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The car was all prepped and ready for paint until something either bumped into it or scratched the paint and now this is flaking off!
Thats not just paint or primer that flaked off... it looks like some sort of body filler was applied over some pretty rough fiberglass and it did not adhere to it well .. From the looks of it, thats an old repair from being hit. I suggest grinding that bondo away and using vette panel filler like evercoat makes. It costs more than bondo but actually adheres to the vette fiberglass/smc and is much stronger in every way while also being impervious to water. Where is this on the body? if its the rear it almost looks like where the rear marker lights should be? I had similar damage on my car when I stripped it for paint and used a lot of the vette panel adhesive/filler.
Last edited by augiedoggy; Feb 25, 2021 at 07:33 AM.
Agree with augiedoggy it is an old repair. You need to find the edges of the repaired area and remove all of it or you will have issues later. What year is it? If it is a 73 and newer, it is a SMC (sheet molding compound) panel and uses an epoxy based resin. All 72 and earlier are layup construction and use a polyester based resin. I’ve had to do a lot of re-repairs on 73-later where a polyester based resin was used over the SMC panel due to bond failures. This looks like that.
You should actually be happy that happened before paint. You would be really upset if you were admiring your new paint job and suddenly a chunk of car fell off!
It's a 1980. Body is on a dolly. We don't know who did the original bodywork. Owner paid the shop to block a d prime it and he stopped paying. I bought the car.
It's got some damage from things bumping into it in the shop, but this one looked like a serious adhesion issue to me.
Gonna peel it back as far as it goes and investigate.
On a SMC car do you guys spray reduced gelcoat or use use evercoat SMC filler?
I would be looking all over that car for signs of damage and quick patches.
The primer(?) looks like it's ready to peel in other areas.
If it was mine I would just strip it completely down before I decided to do anything else.
I would be looking all over that car for signs of damage and quick patches.
The primer(?) looks like it's ready to peel in other areas.
If it was mine I would just strip it completely down before I decided to do anything else.
I agree here... if it was repaired incorrectly in the rear theres a damn good chance theres bondo in other areas too... I painted my car and found an area I didnt pay enough attention too were a previous repair was done and no I have tiny bubbles in the paint in that spot a few years later. Wish I would have given
Last edited by augiedoggy; Feb 25, 2021 at 09:21 AM.
Excellent example of what Dub talked about cutting out "ALL" the "old" unknown repairs and fixing back so that you know you did it and how it was done. Otherwise you take a chance. Real quandry as one always hate to go that far when you discover a "lot" of patch places, so you take a chance and sometimes you get bit. Agree better now than after paint.
For a 1980 you will need to use epoxy resins for any repairs. Do you know what type of primer “the shop” used?
I have been using Morton Eliminator for decades. It is a polyester based primer surfacer and builds/sands wonderfully. I have never had any issues “under the color” with this product.
50% of a great paint job is preparation. Make a mistake now and you will regret not addressing the matter when you had the chance when the finish starts exhibiting funky stuff. Be sure you know what you are applying the topcoats over.
If it were me, I’d try to identify all previous repaired areas and investigate thoroughly. I’d probably sand off all the existing primer to be 100% sure but I admit I’m OCD.
From the pics, it looks like there is some serious issues involving the hood/surround alignment. I’d get the body properly supported and address that issue as well.
Excellent example of what Dub talked about cutting out "ALL" the "old" unknown repairs and fixing back so that you know you did it and how it was done. Otherwise you take a chance. Real quandry as one always hate to go that far when you discover a "lot" of patch places, so you take a chance and sometimes you get bit. Agree better now than after paint.
Thinking about maybe sending it to the media blaster and then seeing what we have.
On a steel car, all of the filler is gone when you media blast it. Never had a vette blasted, I wonder if it's the same thing.
Thinking about maybe sending it to the media blaster and then seeing what we have.
On a steel car, all of the filler is gone when you media blast it. Never had a vette blasted, I wonder if it's the same thing.
