michaelcooper53

[michaelcooper53]

Hi, wanting some advice asap please. I have a 71 VW bay camper that I've had for nearly 30 years! Its had a couple of resprays over the years but going back nearly 3 years decided to get a good (or so I thought) restoration job done. I went to a local garage as I had seen the chap's own respray on his VW and it looked really good. He is a mechanic as well so he did have other jobs on the go. I was quite upset at first in that it was bare-metalled and then left for quite a number of weeks and it was starting to rust in places. He said it wasn't a problem, something would be put on it (it had to have some new panels put on which I thought the sensible thing to do would have been to do them first and then bare-metal but not in this case, the panels were done afterwards). Anyway the job was done probably about 2 1/2 years ago but it didn't go on the road until a few months ago as I was waiting for a 2110 engine to be built. It is garaged but I do suffer a bit from damp so the garage door is always slightly open and a back window to give a draft. Anyway engine in, all systems go for using it. Obviously it was then out in the sun and after not very long at all I started noticing marks coming up on a couple of panels, I went back to the garage and he then redid a panel and charged me (and it is already like it again, I assume it wasn't bare-metalled again). I have been told it is microblisters. Please can you give me any indiciation why I have these? Have been to a couple of other garages and they have said it is down to our garage to put it right, and although it has been over 2 yrs microblisters can take up to 3 yrs to come out and it seems that taking it out in the sun caused them to come out. The garage that did the job straight away said its because our garage is a bit damp (I don't believe its this as we have had the VW in this garage for 16 yrs and never had a problem before this paint job). Also these other garages I have been to said you don't get microblisters coming from the outside in, its the moisture from inside. They thought it was very bad to have left it bare-metalled for so long and said something should have been put on it straightaway, also the sprayer could have had damp inside it (although our garage said they use a filter). Myself and my wife are really upset about this, it looks as though its going to cover the entire van at some stage. We spent alot of money, can't afford to pay out again, we are thinking of taking it to court but we need good solid evidence before we approach the garage again. We were told the AA or RAC will come out and check the paintwork for a fee and give a diagnosis but my wife has rung them and they only diagnose things if you are buying another vehicle. Does anybody know if I could get somebody out to give a diagnosis of some kind? Please please can anyone help us with this, many thanks Michael*

[Michael Stoops]

Re: michaelcooper53

Hi Michael - sorry to hear of this issue with your painter.

There are probably more reasons why a paint job can go bad than there are paint colors to choose from. Incorrectly mixing the paint, trapping moisture under the paint, painting in very high humidity, thickness of paint layers, and on and on. As you're finding out, some of these issue don't come to light until many months after the problem that is the actual culprit. While we do have some forum members who live in the UK most of us are based here in the Colonies and as such won't be able to recommend anyone specific to take a look at your vehicle; perhaps one of our British members might be able to assist you there.

In the meantime, do you have any pictures showing the issue? It might help if we can see the actual problem.