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i recently purchased a MY C5Z. The car overall is in great shape. The previous owner had it for a number of years and claimed no accidents, carfax and instavin checks were clean. I also had it inspected by a Corvette shop prior to purchase and he said there were no signs of accidents.
On the passenger door and the front bumper the clear coat is different than the rest of the car. It’s almost as if it was sprayed too far away and was partially dry when it landed on the panels. Maybe I’m not describing it well, the other panels look smooth and ‘liquid’ but these two panels don’t look smooth, I guess a bit blotchy.
Is this normal for C5 cars? Is there any ways to correct this without repainting? My C6 GS didn’t have anything like this. It’s not bad, car still shines but you can tell if you look close enough.
A factory paint job would not cause this since the factory uses statistical process control and quality control inspection.. the panels that are effected are from an aftermarket repair. either done by a former owner, or a DIY painter or a les than competent shop. the panels could have been scratched anywhere, and painted anywhere. Since the panels are different there is no way of telling what clear they used or if what they used was applied properly. Not all paint repairs show up on a Carfax.
Bill aka ET
Thanks Bill. I suspect you may be right. There’s still a chance I’m not describing it correctly. I took several pictures and attached the best I was able to get, at least tonight. If you look in the area reflecting the light you can sort of see what I mean. Maybe excessive orange peel with a less glossy finish is a better way to describe it.
Last edited by 10thumper; Feb 12, 2019 at 03:13 AM.
A lot of people just pay out of pocket to repair a bumper with rock chips or a scratch that happened on the door rather than go through insurance. These repairs usually do not show up on history reports and, if done on the car, will be hard to detect for someone looking for prior damage. Not a paint expert, but I would think the passenger door/bumper would be slightly different shade if only that door was touched. If it was blended I would think the clear coat issue would also show up on parts of the fender and quarter. Don't think repaint is necessary, but maybe a good professional sand and polish will knock out the orange peel so it's a better match.
Thanks Bill. I suspect you may be right. There’s still a chance I’m not describing it correctly. I took several pictures and attached the best I was able to get, at least tonight. If you look in the area reflecting the light you can sort of see what I mean. Maybe excessive orange peel with a less glossy finish is a better way to describe it.
Hard to tell in the photos but I can make an educated guess.. MY is a hard color to match, however the phots look good to me. What I do see is very typical of many paint shops. Matching the color is one thing.. That's has become an almost non issue with computer controlled aftermarket paint match. This area looks to be a typical problem in the paint industry where the paint shop does not match the gain of the clear coat. A good eye for this can pick up a perfect paint match but a mismatch of the clearcoat grain. ( orange peel. ) without actually seeing it, it would be hard to give a good assessment, but cutting the clear coat to match the surrounding clar coat grain would be what a detailer can do.
I hope this helps you understand there is more to a paint repair than just the color match. Sometime the paint shop does a much better job of removing orange peel by hand at a local shop, than the factory does with the robots. delivering a factory paint job.
MY is a nightmare to match. OEM they use a yellow tinted clear coat. I know because I repainted one of my old C5s and sanded all the panels in prep. All the sanding dust/water was yellow tinted and no I wan't into the base coat. It just confirmed what I had always heard. My car was hit two weeks after I bought it in 2003 and 2 shops couldn't get it right using base and clear/clear. Car looked OK in the sub, but any artificial light you could easily see the driver door and left quarter were painted.
Thanks all, I really appreciate the responses. I actually noticed this while detailing the car after buying it. I was doing a simple 3 step with my DA. I’ve been detailing my own cars for years and also have experience color sanding (i.e. I’m comfortable doing it). The color seems to match well but since it is a tint coat I’m a bit worried about color sanding. I might take it to a local body shop to see what they say. I did notice a clear coat paint run on the passenger side fender where the vent is. It’s very minor, and otherwise the panel looks excellent, but that’s what lead me to look deeper.
Last edited by 10thumper; Feb 12, 2019 at 01:33 PM.
OEM paint has notoriously thin clear. If you have the car sanded on make sure they are VERY careful.
35 to 50 microns about 1.5 to 2 thousands 0.0015 in. to 0.002 in. Later C5's 2001 up have 45-50 microns. earlier have at least 35 microns but some do have 45.
Taking a second look, I see a spot that is darker, see the center of the circle. that looks like some airborne contamination that got between the clear coat and the base coat, if that is what you are talking about , then you cant buff that out.. its below the clear coat. this could have happened when painted in a open area or a poorly down drafted booth.
Aside from the fact it looks a touch lighter in pigmentation than the hood in the closeup; have you checked to see if the nose wears a clear bra or some type of protective wrap?
Aside from the fact it looks a touch lighter in pigmentation than the hood in the closeup; have you checked to see if the nose wears a clear bra or some type of protective wrap?
Nope, no clear bra or wrap. The passenger door also has this paint issue. Previous owner seemed to care for the car, even replaced interior with new leather. Replaced tires very recently with a nice set, didn’t appear to be cheap with the car.
You guys think a body shop would be able to tell me what happened and such?
FWIW I had a 2003 vert that had thin paint on the front bumper to where the hard corners showed the black plastic through the paint. You could only see it if looking very close and the rest of the bumper had normal gloss and proper color match. It was not a repaint (checked with paint gauge). Take some more pics out in the sun... based on that latest pic you got a perfect paint match which is exceedingly rare with that color.
C5 Paint Question
. From the factory the paint/clear coat on all panels should be consistent. I know it was on all three C5s that I owned.
