So, do all new cars automatically come with clear coat nowadays? If so, since when? I know it used to be an "available" option.

People pay thousands of dollars for new cars now but few seem to polish/wax anymore, relying on the car wash and clear coat.

Not to mention head-light lenses. Car manufacturers got away with cheap plastic head-light lenses which degraded due to UV light, I guess, severely reducing/blocking the light from the headlights, really reducing visibility, both ways. Next time you are in a parking lot at the mall or grocery store just notice how badly dulled the head-light lenses on older cars are, compared to newer cars. There should be a recall and replacement of all of them. 3M makes a series of excellent lens restorers, but they really should not be necessary!

OK, I'll get down off my soapbox now

Good topic! Spring cleaning is coming up as well.

Clear coat has been around since at least the 80's. Most show cars...trailer queens, not drivers...do not have it but also don't see any grit and usually just get clay barred from time to time. They get their perfect look from wet sanding, maybe some polishing. They also spend 10's of thousands of dollars on the paint and many, many, many coats for wet sanding that normally driven cars don't have and isn't feasible. Clear coat takes on that role so the car doesn't require so many layers of paint. You can still wet sand a car, but not many times and probably not best if the car is older and still on it's original paint and clear coat. If the clear is too thin from wear, you can quickly penetrate the paint and reach primer or metal.

Clear coat has been brilliant for cars that are actually driven. Sure it dulls with micro-abrasions, but that's easily dealt with. It's like a sacrificial layer on your car that lasts a lot longer than just paint. If it gets dull over the years from neglect, restore it!
-Dawn wash it to strip any remaining wax.
-Clay bar with plenty of lube spray. You will be SURPRISED what good this will do for the look, even before doing anything else. Put your hand in a thin ziplock bag and lightly rub your paint in various places. If you feel the bumps from grit, it needs clay barring. Look up how to do that properly and always split the clay so if you drop one piece you can chunk it (never use it again) and use the next piece. Keep kneading the clay as you go.
-Use a good detailing rubbing compound like from 3M to resurface the clear coat and work out any scratches you can. Don't over do it. It will be looking even better. Use hand, orbital or polisher. Results may vary, but even by hand will still do a great job if you take your time.
-Use a good polish to restore the smooth surface, rubbing compound is the heavy grit sandpaper, then you need a good polish to like a fine sandpaper. This is where the reflection comes back. Ditto about hand, orbital or polisher.
-Use a good paint sealant/protectant to protect the whole thing and give it a bit deeper color.
-Use a good carnauba wax to finish it off.

Now keep the car washed from now on, using ONLY car wash soap, no more Dawn or you have to start over with the protectants and wax.
In the heat of the summer, the wax will get washed away, so reapply. Every so often reapply the sealant.
A weekend of care goes a long way and can benefit you for YEARS. Clear coat is incredibly useful and tougher than just paint.


Headlights: over the years they do lose their UV protection. Using those restorers is great, but if you aren't reapplying the UV protection every couple of weeks, it will quickly cloud up again, causing you to start over. You just can't add the level of UV protection those headlights come with from manufacturing.
Just a fact of how headlights are now. Unfortunately, when I had older cars with glass headlights, a stray rock would crack them and introduce moisture much easier than modern cars with plastic housing. Also, you had to swap out the entire lamp, and it happened every couple of years...as the light slowly got dimmer and dimmer until failing or being so dim they were useless. Modern headlights maintain their light intensity much longer, they're much brighter and when they go out, you can replace just the bulb, usually under $20, instead of the whole light. That also allows cars to have interesting looking headlights, making them a design feature.
No idea about the new LED headlights though, I see a lot of new cars that already have them going out and I find that unnerving.

LOL

A few years ago I bought a '91 Tbird Supercoupe. It had little black circle tabs here and there in hidden places around the car. The lady I bought it from said the dealer claimed it was some kind of system that prevented rust by sending a current through the car. I'd never heard of it. Sounded like BS to me, I never found a control unit for sending "current", or figured out what those dots were really made of. Damn if the car still had zero rust, even after a few years in Indiana. Maybe there was something to it. LOL
I use rust prohibiter sticks in my fishing gear, but no electricity required. I do know that those work.

Unfortunately, electricity INCREASES oxidation rates when we6t.

Also when w37

W4a7?

the new HID headlight bulbs are hellishly expensive, just FYI

Sounds like she was talking about sacrificial electrodes ("zincs") like you find on boats. The only current involved is dissimilar metals electrolysis, but zinc gives up its electrons easier than any other metal AFAIK so your aluminum (which also gives its electrons up very easily, though not nearly as easily as zinc) radiator & cylinder heads, etc, don't corrode away to nothing on you. I assume they react more readily with the sodium & calcium in road salt than other metals in the car, too.

Hmm, maybe? They were about the size of a nickel, I assume punched through the metal, like at the door, inner fenders so they would be under the hood...places water might stand I guess.
I miss that car.

People don't "rely" on the clearcoat as a way of getting along without washing or waxing etc.

Most people do not know or care about paint systems or even understand what clearcoat is

People do not wash or wax because they view their cars as just tools or they simply don't care if it ishiny or protected.

Rust is caused by an electrical circuit and salt helps conduct electricity better and is why it causes more rust. Those things you can buy break the circuit to stop rusting but from what I read they don't work.

http://www.carsdirect.com/car-maintenance/clear-coat-car-paint-understanding-the-pros-and-cons

"Clear coat car paint is paint or resin with no pigments and hence imparts no color to the car. It’s simply a layer of clear resin that is applied over colored resin. Almost 95 percent of all vehicles manufactured today have a clear coat finish. Contrary to popular belief, car waxing is required periodically, even if a car has been painted with clear coat, in order to keep it in pristine condition. It’s easy to spot the difference between an auto that’s detailed regularly and one that isn’t. Although both have a clear coat finish."