What's happening to my car's paint?????
 

Recently (~1 week) I noticed some spots on my car's paint. The paint is becoming dull while the spots are clear. Rubbing with my bare hand makes it nice and shiny again but some of the paint stays on my finger.. what the?

I had it detailed (no wax) and its looked nice and shiny for about a day or two then again the same... Pics attached. Can I save it from further damage?
It's '98 LX

Re: What's happening to my car's paint?????
 

clear coat failure. you need a whole new paint job. paint on a clear coated car should never rub off unless the clear is gone and the paint is damaged.

Re: What's happening to my car's paint?????
 

let me guess acura legend same thing happened to my old legend it looked just like that. its from lack of up keep on the paint.

Re: What's happening to my car's paint?????
 

Your clear coat is gone. You can mask off the car, buy some clear coat in cans (unless you have air spray equipment), and spray the clear coat on. If you do it yourself, it shouldn't cost more that a couple of hundreds.

Re: What's happening to my car's paint?????
 

go to harbor freight, buy a variable speed sander/polisher ($40) and some compounding pads. Buy Meguiars ultimate polish. This one only. Try polishing it up before you go spraying anything, you'd be surprised you can do with some compounding. Then polish it and wax it if your successful. If not then you already have the equipment and the practice to compound and polish when you redo the clear.

Re: What's happening to my car's paint?????
 

Update:
I had the car washed, not detailed as I mentioned before. The paint is generally dull but after rubbing with my finger the surface becomes nice'n'shiny and a lot of black sticky dirt stays on my skin. I guess the cheap carwash doesn't do much cleaning after all... but at least makes those "clean spots" go away.
Btw, the paint that stays on my finger that I mentioned in my first message comes from an area where there's a scratch and it doesn't happen everywhere.

I've had the car washed about a week ago and I noticed those "clear spots" showing up again... smaller in the beginning but they enlarge with time, especially after sun/temperature exposure. The "clear spots" are sticky and I noticed that they are all over my car, not just the paint... even on the windows! See the attached photo.

Weird... it feels like some kind of resin. I park the car usually under trees to protect it from sun exposure so maybe those spots come from them?

Unfortunately I don't have time to spend on deep-cleaning the car so I'll have it detailed; I don't want all this dirt to damage the paint longterm.

Re: What's happening to my car's paint?????
 

That's fall out from the trees you park under. Sap or pollen or something. It will take a lot of work to remove it. Be prepared for a large bill from the detailer.

Re: What's happening to my car's paint?????
 

Sounds like the clear is gone/going. You can make it look better in the sort term but clay barring it then buffing. But if the clear is bad it won't last long and will only look good for a couple weeks at most. New paint job is in order :( gl mate

Re: What's happening to my car's paint?????
 

If it were the clear coat it wouldn't be affecting the windows. It obviously something from above the car. Since he parks under trees, that is most likely where it is coming from.

Re: What's happening to my car's paint?????
 

Hmm..that is a very good point. Well if it's not the clear coat and it IS infact something coming from above...you have a lot of clay barring to do lol