Bear with me, as I know very little about painting and restoration but has anyone had success restoring these hood cowl inlet air ducts (or whatever their official name is) and fender flares? As you can see, my passenger side paint has taken a bit of a beating. I'd love to restore them or at least get them in better shape but I have no clue where to start. Curious if anyone else has experience with this or am I better off just finding a paint-matched replacement and swapping mine out?

 

it just looks like bad clear. you can practice on the cap (its removable) then if you feel ready then tackle the fender you can sand the bad clear with a 400 and feather the edges as not to have hard lines. then clean and prep the surface. they sell 2k clear at the auto store. if you can also get a spray can of blender then it may help the new clear fade into the old. there are plenty of videos on how to correct failed clear. not all require blending agent.

 

Hummer H3's don't have a clear coat (at least not the Black, don't know about the blue). The problem is that the fenders and the cowls are plastic, and the paint deteriorates in the sun. I have the same issue with my right rear fender, left front render, and left cowl. I bought some GM aerosol matching paint, and when I get a nice day, I'm going to repaint those pieces. Check for your color code, and then do a google search.

 

Are you sure about this? My black 2010 has clear coat deteriorated on the roof.

 

oxidation.

 

Appreciate the recommendations. I started looking into the color-matched aerosol base and clear coat cans but I think it might make more sense to start with hummerz's oxidation removal suggestion instead of jumping straight to repainting it.

@650Hawk definitely let everyone know how it turns out with the color-matched spray. It's possible that I will have to go down that route eventually. I'll be pretty excited if whatever method I go with turns out well though. Then I feel like I will convince myself to do every single fender as well as the fender liners after that lol

 

I did a bit of research when I bought my OEM paint. The 2008 black H3's do not have clear coat. Can't say about other colors or years. Clear coat deterioration looks like peeling, while non-clear coat deterioration looks like the OP's paint; similar to oxidation and/or wear.

 

Sorry 650Hawk, usually you are on the money with your comments.

Every vehicle that left the Shreveport, Louisiana plant had a basecoat/clearcoat exterior finish regardless of the color.
Think of it this way. During production the assembly plant would have to shut down the entire paint production line to paint a vehicle differently. This does happen for special order colors (like state or county road crews) but those are scheduled to run on the same day @ the same time. IF you find production photos from the Shreveport plant the H3, H3T, Canyon and Colorado all rolling on the same line with different colors.
We have owned 2 black H3/H3Ts (2008 H3 Alpha OffRoad & 2009 H3T Alpha OffRoad) and they both had PPG basecoat/clearcoat paint.

If you understand the painting process a vehicle with strictly "paint" would require so much more work post spraying to achieve the same "luster" and shine as a basecoat/clearcoated vehicle.

 

Interesting; guess I'll have to look deeper into this before I paint. I'm more familiar with clearcoat kinda peeling, whereas the OP's pics (and my fenders/cowl) is definitely not peeling, but more of a fade/oxidation.

 

the faded discoloration is still the clearcoat failing it is exactly the same as with headlights.
do those areas look better after getting wet?