that is quite a commitment, and a beast of a van. hope it goes well and is worth it to you long-term!

 

Here's what I did to try and save the hood on mine for a while longer.

 

I don't care about the hood that much. Hoods can easily be replaced or repainted. I'm more worried about the rockers and side panels rusting away.

 

When I had my 2007 I think I read it was the Canadian factory thing. Anyway,I was broke after paying cash for the van. Peeling seemed to me to start with moisture getting between primer and paint. Never seen a white cargo van with clear coat.
My solution was 400 grit wet sanding and 3 cans of appliance epoxy from Walmart.
Since the peel was only above windshield and hood I only really had to tape off around glass.
Never peeled in the next year in Colorado so it prevented new peels. Just use light coats til you cover that gray primer.btw, black paint was appliance epoxy too

 

I just recently moved cross country. My hood had been peeling here or there, as well as large patches on top above the windshield, and around the front two doors.

One of the reasons I bought a white van, was because Olympic White was easily available at all auto parts stores in spray can.

So before my big move, I taped off where I needed to, put on several layers of Oly White, with sanding in between coats, then finally I got a can of clear gloss and put a couple of coats of that on top.

I still have a tiny bit peeling here or there on the hood, but fixing it is no big deal.

I am still pissed off at the "Oh-so high-quality" paint jobs. Heck, I was driving down the street in the city I moved to just the other day and saw a van with a bald hood. Looked like ***.

Thanks a lot, Chevy, for sucking in the paint department.

 

It's not very difficult guys. That is if you just want the bare metal primed and locked down. This is not a perfect paint match. I have 2006 1500 van and am not looking for perfection, driving the van into ground basically. Just get some 100 grit sandpaper and sand until the paint stops peeling, not too much effort, Then brush on white rustoleum primer, I bought a quart and that was too much. Do not paint in direct sunlight! The color match is somewhat close when looking at up close. But from a distance not bad! Any areas done have held up quite well and would/will not hesitate to do again if need to.BTW, I am a painter by profession so it was any easy task for me, since I do this work all the time (unfortunately). .

 

From what I've seen, the primer is just fine. It's the color coat that peels. I would never, EVER, sand down to bare metal and remove the primer. GM factories have enormous vats so they can submerge the entire van body in a chemical bath to passivate the metal. They have big expensive equipment for electrostatically bonding the primer to the metal. You will never be able to match the quality of the primer treatment from the auto plant. It's not just my opinion either. This is what auto body shops say too.

I've seen other guys fix up their Chev/GMC vans at home with rattle can solutions. I've heard all the advice... epoxy paint blah blah. It always looks like a home job. If I ever get this peeling problem happening badly, I'm just going bite the bullet and pay a professional.

 

I had mine stripped and repainted professionally. The peeling started with the rear door in 2011. I had the door removed and sanded to bare metal, reprimed and resprayed. It held up good -- but the rest of the van went to hell over the next 7 years. So I took it back and got several quotes on sanding and respraying the entire van. It was explained to me the ePrimer is the problem. Mine started peeling more and getting surface rust in the drip rails and then migrated to the top and side panels. I read somewhere the top sheetmetal panel isn't galvanized like the side panels. Makes sense if you look at these photos.

The shop had to sand, seal, re-prime and re-spray with a base and clear coat.

 

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If you are a diyer sand down to smooth edges with say 240 then 400 grit. Then use appliance epoxy. And it won't peel again. Will post pic at end of thread

 

@Bonnie in CT
You're in the wrong forum