Paint Condition

prospect

Hi, i recently aquired a 'modern classic' and am thrilled with it.
It is excellent condition, but i am planning to tidy it up even more.

The paint is still in good nick, it looks great when its clean and polished, except a few parts aroun the body the paint has bubbled slightly. It hasnt cracked or anything just hard bubbles.

I am afraid to nick one incase i exposed the metal, but am also afraid it may be starting to rust underneath.

Any suggestions?

Cheers

ds20prefecture

prospect wrote:

The paint is still in good nick, it looks great when its clean and polished, except a few parts aroun the body the paint has bubbled slightly. It hasnt cracked or anything just hard bubbles.
I am afraid to nick one incase i exposed the metal, but am also afraid it may be starting to rust underneath.

It is almost certainly rusting underneath. Now is the time to fix it, as the rust will just continue to eat into the good metal beneath the paint. I would choose one area and nick the paint off to get an idea of how bad the rust is beneath. Use an emery board to grind away any rust, then apply some rust converter to the area, and touch it up with some cellulose top coat in the colour of your car. This will last about a month before needing to be done again, so I would be looking for someone professional to go over the bodywork in that time.

What kind of car is it?

prospect

Thanks DS20,

I thought as much, but was secretly hoping it wasn't... I was thinking of leaving it in for a complete job, and have it resprayed, but keeping the colour.
I presume they would sand blast, prime, spray and portect!
Its a 91 MX-5.

Cheers

BrianD3

As DS20 says, the paint bubbles mean that the metal underneath is rusting. I am currently doing some research into the best DIY way to treat/stop/slow rust. There was a thread on this forum a few weeks back entitled "How to treat surface rust", check it out for some tips. I plan on attempting some rust treatment in the summer, first underneath the car, then on an inconspicuous area of bodywork.

Check out the thread and also check out this page for some tips:
http://www.halfords.com/268.asp

BrianD3

prospect

Thanks Brian,

I'll read up a bit, and will decide then if i am capable of giving it a go...

Cheers

Silvera

Hi prospect,

You may not need a full respray if the rest of the paintwork is in good condition.
A good spraypainter would be able to match in new paintwork with old (i.e. tone down new paintwork.)
(I worked as a spraypainter for 6 years)

prospect

Silvera wrote:

Hi prospect,

You may not need a full respray if the rest of the paintwork is in good condition.
A good spraypainter would be able to match in new paintwork with old (i.e. tone down new paintwork.)
(I worked as a spraypainter for 6 years)

That is great news, thanks silvera. There is only three spots, each is no bigger than a €1 coin, and a bad paint job on the front right corner of the bumper.

Cheers