Watch out for the sun

[Neepawa]

I took my '72 roadster to my mechanic for a few small service items. When I picked it up, it looked like something was spilled on the hood. When I wiped it, it became obvious that it was the paint bubbled up (20 year old paint). I was bummed, and no idea what happened.

I went to a fiberglass guy (boat builder) to get an opinion. I had the hood up while I was waiting for him (about 10 minutes). When he came out, I started to show him the problem and noticed a new bubble that was not there a few minutes ago.

The sun was hitting my chrome air cleaner and focussing on the underside of my hood. Like frying an ant with a magnifying glass. It melted the glass and bubbled the paint.

My mechanic does a lot of work outside, the hood was open for a few hours and the sun burned a path across about 14" of my hood.

No big deal, the corvette restoration place near my home promisses to fix it for under $700.

Watch out for the sun.

 

[Ken]

I'm sorry you had to learn about that the hard way. Haven't you ever noticed and wondered why all those Corvettes at outdoor shows had towels on their chrome air cleaners. :eek

 

[Vette/Berlina-coupe]

-go for the "techie" -look...

-that's why some C3-owners go with the techie-look, -applying handsome Wrinkle-black aerosol-paint to the aircleaner effectively prevents reflectively of the mirror-like slightly-dished lid(from tightening center wingnut) flaming one's Vette sitting in the open-sun (my apologies to chrome lovers)... ~Bob vH
ad :TALK :dance

 

[cruisin-davey-g]

I took my '72 roadster to my mechanic for a few small service items. When I picked it up, it looked like something was spilled on the hood. When I wiped it, it became obvious that it was the paint bubbled up (20 year old paint). I was bummed, and no idea what happened.

I went to a fiberglass guy (boat builder) to get an opinion. I had the hood up while I was waiting for him (about 10 minutes). When he came out, I started to show him the problem and noticed a new bubble that was not there a few minutes ago.

The sun was hitting my chrome air cleaner and focussing on the underside of my hood. Like frying an ant with a magnifying glass. It melted the glass and bubbled the paint.

My mechanic does a lot of work outside, the hood was open for a few hours and the sun burned a path across about 14" of my hood.

No big deal, the corvette restoration place near my home promisses to fix it for under $700.

Watch out for the sun.

"Neepawa": Nice to see that somebody else has a '72. I've got a '72 Coupe & mine has "mucho" chrome under the hood to show off. I've been in shows under the hot sun & the underside of my hood is painted the same color as the rest of the car (sunflower yellow). I've never heard of this happening before. I'm just wondering what type of paint you have on your's (original?). Mine was painted with DuPont Imron (airplane paint) & nothing hurt it. I could see the chrome reflection coming off of the chrome engine parts & hitting the painted surfaces of the car (those areas got pretty hot to the touch), but never blistered or hurt the finish. I'm in the process of repainting the car & will be using Basecoat/Clearcoat & now I'm wonedering if I should, because of your experience. The Imron paint job held up real well over the years, it's just that it got alot of imperfections (paint chips & stone chips, etc) that I wanted to toucjh 'em up, but found that repainting the whole car was the only way to go, because I'm "showing" it. I'm sorry to hear that this happened to your car. Must of really "bummed" you out (I would of been "spitting fire" if that were to happen to me. Hope everything turns out alright & the paint job will look good again. Dave

 

[BORDERBUM]

I have always heard that the sun could do that to Vettes and I have seen the towels over chrome at shows , but I have never heard of the outcome actually happening. Sorry to hear that.

GIT R DONE______________________BORDERBUM

 

[Neepawa]

Not sure if you can see it in the photo, but here is a look.

It is not just sun reflecting off the chrome. The shape of the aircleaner caused it to focus like a magnafying glass does. It was just a fluke that the focal distance matched the distance to the hood. The offending portion of the cleaner is only about 2" in diameter, but that was enough.

 

[69MyWay]

Something just is not right with this. Either, the paint on your hood is much newer than the rest of the car..ie, not original, and done with a poor assortment of laquer based materials that have never really cured...or, you have a concenration of oil residue that has soaked through the back of the hood, and the intense concentration of heat is causing it to travel. As it tries to go up and out, the gas bubbles are getting caught under the paint on the exterior surface.

Hopefully this is only with your hood. If you ever repaint that car, you will most likely have to trash the hood as this problem will happen over and over.

This happened to a Vette that was in a collision at a local shop. The a/c system ruptured in the crash and the a/c oil sprayed all over under the hood and front clip on the passenger side. After doing the body repairs, the car would not hold paint. They had to throw the hood away. They did however, use brake cleaner and soaked the right under/inner fender around the headlight and let it dry and put the car in the bake cycle in the booth. The last I heard, it finally took paint there as they got to it early, and the brake clean flushed out the oil residue.

Just my .02, but normal factory paint should not do that as you have described, even with intense sun light.

