Garage floor paint is peeling under the car tires

[ausername1]

Hmm, painted my garage floor with Kilz Garage Floor and Concrete Paint and it looks great, etc... But, it's peeling where the car is parked. All I did was power wash / bleach the floors, let dry fully, then painted the floor 2 times after letting it dry a few days between painting. Also, I waited about 10 days after final painting before I started parking in garage.

I guess there's something else you have to apply to the floor before you paint it that will make it adhere better to the concrete? Or, was I supposed to apply some type of clear coat to the paint after it was applied to the floor? It scrapes/scratches pretty easy too. You can walk on it fine with no issue but if you use much force at all or something sharp the paint will come right up.

Thanks for some wisdom

[FatimaandAhmed]

Hey, glad to hear you got the floor cleaned up and painted! Sounds like you put in a lot of effort to get it looking good.

The peeling where the car is parked is likely due to adhesion issues, which can happen if the concrete wasn’t prepped properly before painting. Even though you power washed and let it dry, concrete floors, especially garage floors, often have residual oils, old sealers, or smooth surfaces that prevent paint from bonding well.

A couple of things that might have helped:

1. Etching the concrete – Before painting, using a concrete etcher (like muriatic acid or a commercial etching solution) helps roughen up the surface so the paint grips better.
2. Using a primer – Some concrete paints require a bonding primer to help the topcoat stick.
3. Topcoat/sealer – A clear protective topcoat designed for garage floors can help with durability, especially in high-traffic areas like where your car is parked.

Also, another thing that can cause peeling in garage floor paint is something called hot tire pickup. When you drive, your tires heat up, and when you park in the garage, they cool down, which can cause the paint beneath them to soften and lift over time. Some paints are more resistant to this than others, and using a high-quality epoxy coating or adding a clear topcoat made for garage floors can help reduce this issue.

Since it’s already painted, fixing it might mean scraping off the loose paint, etching the bare spots, and then repainting with a primer first. If you’re up for it, adding a sealer afterward can also help with longevity.

Hope that helps! Frustrating, I know, but at least it’s a solvable issue.

[ausername1]

Thanks!! Yep, makes sense...... crap. Ok, let me do some lazy to value calculations and see what I come up with I'm thinking of just laying a rugged, thin carpet over the area where she parks.... And, yep, I was thinking it must have been wet tires or hot. It's 4 distinct peeled areas where the tires rest. Ah well..... And, from a non-scientific perspective this particular garage floor seemed slicker than a seals butt (as my dad would say) and so, I think the ultimate answer is of course, like always, do it right eventually and etch the floor AND top coat it. Crap......... oh well. I'm a master of lazy to value ratio and finding a way to get a good result with the least possible effort so I'll as I say it's better to think about measuring 100 different ways before making 1 cut but then avoid cutting altogether in the end

[FatimaandAhmed]

Yeah, sounds like that floor was just too smooth for the paint to really grab onto. The hot tire pickup makes sense too, classic garage floor struggle. A thin rug where the car parks could be a quick fix for now, and honestly, not a bad way to avoid dealing with the peeling every time.

But yeah, if you ever feel like tackling it again, etching and sealing would probably do the trick. At least now you know what’s needed if you ever want to go the “do it right eventually” route!