I've been watching this section of paint on the fender of my truck get worse and worse. All around it the paint feels smooth and normal. The discolored section feels rough, almost like the clearcoat is gone. When I bought the truck (1 year ago), all of this looked like new. Anyone have any ideas what this could be? any solutions to bring it back to life?

Thanks all, you guys saved me on the Spark Plug Tuneup! Broke 5 of 8 but the Lisle tool saved the day!

 

It looks like the clear coat is gone. My bosses white car had the same issue and it looked the same. We wet sanded the spot, spreayed the clear coat, then wet saded it again. It came out ok looking.

 

It is called oxidization and it will get bigger. I agree with the previous post about how to fix it. Once you are done and it looks good, polish and wax the vehicle. Hope it isn't too late.

 

To me, it looks like clear coat failure

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...-Photo-Archive

 

I believe that clear-coat failure and oxidization are the same! Bottom line is that it will get worse over time so anyone experiencing this problem in its infancy should fix it.

 

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...y-archive.html

There's another link. Oxidation can be remedied and is mainly in single stage paints. Clear coat-failure is just that, total failure of the paint system. NOT the same thing. With clear coat failure, the base layer of paint is being exposed in the affected area, while the rest of the paint is still under the clear.