Black paint, what is wrong?

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

Well that's a bit disheartening..... especially on such a young vehicle. We are very interested to hear what the dealer says about this.

[cobaltlady]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

I will keep ya posted on what happens.

Thanks for the feedback, at least I know I am not fired up for no reason.

[AWB]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

I'm curious to find out how the talk with the dealer goes. I wonder what they can say to get them selves out of fixing it (at least in my experience). I hope that all bodes well for you especially since I like the body and paint of that chevy. Nice Car.

[cobaltlady]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

It would prolly help me when I talk to dealer if I understood a little more what is the cause of clear coat failure. Is it something done wrong when the car is painted or something I havent done to protect my paint job?
I dont know much about painting cars and I know less about clear coats.

[Grand Am GT]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

Hope this helps!

The Clearcoat Failure Photo Archive

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20411

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

Clear coat failure is ultimately a break in the bond between the color coat and the clear coat, and once it starts it can not be stopped. The panel must be stripped and repainted.

But why the bond broke is the tricky part to decipher. Sometimes it can be caused by a problem in the painting process, dooming the paint to premature failure no matter what you do, or what sort of exposure the car sees. It can also be caused by excessive UV radiation. In a base coat/clear coat paint job, the clear coat contains the UV blockers that protect the color coat below from fading - or at least dramatically slows the fading. If the clear coat is rotary buffed very aggressively on numerous occasions, or it was wet sanded with a bit too much gusto in an attempt to remove orange peel, much of the UV blocking component will have been removed, leaving the whole paint system vulnerable. You don't need to sand all the way through the clear for this to happen, just remove enough and you've put the inevitable in motion. The regular routine you've described would not be sufficiently aggressive, even after 4 years, to remove a large percentage of clear coat.

You mentioned that the car is always outside in the Montclair sun. A black car can easily reach a surface temperature in excess of 175 degrees under those conditions, and in your case it would do so often, and for prolonged periods of time. A white car under identical circumstances would only reach about 120 degrees. This heat, coupled with the UV exposure, can be lethal to paint, but it does not have to be. It's very common to find clear coat failure only on the horizontal surfaces - hood, roof, trunk - so it's interesting that you've got a door exhibiting this problem. Any chance that side gets much more exposure than the other side of the car? Think about where you park at home and at work, and where the sun is during the day. That nice "Southern exposure" to the sun that some plants love is what you're looking for here.

Where old single stage paints would fade and become dull and chalky looking, reds would turn pink and dark blues would turn almost sky blue, clear coats tend to break down. Those old single stage paints could be brought back to life, so to speak, buy machine buffing to remove the dead, oxidized paint to restore the original color and shine. But a clear coat that has started to break down is just plain dead.

Check your warranty information to see how long the paint is covered on this make/model. And don't let the dealer tell you anything silly like this happened because you used a product with silicone, or that you used an abrasive cleaner. Unless they can measure that you've removed more than the maximum recommendation of 0.5mils of clear then the argument against an abrasive cleaner doesn't hold water. And a handful of times hand applying ScratchX isn't going to remove that much paint - you need to be very aggressive to do so.

Lastly, check with the main Cobalt forums - cobaltss.net and cobaltss.com and see if those guys have experienced a similar situation, if there's a TSB on paint issues, etc.

[cobaltlady]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

I'm curious to find out how the talk with the dealer goes. I wonder what they can say to get them selves out of fixing it (at least in my experience). I hope that all bodes well for you especially since I like the body and paint of that chevy. Nice Car.

I was just curious what your experience has been that you mentioned.

[cobaltlady]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?



I just got back from the car dealer and after talking with the service department manager, they have agreed to repaint my entire car. My extended warranty doesnt exactly say it covers clear coat failure but they didnt fight me very hard on fixing it.

Thanks for all the help! I will post up pics of the new paint job after all is said and done.

[Megafast13]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

I just got back from the car dealer and after talking with the service department manager, they have agreed to repaint my entire car. My extended warranty doesnt exactly say it covers clear coat failure but they didnt fight me very hard on fixing it.

Thanks for all the help! I will post up pics of the new paint job after all is said and done.

That's Excellent!!!

Your lucky! A brand new paint job
Have fun waxing that into a show car!!

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

That's great news! Of course, a repaint could bring up a whole new set of issues but we can talk about that when the time comes. You'll want to do nothing more than just wash it during the initial 90 days or so following the repaint, and the body shop will most likely leave a few tell tale buffer trails behind, but we can help you resolve those - that's all easy stuff compared to your current situation.

[cobaltlady]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

Haha. Now you got me all nervous. Just kidding.

Thanks again for the help.

[Eddie6th]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

Shame what happened. You had it well looked after. I also thought it odd having the side panel fail, and the car being so young. That's great news that the dealer is giving you a full respray. Must have been a bad batch. I'm sure your not the only one with this car from the same period with this problem.

Let us know how you get on

[cobaltlady]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

Wow, it's been almost 2 years since I last updated the situation with my paint...Hasn't been very fun...
So I'll attempt to make a long story, short...Basically, yes the dealer did decide to repaint my car because of the factory defect with the clear coat. What they failed to tell me at that time was they were only going to "spot" paint the areas that were affected and not the entire car. I wasnt happy, to say the least. So 2 years later and after 2 "car vacations" at the Chevy Body shop, Ive had my entire car repainted EXCEPT my driver side door which I noticed clear coat failure on last week.... Gotta love that....

But on a good note, the car looks great (except for the drivers door, which I am having painted next week) and I appreciate all the tips on the situation... Ill post some updated pics... thanks again...

[BlackScreaminMachine]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

Your lucky they did not fight you. To be honest if the clear coat fails, then its the paint, down to the primer and then panel and they do have the rust/rot/corrosion guarrentee which basically is a preventative measure at this point. Your car looks also VERY clean so that would have helped as well.

I had my best bud and his 2001 Trans Am back about 2003/4 had bad factory paint come through, the issue is the clear coat was fine but underneath was bad prep and the dealer argued that it could have been the owner as much as it was the factory and ultimately the car became a race car and that panel had the attena filled in so it was repainted but kinda sucked when one 1/4 panel looked like you had scuffed it with a scotch brite pad.

[Murr1525]

Re: Black paint, what is wrong?

Should be looking good if it is all new paint ever year.....