Paint discoloration after vinyl wrap removal
 

Hey guys. I decided to unwrap my vinyl roof wrap after it being on there ~3 years, as it was starting to show its age. I'm attaching some images of what I discovered underneath the wrap, so far I've tried a few things in efforts to correct whatever happened under there. The following are the steps I have taken.

-Clay bar and quick detailer
-Meguiars Deep Crystal + Foam applicator
-DA polisher with white pad and 205
-DA polisher with orange pad and 105
-DA polisher with microfiber cutting disc and 105
-Gave up with seemingly no positive results


Beyond the overall yellow hue the roof has picked up, there are also darker yellow spots that you can identify in the pictures. The other picture shows where my roof antenna was that shows the difference in paint color. The plastic antenna cover was also paint matched to the car and suffered the same yellowing affect underneath the vinyl wrap. The wrap used was Avery SW900 and surface prepared with Griot's Garage paint prep followed by 80% isopropyl alcohol.



Does anyone have solutions or a clue to what has happened to the paint? is this paint oxidation?


https://i.imgur.com/PRli8uw.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/ICYUWDJ.jpg

I'm guessing some kind of solvent leaking from the vinyl or whatever was used to prep before wrapping.
I had brake fluid get on my paint and it looked like it was the same as what happened here but darker and no yellow hue because it was a bright red paint. It actually just went away on it's own after a couple weeks.
The only other time seeing something like that on a painted surface was on a pool deck I did where the customer used a citric acid cleaner on it and yellowed in the same way yours looks like.
If it is some kind of solvent that got into the paint maybe it just needs time to dry out of it. How long has the vinyl been off?

Thanks for replying, the vinyl was removed today and has been in the garage since. Been a long while since I did the job but I'm pretty confident I let everything dry adequately after the prep with the Griot's paint prep and isopropyl alcohol. I'll cross my fingers on letting it air out and resolve itself but I don't see it happening.

Did a search and I can't find anybody having issues with vinyl discoloring paint after removal and the alcohol seems safe if it isn't let to sit on the paint.
That looks spotty and the alcohol and Griot prep would probably be streaky discoloring if it did anything.
Something trapped in there before wrapping that was sprayed on or something that dripped on the vinyl and somehow ate it's way in.

Only thing that I could find for yellow spots after doing a real thorough search now is rail dust(which it is not that) and this: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1015277
Could be whoever installed the wrap might have used something cheaper that bled something into the paint or did you buy and install the vinyl yourself? If you still have the vinyl and didn't install it,
be sure to keep some and maybe send to the manufacturer and verify it's really theirs and your installer didn't pull a fast one.

Yeah, that seems to be the only post I was able to find as well. I did the prep and install myself in my garage, the vinyl was from metrorestyling.com. I found some of the excess vinyl in my closet and the backing isn't marked with any brand. I'll contact Avery and see if they will check it out for me.

You might try some isopropyl alcohol, to see if it would dissolve whatever is discoloring the paint - :iono:


humfrz

For sure, I'll pick some more up after work tomorrow and try it out.

Get it out of the garage and into the sun. The UV light may do wonders.

I think my paint discoloration went away from being in the sun too. It wasn't garaged at the time and the stains were not coming out with anything but they just disappeared gradually.
I'd get a UV light and let it sit on an area for a while to see if it is the trick. Something like this is always handy to have and it's cheap:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008133KB4...0-39d562a2f7fe

Tried some 70% isopropyl, didn't seem to do anything. Also tried some dawn dish washing soap in a small area to act as a degreaser in case it was oils or something. Didn't scrub it in very hard or leave it on long but that didn't seem to do anything either. My car mostly lives outside and is in a parking garage when I commute to work so it won't be getting as much UV as I'd like to test that theory, I'll pick up a light and try that out.


Thanks for all the suggestions, everybody.

Get some polishing compound. If that does not remove it the stain in impregnated in the paint/clear coat. Only option is repaint or put the Vinyl back on.

Word. I tried with my DA polisher and Meguiars 105, but I didn't push it too far as I didn't see any immediate results. If the UV penetration as others suggested doesn't seem to be doing anything I might give it a more aggressive go with that or just re wrap it.

I'd give TCoats idea a try, I've seen discoloration on pearlescent paint go away after a week in the sun before.

Looks like you bois were right, some time in the sun and it completely corrected itself. Thanks for all the help.

whoopee!

That sun can do wonders.

Works both ways though. I noticed over the weekend my door handles have faded and become "Spottty". They almost look like they have a plastic film over them that has pulled loose. Hmmm, maybe I need to check that.

Also, my headlights have begun to fog over. Was barely perceptible on the top edges two months ago, now it's spread to where it's noticeable.

Oh without a doubt. At least the modern two level colour and clear coat stands up longer than the old single coat enamels did. The cars pre about 1990 all could be grossly faded out in only 4 or 5 years.

Yea, after about 5 years my red '85 MR2 was a lovely shade of pink from the Florida sun.