Ok here we go with this story. I bought a 1970 Corvette off of the internet with out doing my due diligence. I know shame on me. I learned a hard lesson. Any way my sons and I decided to restore the car. The no hit body had been hit in the front. The top of the fender surround had been replaced improperly. When the time came I took the car to local Corvette shop to do body and paint work. The shop did all the body work and installed the new top of fender surround. Then primed the car. I picked it up to install the motor and a few other things. Life happened and I did not get back to car until I retired. I took the car back to the same shop about 10 years latter. He paint The car and I picked it up to put it back together last October. Worked on car on and off thought the winter. Spring and summer are busy so I thought I would finish it up this winter. Looked at the car in July and the top off the fenders had little bubbles in it nothing else had a problem just the new part. Went back to shop to address the problem and after a month he said it was not his problem that it was a problem with part and the manufacture was not going to do anything. Shop wants to install new fender surround and paint all at my expense. I am looking for a product that would seal the fender surround after sanding it smooth or stripping the paint off and repaint with out ripping car apart. Shop says they know of nothing like that. Also looking for recommendations on someone to do the work in the Mid West to fix the problem. What are your thoughts do you think the shop should have stood behind their work. Sorry for the long story any information would help. Thanks, Ray.

 

I’ve been painting Corvettes for 50 years and this is the best product for what you need to address your issue. It is a polyester based, catalyzed primer surfacer that is as close to the original gelcoat as it gets. Great adhesion, build properties, sands like a dream.

It is, however, critical that you remove all of the paint/primer the shop applied. You need to get down to the original gelcoat and degrease thoroughly.

Unless you see evidence of failure of the fiberglass repairs, no need to replace the surround.

 

Sounds like you might have gotten the surround from Corvette Image in Gresham, OR. They, unfortunately, had problems a while back. Several people ended up having to remove the surround and replace it with one from Sermersheim’s.

 

That is great news. Thank You so much for taking the time to get this information to me.

 

Shop said they got it from some one in California and they got it from Ecklers and they just glued the metal underneath part.

 

Do you belong to a Corvette club in your area. If so did you know a Phil Brunt?

 

Good luck with that - there isn't any....

 

I presume, then, that you have had experience with Corvette Image panels?

I’ve repainted several C1s with severely deteriorated gelcoat and have DA’ed all of it off and used Eliminator as an effective replacement gelcoat.

Would be interested in other’s experiences with the Covette Image panels.

 

My understanding as well is that C3's did not originally have gelcoat from the factory.

My 2 cents on a fix; I would call Barry, the owner of SPI and ask him if 3 coats of SPI epoxy would seal it.

Likely lots of ways to fix this problem too.

 

C3's were not gelcoated when new. but many replacement panels were...

 

Thanks for the information.

 

As derekderek points out, many aftermarket panels do use a gelcoat as the panel construction is via “chopper-gun” process vs the original press molded process the General used and as several posters have correctly pointed out, a gelcoat layer was not used in the GM press molded process for the C3.

That said, a mold release agent is commonly used which contributes to many paint issues. To address that issue, as with the OP’s problem, all that is needed is to get down to the top layer of the panel, whether it have gelcoat or not, thoroughly clean, then use a primer surfacer that will act as a barrier for any contaminates in the substrate to interact with the top coat. As I mentioned before, a polyester based product, like Eliminator, serves this purpose well, in addition to being an excellent high solid filler.

OP - I will reiterate my previous recommendation that you do not need to go down the road of panel replacement. You could have the same problem with an alternate supplier panel if the body shop does not do a proper job of surface prep prio to painting.