BluegrassMotorsport

Howdy y'all. I have what may or may not be an odd situation. I had my 1977 painted a few years back. A few weeks later, the paint on the entire top of the car bubbled. Small, barely noticeable bubbles. The painter honored the issue and resprayed the car for free. A few weeks later, the same thing happened again. This time the bubbles were wider, albeit still not very noticeable (I attribute that to the lighter paint color). The painter said that sometimes, the fiberglass can become contaminated which essentially makes the car unpaintable without the bubbles appearing again.

Here's the dilemma. The man who painted my car is a world-class restorer. I would say more NCRS certified cars have come out of his shop than anyone else in the country. Remember the '55, '56', and '57 serial number #001's that were sold at Barrett-Jackson this year? He restored those himself. In short, the man knows his Corvettes. But I'm skeptical. Before his mention of this "contamination," I have never heard mention of this sort of problem before. Since then, there has been a significant amount of cracking in the paint around the bumpers and panel edges. He says my car is hopeless. I think I'm getting the run-around by someone who doesn't want to deal with my car.

So, what do you guys think? I ask because I'm on the fence about keeping my car. If I do, I'm going to do a larger restoration by a different restorer. But I don't want to dump money in another paint job if this "contamination" story turns out to be true.

The13Bats

I have two trains of thought on this,

I have been into vettes, fiberglass buggies and kit cars over 35 years and never once seen one / heard of one deemed "unpaintable hopeless", nope, I am not any shop owner or anything like that but I would think with all the cars and people I have been around I would have ran into at least one unpaintable hopeless car,

With that said I have seen oil/gas/chemical soaked fiberglass that would have made me think it couldn't have been painted....but it wasn't on a car that was getting painted.

Would that painter have called the '55, '56', and '57 serial number #001's" "hopeless" or some factory L-88 or ZR-1 hopeless ?

I also know sadly from personal experience with shop owners I know that your statementCan be very true no matter what some would like us to believe and I have no idea if the guy who did yours is giving you the run as round or not but it will hard to convince me that your car is unpaintable hopeless and this isn't a case of the fellow is just tired of it.

530planeman

I had a 75 that had a left front fender that way and finally found previous owner used some bad resin on a repair that kept lifting the paint .The other option is strip it all the way down as I did here on my 70 With soda cleaning or take to another shop for assessment
Good luck
Wes

fishslayer143

Was it chemical stripped before the first paint job? If a stripper not designed for fiberglass was used improperly, the solvents can stay in the fiberglass.. it will cause problems when the sun heats the paint.. it needs to be restripped all the way and washed with laquer thinner thoroughly, then left in the hot sun for days before prep work begins..... or , if its been painted with the basecoats too quickly not allowing complete drying, then clearcoated, or if the basecoat was not activated correctly, or activator was old, causing basecoat not to dry completely, it will do that as well, because the base will never dry, the hot sun causes lift.....but to just say its unpaintable is a dodge in my opinion... never saw a car at my shop that was unpaintable with the correct prep. good luck

76C3forme

Sorry, I don't mean to hijack, but since the O.P. 's thread is about contamination, I thought it might be helpful to keep this question in this original post instead of creating a new one.

Would contamination from something like Oil, Transmission fluid, greasy dirt, etc be cleaned the same way??

I haven't seen many topics regarding contamination and I've always wondered about cleaning fiberglass (before applying primer sealer). On my particular car (currently in primer), I have what appears to be "hand marks, smudges" around the drive door handle area from a previous owner who would do engine work for example, then open the door, start the car etc. There is a also a small smudge on the t-top.

Thanks for redvette77 for asking this question. Although I'm not ready for paint as of yet, I've been wondering about how to clean a few spots on my car early and allowing it to "sit" to make sure it's ready to seal / prime then paint.

Looking forward to the suggestions posted here.

DUB

FOR WHAT THIS IS WORTH:

The 'credentials' of this painter for me means nothing. I am NOT 'saying' that he does not know what he is doing...BUT I wonder if what he is applying is the correct material for this type of body material. BECAUSE...your 1977 DOES NOT have the same body composition as that of the '55,'56 and '57 you commented on. Seeing how none of what was used or applied to your car was listed..it is hard to say.

