How do you remove and or fix Spider Web cracks in the Paint of an 1987?

 

I have no idea what wet sanding means but he knows more about it than I do. So I say do what he says unless you have the $$ for a new paint job. I thought the body flex makes it spider web especially since its simpler to fiberglass. What does wet sanding mean if you dont mind me asking? Figured you could buff it or repaint it. Totally my fault on not knowing of it.

 

Cobra: your a little off here, and info not totally correct:
You could wet sand the area (id check and make sure you have the process down), compound, polish, buff and probably take care of things.
2nd: you don't have to live with what is call "body Flex" causing paint issues, check the cars with paint jobs and you'll notice no spyders on them...

 

Bodyflex does not cause the spider cracks nor will wet sanding and buffing make them go away. The old paint will need to be removeed and new primer and paint applied. I had this problem with my 93. New paint is the only fix.
93cruiser

 

So are the spider webs caused by poor paint preperation and that is why you need to remove the old paint?

 

It wont hurt to try the wet sanding since it will most likely have to be repainted anyway.

 

Spider cracks are caused by the substrate flexing more than the paint. They can be caused by heat cycling or impact. Either way, getting rid of them is a MAJOR PITA! If the car has been repainted and they later show up, wet sanding may improve them. The only way to truly get rid of them requires alot of prep before paint.

 

spiderwebbing paint is really called lacquer checking.
Lacquer checking is a term that was derived when all cars were painted with lacquer, and those minute cracks would form. The term is still used today because the word checking means cracks (ie. tires are weather checking) and hardly anything is painted with lacquer, but lacquer is synonymous with paint so there you have it.
It's intresting to note that befoe they learned how to apply it with a spray gun, cars were painted with a brush, and color sanded to smoothness, then buffed to a shine. My grandfather had a model T that in the fenderwell, I remember, you could see brush marks when he took it apart to paint.
The paint sometimes shrinks more than the surface it's painted on, and causes the minute cracks. The problems that cause this can be various.
1. the surface is in extreme heat (arizona on a fiberglass car).
2. the paint wasn't painted using the correct solvents/hardener.
3. the paint is a 2 part paint repaired with a 1 part paint.
4. the paint has not been properly cared for, and the paint has reached the end of it's life, and is no longer flexible to expand and contract with the surface it's painted on.
5. the surface it's painted on flexes more than the paint flexibility will allow.
6. the wrong paint on the wrong surface.
7. enamel over lacquer when a repair is performed.
8. the wrong amount of hardener in a specific quantity of paint.
9. too much retarder in the paint.
10. too much accelerator in the paint.

 

[QUOTE=coupeguy2001;1561083567]spiderwebbing paint is really called lacquer checking.
The paint sometimes shrinks more than the surface it's painted on, and causes the minute cracks. The problems that cause this can be various.
1. the surface is in extreme heat (arizona on a fiberglass car).
QUOTE]


I thought our cars wern't fiberglass but SMC?

 

Thanks - not my thread but is good information !

 

well, it cuts, acts, repairs and resembles fiberglass, so in perspective, you can call it fiberglass for practical sake.
SMC is the trade name. Here's what I think it stands for
Smooth
Microfiber
Coolness

 

It's possible to use very cheap materials to make the big eyesores on the car's body into something that is barely noticeable. This might be worth it to you if you're just looking to turn something that is very conspicuously wrong with your paint into something much less conspicuous, and don't want to pay for a paintjob.

In my case it was a big 4-inch hole in the fiberglass where the door handle used to go. Using SMC resin, fiberglass mat, bondo, lots of different grit sandpapers, cheap auto primer, rattlecan touch-up paint, rubbing compound, and polishing compound, I was able to make this mostly disappear - it's hard to find the area even if you're looking for it, whereas before, it would be the first thing you noticed about the car even from 60 feet away.

This was not easy... it took several tries and a lot of different methods until I found out what works and what doesn't. After all that practice, I became a lot more confident about bodywork because I knew I could make areas on the body look good if I was patient. Since then I have gone around the whole car and made all the little gashes in the paintjob from before I bought the car disappear.

Anyway, I'm assuming there's nothing wrong with your underlying fiberglass so you won't need any SMC resin or mat or bondo, so really all you'll have to do is lightly sand away the paint around the damaged area and primer and repaint over it, and do proper blending afterwards. It probably won't look good your first time but if you learn from any mistakes you make and try again, you should be confident that you can do a decent job by yourself. You'll be able to notice something different about the spot if you really look for it but it will be nothing compared to how bad it was that you started with.