Paint cracking???

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I have a 1987 Olds Cutlass with dark gray metallic paint. I have owned the car for 9 years and have polished it up as good as possible over the years. Ever since I've had the car, the hood and the roof have always seemed duller than the side panels for some reason. They just had a cloudy look to them with no super sharp reflections. Recently I inspected them very closely and discovered what looks to be micro cracks in the paint. It reminds me of a dry desert creek bed after the water has dried up. The roof and the hood were the worst and when I looked closely at the side of the car, it was there too. Not nearly as bad, but still present nonetheless.

I still haven't been able to determine whether it has SS or BC paint on it yet. Can anyone tell me what this is and if anything can be done to correct it??? Sorry that I don't have any pictures.(camera is out of commission right now).

[Shawn T.]

Re: Paint cracking???

It sounds like you have reached the end of that paint. If the paint is cracking then there is definitely some kind of failure going on. This has been on my mom's 2003 Honda Civic for about a year now. You can see it in the clearcoat because of the little white cracks in the clearcoat.

[tguil]

Re: Paint cracking???

Yep, your paint is done. Some (most) of the paint in the mid-80's was pretty bad. Also your car may have been repainted with acrylic lacquer...not at all long lasting. The solution -- Strip down to bare metal, prime and repaint. Sorry.

Tom

[Shawn T.]

Re: Paint cracking???

Yep, your paint is done. Some (most) of the paint in the mid-80's was pretty bad. Also your car may have been repainted with acrylic lacquer...not at all long lasting. The solution -- Strip down to bare metal, prime and repaint. Sorry.

Tom

+1. Sorry for the bad news.

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Re: Paint cracking???

You guys really think so??? I wish I had some pics to show you of what it looks like. I think that the use of the word "cracking" may have been too strong. There are NO gaps in the paint. The paint doesn't appear to be thin or anything. Maybe I'm just trying to be optimistic but I think that something can be done.

Can anyone post pics of paint that is past the point of no return so that I can compare??? Thank you.

[Murr1525]

Re: Paint cracking???

Do you have a cell phone cam or anything?

You can also look up the Clear Coat Failure Archive and compare.

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Re: Paint cracking???

Sorry, my cell phone isn't very good and these "cracks" are so minute that you literally have to lay your face on the hood to see them.

I will search the archives and see what I can find. Thank you.

[Murr1525]

Re: Paint cracking???

The paint may be too far gone to fix, but some gentle care could still keep it lasting longer from totaly failing.

[Shawn T.]

Re: Paint cracking???

The paint may be too far gone to fix, but some gentle care could still keep it lasting longer from totaly failing.

This is what I do with the paint on my mom's car. I wax it about once a month and will strip the wax every so often to lay down a coat of M07.

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Re: Paint cracking???

Yeah, I think that I can protect the paint for quite awhile. I NEVER drive it in the rain and it has multiple layers of wax on it. It has been this way for the nine year that I have had it and hasn't gotten any worse.

I guess the "problem" is that I finally wanted to try an more aggressive polishing compound to see if I could shine it up a little bit more. What worries me is if the paint is too thin or the clear coat (if it has a clear coat) is failing and that I will destroy what paint is left.

Oh well. I could try to buff the hood and if it goea horribly wrong, it would give me that excuse I've been looking for to get a cowl hood.