4 looks good on the outside for 98k miles and 11 years old. Pictures don't do it justice.