Hey guys, I just washed my car and found these lines/cracks/stress marks. I only found it in two areas on the drivers side, front and rear end near the wheels rest of the car seems fine.

I will try and give you guys as much information as I can. I had a claim almost 2 years ago when someone hit my car while parked. I took it to a body shop and to my knowledge the drivers door and front panel were replaced and it was resprayed. The damage was only on the drivers side.

I also live in New York and it just started getting hot here after a nasty winter, I don't know if going from cold to hot could play a roll here. I did not hit anything or do anything to cause or warrant these marks in the paint.

Any information you guys can give me would be greatly appreciated. If you need any additional information please let me know.

Was it an automatic, drive through style car wash? If it was most of them are now using either high pressure wheel sprayer or even a combo rotary/pressure brush that comes up against the wheel "area" and scrubs. If so, it probably got overly aggressive and hit some of those lower areas flexing the metal. Metal flexed, uhhhh.... paint not so much.

I always wash the car myself by hand, I didn't apply any heavy pressure during the washing process. This is why I'm so confused as to how this happened and why, nothing was done to the car that would justify the damage.

Looks like body filler that is failing, to me.

Yes, if it was a manual wash then I would also agree with Chris on the body filler. It would be swelling/shrinking and the paint is not keeping up with that.

I'm not going to be much help, but I've seen this happen with polyester primers before with to much build. I also wonder about catalyzing of the clear coat, maybe to much. I can't imagine a shop doing this but who knows. maybe the last of a can of catalyst and there is 1/2 again more than is needed, what the heck dump it all in. I'll bet I'm not the only one that's done that before. i'd like to see what under the top coat
Jay D.

Maybe its just my eyes but it Looks like scratches to me

I was also thinking it could be medium to light scratches in the clear coat. Possibly from parking to close to a bushy shrub.

Could be scratches but if you look at the pathways the lines take it seems a lot more like "cracking" to me. Even goes around the inside lip of the wheel well. I also see sanding marks along the wheel well so another clue as to how the prep was done or the products rushed (and later shrank).

The OP mentioned that is has cracks in the front and rear near the tires. Then says the driver door and front fender were repaired due to a parking lot accident. Just weird that the back would be cracking too. I guess we would need more information to know what is causing this. If it is a 2dr car it might be reasonable that the rear would have been blending and re cleared after the repair. But if it is a 4 door car then it wouldnt make too much sense for the cracks to be in the rear as well.