I use a chemical stripper that is NOT specifically LABELED for fiberglass...but that does not matter if you know what you are doing with the chemical stripper. SO...it does depends on what was used and the process of how it was cleaned off as stated by 'fishslayer143'.

IF a Corvette is in primer and it gets oil, smudged and basically contaminated with crap. then YES...it needs to be washed and cleaned before ANY prep work for any other product to be applied. And even though it is done a lot....driving around with car in primer is just allowing for future problems to show up. The type of primer applied CAN make a difference.

BARE GLASS...well that is even worse. Protecting the bare fiberglass at all costs IF work is being done on it that may cause for it to become contaminated. The time spent protecting your bare fiberglass is MUCH LESS than a catastrophic contamination issue that you have to clean up....and even if it is a spot the size of a quarter...you would be amazed on the amount of time you will have to spend and WISH you had taken the time to protect it.

There are cases where a cars panel is UNPAINTABLE as it is BY ITSELF...and that is KNOWN by the issue GM has in some of the SMC panels where the part was not made correctly and paint will pop off. Because....primer can only stick to a substrate that WILL allow it to adhere.

I seriously doubt that your car had 'solvent popping'...because the few time it bit me...it happened rather quickly..and did not take days to show up.

Although many have used it...I would stay far from soda blasting. And if you think I am crazy..call the paint company and ask them if they warranty paint that has been applied on a panel that was soda blasted.

'redvette77'
QUESTION: Are you covering you Corvette with a car cover????

If YES...are you covering it outside????

And...due to your Public Profile not being filled out...even if you just generalize your location...this sometimes helps in offering advice.

DUB

BluegrassMotorsport

I am covering my Corvette with a car cover, both when it is kept outside and when it is kept inside. My apologies for my profile, I thought it was public. I'm in Eastern Kentucky.

Thank you to all who have given input so far. it is greatly appreciated.

4-vettes

I had a black 77 a few years back. Had issues with the hood. Painted it 3 times. Every Time the paint lifted and bubbled.only fix was to replace the hood. We think maybe oil got soaked into the glass.

Rfdsjeremy

Hi DUB,


How would you recommend protecting Bare Glass? I have a 1976 that the previous owner got way too aggressive with the electric sander when removing the paint and so most of the care is now bare fibreglass. I'm going to start the rebuild soon, however I really want to protect the glass from contamination. Is there anything I can spray it with to protect it?


Thanks mate.

DUB

PROBABILITY IS HIGH...

HONESTLY....I would NOT cover it. ESPECIALLY if it is outside. The cover can be causing this problem. REGARDLESS if the car cover company says that the cover 'breathes'...well it actually causes for air circulation to be hampered and thus...moisture and get trapped and cause things to blister.

Car covers require MAINTENANCE when used outside...and that also depends on what type of surface the car is parked on. SO...covering your car and allowing it to get rained on and still sit for days AFTER the rain came and went....the water that is under the car is evaporating...and getting INTO the car and under the panels..and the car cover which is usually pulled down to the ground will not allow good air flow/circulation...and then when the car gets hot...the moisture rises and can effect the underside of the top surface panels.

I had a customer who signed the statement that I make people sign when I paint their car and it has to do with NO CAR COVERS unless they are inside a garage. Well..they use done and in a few months....a perfectly good paint job that had no problems began to blister due to the car being covered and neglected. AND the interior screws ALL began to RUST...and the inside began to smell musty.

SO...if a person is going to use a car cover outside....remove it from time to time especially AFTER it rains and let the car breathe...open the doors and leave the cover off until it is dry.

And if any of you feel that I am full of crap...which is fine if you do....then if you do have an outside car cover...take it and hold your hand behind the fabric and blow like crazy at it and feel how LITTLE air actually get through the fabric and then you can decide if what I am writing has any merit.

LASTLY..one very good indicator that this is causing the problem..and it is not 100%...but it is up there. Usually these fine bubbles are on the high side of panels...so below the center body line in the door will still be perfect....and USUALLY urethane bumpers will not be effect as quickly due to not being as porous as the body material..and the fuel door and headlight doors may also not be effected. Living in an area of the country where HUMIDITY and high temps are common during the summer...then this can accelerate the issue also.

Making sure that it is begin stored in an environment that does not allow outside weather influences to get it on it is one thing. The photo you posted looks pretty good..but you know best.

And then..go to a paint and body supply store and get a plastic car cover that is used when painted is being done and 'bag' the car. Or make your own out of plastic.

With your car being inside...and hopefully the inside of your garage does not get wet due to moisture and humidity...then covering it with this plastic cover will be OK. BUT....ONLY YOU know the conditions of your garage...just like I know mine. SO I have no worries about using plastic to bag off a car if needed when it is in the raw fiberglass state.

And common sense does come into play here...and I hate to write this stuff...but I feel I ahve to.......where as if you applied a plastic cover and removed it after some work was done on another car, etc using oils, silicone, tire shine, etc. Common sense would dictate that you BETTER know what side of the plastic was the inside ..and what side was the outside...so IF you use it again and then by accident... turn it over... and NOW the outside of the plastic that may be contaminated is now allowing that crap to get on your car.

DUB

Rfdsjeremy

Thanks DUB. I live in the middle of the Australian Outback, so thankfully it's pretty dry out here.


I appreciate the advice, and I'm sure we'll chat again in the future. As you can see, I have a lot of work ahead of me.

fishslayer143

yes , you can clean it with solvents or grease removers.. Prep wash available at any auto paint store ...best to keep any bare glass primed til ready for paint prep

fishslayer143

and I too doubt he has the rare smc defective panels

The13Bats

This is a great informative thread with lots of great opinions, I am intrigued that no one is calling the OP car "hopeless" except the painter who very well may know he dropped the ball, I have seen it first hand over and over many times people in the service world will blame others, the customer or whatever rather than swallowing ego and admitting they are human.

sad part is I do not however feel that anyone can prove beyond doubt what caused the paint issues on the OP's car, it's all great educated guessing, but at least his car isn't hopeless.

As for car covers it's known they can and do cause damage but to say 100% of damaged paint is the result of car covers is not something I will subscribe to because after nearly 4 decades of messing with all kinds of vehicles I have seen a few damaged when neglected and left covered but I have seen far more covered cars not show any signs of damage as a result of being covered, and cars not covered showing all kinds of paint issues.
Covers are simply not the only reason cars have paint problems.

BBCorv70

I had to keep my Corvette outdoors for a few years. Put a car cover on it, left it on throughout the winter. Snow accumulated, then ice, which didn't let the cover breathe. The paint on my lower windshield trim chipped off as well as paint on the fender grilles. I have many small bubbles in the paint on the T-Tops and on other surfaces as DUB described.

DUB, if I have this car repainted, will the bubbles come back? I'm wondering if the fiberglass was damaged in some way. Or were the bubbles caused by excess moisture, once dried OK?

76C3forme

Thanks very much for the info. I'd rather clean it early (an often! if needed) and allow it to sit , dry out etc, before I'm actually ready for paint...

DUB

I would assume that IF the paint was striped off..and the raw panel was dried out using heat lamps or infrared heater...I feel that you should be OK and just not do what you did that caused it.

The 'key' for me...would be when the paint was being removed..I LITERALLY would be at the surface with my jewelers loupe and looking at the paint when it was coming off an see if I can find the layer that bubbled..so I know if the moisture did not make it to the body...but got into the paint/primer layers and blistered.

Thanks for asking for may advice..but also understand that I do not have all the answers due to so many variables can come into play...so this is when you can do some very close inspection and try to make the best decision possible.

DUB

BluegrassMotorsport

This has been a very informative discussion. Thank you gentlemen for your insight. I appreciate all of you and I will look at other restoration shops if I choose to keep the ole girl.