 

[Neepawa]

Seems pretty strange that it would happen. It seems like the paint never fully cured. As far as I know, the paint is many years old.

 

[cruisin-davey-g]

Seems pretty strange that it would happen. It seems like the paint never fully cured. As far as I know, the paint is many years old.

Hi: OK, now for my "2 pennies" worth. Your paint problem sounds like an imperfection in the glass itself, that was brought out by the intense sun hitting it. It may be something in the glass (oil, silicone, etc. maybe) or it could be the glass itself. If it's oil soaked in, what we've done in the past is to soak the area in question with laquer thinner & let it evaporate then repeat the process a couple of more times. This would neutralize the affected area. It has worked for us. Good luck!


Dave

 

[Barry08]

Yes the sun can cause damage quick.
I used to remove the t-tops on my Camaro and leave them in my backseat.Returned from paying for gas at a gas station and found it had focused and was burning a hole in my headliner!!!!!!!

Barry

 

[JohnZ]

This is a VERY common issue - I've seen it happen to many Corvettes over the years; the rear-opening hood angle allows the sun to reflect off underhood chrome at a show (especially the air cleaner lid) and focus on the bottom of the hood, blistering the paint on the outside - this has been going on for many years. As an earlier poster noted, most knowledgeable Corvette owners who frequent shows use a cover of some sort for the air cleaner to prevent this from happening (and some of the covers I've seen, made by wives, show some real creativity!).

Localized paint blistering can also be caused by A/C compressor oil (which is why the aftermarket sells shields for this), but the paint damage takes a lot longer to appear - it's not immediate like it is with reflected sunlight.

 

[stingray4me]

yep mine did the same thing at a car show I was looking over at my car & saw the hood smoking and sure enough it was from the chrome air cleaner on my 75.

 

[cruisin-davey-g]

yep mine did the same thing at a car show I was looking over at my car & saw the hood smoking and sure enough it was from the chrome air cleaner on my 75.

Been hearing enough from guys saying that their paint was damaged by the chrome & the sun, Although it's never happened to my paint job yet, I'll make sure I'm more careful in the future. One thing, I'm just curious as to what type of paint are on the Vettes that have had this happen?
"stingray4me", what type of paint was on yours?

Thanx to everybody for a "great" forum!

Dave: "A CORVETTE IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE!"

 

[stingray4me]

It's been 8 years since I had it painted. I know it wasn't laquer.

 

[Neepawa]

Well, I took it to work today, not an overly hot day, but sunny. When I went to leave, I noticed that some of the bubble spots had risen again. I guess there is air under the paint and there is enough flex in the paint and clearcoat to let it stretch when it heats and expands.

I guess it won't be long before it breaks and then comes off.

I had thought that I would someday take it back to its original red color, I guess that day will be soon.

There is a corvette restorer near my house. He says that a high quality paint job will run around $7000. Sounds pretty high I think, I would have guessed around $3000.

 

[cruisin-davey-g]

Well, I took it to work today, not an overly hot day, but sunny. When I went to leave, I noticed that some of the bubble spots had risen again. I guess there is air under the paint and there is enough flex in the paint and clearcoat to let it stretch when it heats and expands.

I guess it won't be long before it breaks and then comes off.

I had thought that I would someday take it back to its original red color, I guess that day will be soon.

There is a corvette restorer near my house. He says that a high quality paint job will run around $7000. Sounds pretty high I think, I would have guessed around $3000.

Keep shopping around for a painter. When it comes to Vettes & other exotic autos, painters get $$$$ in their eyes. Went to a local show & overheard a guy telling about his restored paint job on his Vette (it was red) & how he paid 10K for the complete job. It included removal of all parts from the car, stripping off the old paint, etc, etc). Although the car looked pretty good, I was not impressed & would of never paid that kinda of money for that particular job. If you do decide to go with this painter, make sure you see his work & if possible, try & talk to someone that has dealt with him. For 7K, I can get my car done by some of the top painters in my area & some of those are well known & recognized all over the country. Also, if you can do some of the work yourself, that could save you money. Prep work is the key to a good job. I've seen "Macco" paint jobs look super. It's all in the prep work & post work on the paint job. Take care & good luck in your project.

Dave:

 

[Buford]

My car's former owner had attached a plexiglass mirror under the hood, (not sure why, but I've left it there) would this be better or worse for this scenario?

 

[Neepawa]

Well, its been a month or so, I thought that the paint would fly off, but a lot of the blistering has actually reduced in size. I am carefull to not let anyont touch it.

 

[drduckster]

watch out for the sun

a friend of mine has a 34 Ford coupe, (also an 88 vette vert), while showing his coupe 4 years ago in Fla. panhandle the sun actually caused his hood insulation to catch fire! my 1st and last time to hear of this. I use a towel on my chrome breather.:eek