How to fix this?, Paint and oxidation Options

[jtmlb3k]

Well, some bad luck. I left my car at home while I was away at college this year, and just came home to find it in much worse shape than when I left. Apparently my sister had been driving it and "bumped into a few things." There are a few dings and such-- nothing too serious (my car's got some cosmetic issues anyways...meaning the front end is a different red than the back after the previous owner got into an accident)-- but what I can't figure out is how there are no so many paint issues: paint peeling, rust bubbles, oxidation and such.

So my question is, does anyone know how to best deal with these issues? Also, what's the best way to deal with sunfading or whatever it's called of the paint?

Any advice would be awesome. Thanks!

[Galcobar]

The peeling is straight-up clearcoat failure, you can't fix that without replacing the clear coat but you can certainly minimize the appearance. Those scrapes are pretty bad -- I notice some are through the clear, and some are down right to the metal. If you can catch a fingernail in a scrape, you won't be able to get rid of it entirely without grinding the clearcoat down to nothing around it. However, you can minimize the appearance.

These days, my recommendations for severe issues such as you're displaying is Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, followed by Ultimate Polish. The UC is a very aggressive abrasive product meant for levelling paint by hand or with a dual-action orbital polisher (but not a rotary polisher, such as a drill). It's strong enough to clean up marks left behind by 1000-grit wetsanding. The UP is a finer abrasive, meant to restore gloss, remove any hazing left behind by the UC, and restore the oils that paint loses due to exposure. For the worst areas, I'd suggest picking up a sheet each of waterproof 1000- and 1500-grit sandpaper. You can remove the rust, level the paint out, even get a touch-up application to get something over the bare metal. Of course, this will need a good coat of wax or other sealant to protect the paint afterwards.