-- Joe
I know they can media blast a fiberglass Corvette to remove paint. Not sure what they use as medium and I think it is a specialized knowledge job as you obviously need to know what you are doing. Also I do not know if you can preferentially blast the filler and not the base fiberglass. I doubt it as the VPA I use as filler is just as hard as the base fiberglass. If it was mine, I would sand the suspect spots with 80 and see what it looks like and make a judgement call as to how to proceed.
I would also check the paint and body section here and the SPI website forum too. If you could get great insights from Porchdog, that would be great. Good luck and keep us posted. Southern Polyurethanes Forum (spiuserforum.com)
If'n it were mine, I'd be looking at the backside of all the panels I could get to. That rear quarter is easy without the bumper cover - how does the back of both left and right sides there look? How about the complete underside of all the wheel wells? You can even see the backside of the doors without the door panels in place or by inserting a scope down the window track. Any major damage other than a surface gouge is going to be evident from the back of the panel.
Thinking about maybe sending it to the media blaster and then seeing what we have.
On a steel car, all of the filler is gone when you media blast it. Never had a vette blasted, I wonder if it's the same thing.
-- Joe
It's easy to "blast a hole" into the fiberglass while trying to remove old/bad repairs...be careful.
Also...How MUCH do you want to invest in a decent body repair-paint job?
Just a rookie guess...it will cost $7,000 + to repair/paint that car (unless you do the body repair yourself and let the body shop tweak the repairs before they paint it).
It's easy to "blast a hole" into the fiberglass while trying to remove old/bad repairs...be careful.
Also...How MUCH do you want to invest in a decent body repair-paint job?
Just a rookie guess...it will cost $7,000 + to repair/paint that car (unless you do the body repair yourself and let the body shop tweak the repairs before they paint it).
I have a shop. It's been a while since I've done a vette though. I remember in the past if the right filler wasn't used we had bonding issues, and solvent pops after the finish coat baked. I remember having conversations with the Sherwin-Williams rep but this was back in the mid-2000s. Haven't painted one since then. I found a can of evercoat SMC filler in the shop so it's apparently what I use last time I did one of these, but that car didn't need any repairs it was just straightening. This car has a couple of parking lots bruises.
My buddy owns a media blasting shop, does a lot of vettes. He says he usually doesn't blast the filler away. Hmm.. normally when I send him a steel car he removes all of the filler so I have a blank canvas. I guess this is going to be a little different.
Aa far as money goes, I've got about $10,000 in parts from ecklers, Corvette central, etc, all new in box that came with the car. I have a 412" small block with afr heads, roller cam, figure another $6500 there. So that's already twice what a restored 1980 is worth. Might as well go full in. Truthfully I got the The car and all the brand new parts for a very good deal. The frame and the control arms were already media blasted and had new rear control arm sets and everything in boxes, so it really is a 100% percent frame off build.
You may want to just fix it 'as it is", knowing that there is a lot of Bondo lurking under the primer. The 'sculpting' work may be extensive. Is the car worth doing a complete 'plastic-surgery' job on it??? Make a decision that you can live with.....
So I probed around a little bit with a putty knife and I see pink which tells me someone used blondo.
It could be a situation where someone hit it with an epoxy sealer and then use blonde over it. I was talking to some more people and this thing has been sitting on this wood dolly being rolled around for like a year and things have bounced off it, It could very well be that these failures are due to things hitting it.
I'm going to sand down these areas and fix them with some mat in a two-part epoxy and then reevaluate the situation.
My buddy can media blast the car but he said that he'll destroy the fiberglass trying to remove the filler, so it's probably better for me to just go at it with the DA and some 80 grit..
"My buddy can media blast the car but he said that he'll destroy the fiberglass trying to remove the filler, so it's probably better for me to just go at it with the DA and some 80 grit.."
You likely know more than me, but I would avoid the edges (example: top crease or edge on top of fender) until last and do the edges by hand. Otherwise the body can quickly look like a chocolate bar that sat in the sun and you spend hrs looking for and recovering the edges. All the best!
Last edited by 20mercury; Feb 28, 2021 at 02:39 PM.
