Paint parasite?

[TiAgX5]

Originally Posted by powers1

Ok TiagX5,I apologise for being agressive and belittleing you!You have even more experience in bodyshop than I do ,but honestly in my 20 years or so,I never encountered anything like what the OP describes ,especially a film between colour and clear layers

No biggie.

The first time I saw blistering was in the early '90s on a friends Porsche 944 that was only a few month after a respray in the OE bright silver. I explored the "discolored/milky" areas with a needle to find blisters that contained a small amouts of water. The shop that did the respray claimed the discolored area was spilled brake fluid, but when I went down to the shop with him and began peeling the clearcoat blister in front of the owner, the shop agreed to do a no charge re-spray of the car.

[powers1]

Originally Posted by TiAgX5

No biggie.

The first time I saw blistering was in the early '90s on a friends Porsche 944 that was only a few month after a respray in the OE bright silver. I explored the "discolored/milky" areas with a needle to find blisters that contained a small amouts of water. The shop that did the respray claimed the discolored area was spilled brake fluid, but when I went down to the shop with him and began peeling the clearcoat blister in front of the owner, the shop agreed to do a no charge re-spray of the car.

Yep,you do have more experience ,especially with unorthodox re-
sprays issues,which result from "unnatural " causes and poor workmanship.
Have you come across the OP issue on new cars frm factory?
I am always interested in learning something new and I came across a lot of bad respray issues ,due to bad materials,mterails incompatibility and mainly poor workmanship.
How could the water get in there?Through the air compressor or humidity set in before applying clear coat?

[TiAgX5]

Originally Posted by powers1

Yep,you do have more experience ,especially with unorthodox re-
sprays issues,which result from "unnatural " causes and poor workmanship.
Have you come across the OP issue on new cars frm factory?
I am always interested in learning something new and I came across a lot of bad respray issues ,due to bad materials,mterails incompatibility and mainly poor workmanship.
How could the water get in there?Through the air compressor or humidity set in before applying clear coat?

When blistering is on frontal areas, a minor stone chip usually breaches the clearcoat, resulting in the introduction of moisture to the void area between the color/clear layers. On a hot day or in direct sunlight all it takes is a brief rainshower to cool the air in the blister, this causes the volume of air in the pocket to contract and the rainwater on the chipped clearcoat is drawn into the blister.

Never seen this on an OE finish, only resprays.

[powers1]

Originally Posted by Clutch

No, I have not tried any treatments yet. I'm a bit wary of rubbing or polishing anything til I understand what's going on, what caused it, or how big an area I may have to repair. It looks like there is a thin film of liquid between the clearcoat and he paint, so I'm not sure compounding the surface is the best idea. It's on the list of options though.

Hi Clutch,
Whats the latest?Have you had it fixed?Lets us know

[Clutch]

Hi folks - update coming, hopefully this week. Sorry for the delays, and thanks for the continued interest!

[Clutch]

I finally made it back with an update (and some new pics); sorry to those interested parties for the long delay. I’ve been replacing the air struts in my infinite free time. More on that later…

You can see in the pics that the “bubbles” continue to change size, shape, and position – and one has finally busted open. I took the X to a local indie shop that has usually given good service in the past. Although they didn’t have a clean, concise technical answer as to why the “bubbling” is occurring, we came to the conclusion that the fender has indeed been repaired before. It took a while to see the paint and reflection differences, but under enough shades and intensities of light, viewed from many angles, we could tell. You have to look fairly long and close though. Also I found that all the fender screws on that side had a dot of rust in the center of the star pattern whereas the other side did not. This seems to indicate all were removed in the past and their protective finish breached. I had not noticed that before as the fender alignment was dead on so I didn’t look closely. There is no bondo in the fender. I could also not find any other indicators of a collision or repair anywhere. So, a non-reported dent-fix or some kind of repair ended up lasting well over two years before the problem came through to the surface. Unlucky me I guess. Thanks for the non-disclosure, Mr. Previous Owner. My bad on not being more thorough.

On to the fix; the indie said it would be $1200 to remove, prep, and re-spray the fender only. They suggested that to do it “right” they could “blend in the paint” with a partial spray of the hood and door (without removing them) for $2500 total. The front clip would not be touched at all. He said it would look better than having the paint appearance change at the seams (aka $1200). I’m not so sure. None of that process/logic made much sense to me. Anyway, much as it pains me to have my fender looking like this, I just can’t justify the cost right now, maybe ever. I do realize this will probably get worse, but that’s a lot of $$$ for a cosmetic issue right now. If anyone has any affordable ideas, I’m all ears.

So thanks again for the all advice and inputs over the past couple of months, I appreciate it very much. If I do get it repaired I will post an update with pics.

[OptimusPriM5]

Originally Posted by Clutch

I finally made it back with an update (and some new pics); sorry to those interested parties for the long delay. I’ve been replacing the air struts in my infinite free time. More on that later…

You can see in the pics that the “bubbles” continue to change size, shape, and position – and one has finally busted open. I took the X to a local indie shop that has usually given good service in the past. Although they didn’t have a clean, concise technical answer as to why the “bubbling” is occurring, we came to the conclusion that the fender has indeed been repaired before. It took a while to see the paint and reflection differences, but under enough shades and intensities of light, viewed from many angles, we could tell. You have to look fairly long and close though. Also I found that all the fender screws on that side had a dot of rust in the center of the star pattern whereas the other side did not. This seems to indicate all were removed in the past and their protective finish breached. I had not noticed that before as the fender alignment was dead on so I didn’t look closely. There is no bondo in the fender. I could also not find any other indicators of a collision or repair anywhere. So, a non-reported dent-fix or some kind of repair ended up lasting well over two years before the problem came through to the surface. Unlucky me I guess. Thanks for the non-disclosure, Mr. Previous Owner. My bad on not being more thorough.

On to the fix; the indie said it would be $1200 to remove, prep, and re-spray the fender only. They suggested that to do it “right” they could “blend in the paint” with a partial spray of the hood and door (without removing them) for $2500 total. The front clip would not be touched at all. He said it would look better than having the paint appearance change at the seams (aka $1200). I’m not so sure. None of that process/logic made much sense to me. Anyway, much as it pains me to have my fender looking like this, I just can’t justify the cost right now, maybe ever. I do realize this will probably get worse, but that’s a lot of $$$ for a cosmetic issue right now. If anyone has any affordable ideas, I’m all ears.

So thanks again for the all advice and inputs over the past couple of months, I appreciate it very much. If I do get it repaired I will post an update with pics.

They are correct that is the right way though that price does seem rather high to me. Also, I am unclear what is meant by "the front clip will not be touched at all". The hood and 2 front quarters are all part of the front clip.

[Clutch]

I think he was using the term as all the body parts forward of the front of the forward edges of the hood and fenders. None of that would be repainted on the passenger side.

[OptimusPriM5]

Originally Posted by Clutch

I think he was using the term as all the body parts forward of the front of the forward edges of the hood and fenders. None of that would be repainted on the passenger side.

Ok thanks for clarifying.