Hi everyone I was wondering if you guys could help me with a problem with my car's paint. I have a 1973 Camaro that was painted a year ago and the paint has started to crack a peel only on my driver's side. I have broken off a chip where it is cracking and a paint job from a previous restoration is on the bottom of it. I think it is from their primer not adhering correctly. I do not think that their primer had not adhered properly to their paint job. I have started to sand and get ready to patch areas where these cracks are forming, but I would like to ask for your input on this matter. I will be going down to metal where these cracks are forming, then I will prime and use a sealer on the entire driver side to try to prevent further cracking in the future. Will this work or does the driver side need to be brought all the way down to the original paint?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

I just wanted to add this as well. I painted the car and it was my first dual stage paint job. I am almost certain it is not from my paint job, but from the previous paint job. I had some cracks already will priming it, but I thought I had fixed all of them. The car was originally dark brown poly, but at one point the car was re painted the same color. I took a sander to the cracks and found that they are formed from the repainted dark brown poly cracking. Therefore I belive it has to do with the previous restoration. So my question is weather I will have to bring the entire driver side down all the way to the original paint or could I save it by bringing visible cracks down to metal and sealing the entire driver side with a primer.

The bad news is that whoever did the paint job was a hack!
The worse news is that the only real fix is to strip the car back to metal and properly prep and paint it.

I had someone bring me a '62 Chevy truck that he paid a "pro shop" in California to paint for him. Less than 4 years later huge cracks in the paint began showing up. He brought it to me to "fix the cracks" but when I began to dig into the cause it was same thing you have going on.


Stripped it to bare metal, found many substandard "patches" and "fixes" to the metal like drilling holes and filling them:


The entire build is in the projects section.

Yes, poor or insufficient preparation so the paint just didn't stick.

As above, only solution is to strip back too metal and do it again. Putting something over the top won't fix it - you'd be building on sand.

I've had customers with the same problem. It's heartbreaking for them, especially when the shop that did the job has closed and they're facing a major cost to fix.

NFT5 wrote:Yes, poor or insufficient preparation so the paint just didn't stick.

As above, only solution is to strip back too metal and do it again. Putting something over the top won't fix it - you'd be building on sand.

I've had customers with the same problem. It's heartbreaking for them, especially when the shop that did the job has closed and they're facing a major cost to fix.

Luckly I did it myself, so it just cost me time. Sad that all my work has gone down the drain, but its taught me that I shouldn't trust others work. This is why I am wanting to acid dip my Cuda and redo all the work.

71340Cuda wrote:

NFT5 wrote:Yes, poor or insufficient preparation so the paint just didn't stick.

As above, only solution is to strip back too metal and do it again. Putting something over the top won't fix it - you'd be building on sand.

I've had customers with the same problem. It's heartbreaking for them, especially when the shop that did the job has closed and they're facing a major cost to fix.

Luckly I did it myself, so it just cost me time. Sad that all my work has gone down the drain, but its taught me that I shouldn't trust others work. This is why I am wanting to acid dip my Cuda and redo all the work.

Okay, so you weren't a hack. I thought you paid someone to do the work.
We have lots of Sticky Posts at the top of each Forum and Articles in the Info Center that can help you understand the steps involved in a quality paint job that will last for decades.
Acid dipping has its drawbacks as well.

Sort of like the parable of building a house on sand.

I’m not throwing shade at the OP, he thought he was doing what was right and the prep over the bad “foundation” may have been superb. But unfortunately what is underneath appears to be failing. I feel for ya and though it’s your time spent, these materials are not cheap these days.

There are some pretty good suggestions for mechanically stripping down to bare metal amongst the forum members here. I think it was 68 Coronet suggested a heat gun and razor. You may have enough thickness to warrant I.

Me personally I used a low speed angle drill with 80 grit and sometimes even a 32 grit, but not down to metal with that. Kept the dust and clean up to a minimum. I finished up with 120 or 80 on a DA. Then sprayed epoxy.

Good luck
JT

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:

71340Cuda wrote:

NFT5 wrote:Yes, poor or insufficient preparation so the paint just didn't stick.

As above, only solution is to strip back too metal and do it again. Putting something over the top won't fix it - you'd be building on sand.

I've had customers with the same problem. It's heartbreaking for them, especially when the shop that did the job has closed and they're facing a major cost to fix.

Luckly I did it myself, so it just cost me time. Sad that all my work has gone down the drain, but its taught me that I shouldn't trust others work. This is why I am wanting to acid dip my Cuda and redo all the work.

Okay, so you weren't a hack. I thought you paid someone to do the work.
We have lots of Sticky Posts at the top of each Forum and Articles in the Info Center that can help you understand the steps involved in a quality paint job that will last for decades.
Acid dipping has its drawbacks as well.

Yeah, my family are into working mopars as a hobby, so I did all the work. Thank you for the post. If I may, what is the draw back of acid dipping? I have changed the quarters and re applied the lead on the seams, but since this incident with the camaro I decided get rid of all previous bodywork done. Is there a better alternative to acid dipping?

Thank you in advance for your help.

RamblerRacer wrote:Sort of like the parable of building a house on sand.

I’m not throwing shade at the OP, he thought he was doing what was right and the prep over the bad “foundation” may have been superb. But unfortunately what is underneath appears to be failing. I feel for ya and though it’s your time spent, these materials are not cheap these days.

There are some pretty good suggestions for mechanically stripping down to bare metal amongst the forum members here. I think it was 68 Coronet suggested a heat gun and razor. You may have enough thickness to warrant I.

Me personally I used a low speed angle drill with 80 grit and sometimes even a 32 grit, but not down to metal with that. Kept the dust and clean up to a minimum. I finished up with 120 or 80 on a DA. Then sprayed epoxy.

Good luck
JT

Yeah, I was quite proud with how it looked when I buffed it out. Had the body lines looking amazing. I used to hate the 70-74 camaro until I found out how clean the body lines look. I will look at the forums and see what I could do. What I have been doing is using an orbital sander with 40 grit and it is taking a bit of time with that.

With multiple layers of paint I find a heat gun and razor blade work much faster.

That's what I used on a couple of vehicles now.


Acid dipping fills every nook and cranny with corrosive material. If not properly rinsed and neutralized it will cause paint failure.

I would rather media blast the metal clean and then epoxy: