Fibreglass or Paint Problem - Help Please
Discussion
Long story so please bare with me.
I decided to pull the cover off my car today to fire her up and just let her growl for a while. To my horror the paint on the body has blistered. Hundreds of little blisters.
The local bodyshop tell me that they can strip it back and do a full re-paint. "OK" I say. "Ah" they say "but we can't give you any guarantee on the job". "Why?" I say, "because there is a chance that the blistering is due to moisture in the fibreglass" they say. "****" I say.
They wouldn't believe the paint was 5 years old (at least thats what I was told by the guy I bought the car from). They said it would have blistered long before now.
Another forum member has told me he experienced this same problem 3 years after his car was painted but only 1 week after he bought a waterproof cover for it.
So in short I am seeking any help/advice from glass fibre bodyshell owners who may have expert knowledge or have experienced a similar problem.
Firstly, how can I be sure that the moisture is in the fibreglass and not just under the top coat paint? As you can imagine I don't want to pay for a whole new paint job to find the blistering comes back in a few months.
Secondly, if it does just need a new paint job, can someone recommend a good paintshop (preferably in the South) and what price should I expect to pay.
Cheers
Chris
I decided to pull the cover off my car today to fire her up and just let her growl for a while. To my horror the paint on the body has blistered. Hundreds of little blisters.
The local bodyshop tell me that they can strip it back and do a full re-paint. "OK" I say. "Ah" they say "but we can't give you any guarantee on the job". "Why?" I say, "because there is a chance that the blistering is due to moisture in the fibreglass" they say. "****" I say.
They wouldn't believe the paint was 5 years old (at least thats what I was told by the guy I bought the car from). They said it would have blistered long before now.
Another forum member has told me he experienced this same problem 3 years after his car was painted but only 1 week after he bought a waterproof cover for it.
So in short I am seeking any help/advice from glass fibre bodyshell owners who may have expert knowledge or have experienced a similar problem.
Firstly, how can I be sure that the moisture is in the fibreglass and not just under the top coat paint? As you can imagine I don't want to pay for a whole new paint job to find the blistering comes back in a few months.
Secondly, if it does just need a new paint job, can someone recommend a good paintshop (preferably in the South) and what price should I expect to pay.
Cheers
Chris
Which car is this for Chris?
My Tiv body was stored under tarp for a winder during the ongoing rebuild, and when lifted there were thousands of little bubbles in the paint. First of all, don't touch them or the paint will start cracking and peeling! I've been told that this was a problem with the air supply at TVR back in the 70's not being completely dry, so little pockets of moisture were formed under the paint. Bare GRP does absorb some moisture too, so when it gets cold the moisture comes to the surface in the form of these mini bubbles. As far as I know there isn't a lot you can do about it other than wait for it to warm up a bit, or go for a sand down, dry out and respray.
HTH, Tony.
My Tiv body was stored under tarp for a winder during the ongoing rebuild, and when lifted there were thousands of little bubbles in the paint. First of all, don't touch them or the paint will start cracking and peeling! I've been told that this was a problem with the air supply at TVR back in the 70's not being completely dry, so little pockets of moisture were formed under the paint. Bare GRP does absorb some moisture too, so when it gets cold the moisture comes to the surface in the form of these mini bubbles. As far as I know there isn't a lot you can do about it other than wait for it to warm up a bit, or go for a sand down, dry out and respray.
HTH, Tony.
avanti911 said:
Hi Tony,
Its a Cobra (rep) in Ford Imperial Blue. If I go for the sand down, dry out and re-spray, will I need the whole car to be done or just the affected area's? Will a good bodyshop be able to blend the new paint perfectly?
Chris
You should be able to just do the areas affected - but depending on how bad, and the difference in cost you may want to get it all done anyway, just in case. However, if you only do the bad bits a good bodyshop shouldn't have too much bother blending as Imperial Blue is relatively popular so they should have a couple of variants to choose from.
Mike
I had a very similar problem, which i have posted as a warning a few times. My TVR turned milky once when i put a cover on whilst wet and with a hot engine. I managed to effectively dry the paint out with a high powered mop.
However, continued use of the cover then caused my paintwork to craze over the surface area that the cover has contact with.
It seems that maybe fibreglass cars need to breathe more than we thought.
Good Luck, Craig
However, continued use of the cover then caused my paintwork to craze over the surface area that the cover has contact with.
It seems that maybe fibreglass cars need to breathe more than we thought.
Good Luck, Craig
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