Backed over '72...Glass problems.....

[mrvette]

:hissyfit::gurney:

Maybe some of you know that on Feb 20th/Saturday a Dodge jacked up mudder pickup backed up in the Credit Union parking lot....and ran over the nose of my vette, smashed holes in the right fender, up top, and ran over the nose and busted hell outta the custom hood that been on there for some years.....so the question is.....

It has been worked on by some incompetent shops, including Gordon Chevy who was recommended by a car club friend....first mistake.....second off, they wanted to replace the hood, but I don't trust the sources of any new parts for our cars....I betting on China at best......so all the sources were out, far as I concerned.....

Second guy fucked up the job SO bad, he basically took my money down payment and did shit work on the hood......the Stealership did crap work on the front/right fender....kept the car for 8 work daze and got about nothing done for 6 of them......

SO off to see the wizard, a damn nice guy whose family owns a car lot...seems to know design and fiberglass FAR better than anyone else around....Don't forget that in the nearly 20 years I been in the Jax Florida region, most of the Vette shops have closed and modern body shops dunno shit about actual fiberglass much have any flare for fixing something RIGHT by hand.....

BUT this last fellow has the artist flare, and it's looking GOOD, hood, body, etc....

but here is the issue, and that it is involving cracks appearing in the primer now, where there was none before, seems to be in the nose around the headlights, and where I made the openings smaller some 7? years ago, and never had much issue....but there is the spider web size cracks....

basic question is, how long to drive and sun heat/cool the car before bothering to put on a final coat of paint??? how long for the stress cracks to show up from the original problem???

BTW, it was a jacked up Dodge pickup, and so, cleared the '72's front bumper entirely.....at least their insurance is covering most of the cost, so I have to battle for to keep the paint the same color all over the car....the fucking company will NOT PAY for a total repaint....well the paint has to match, assholes....but it's Florida and they get away with that shit.....

:ill::hissyfit:

 

[rod70]

I am not a body man or auto finisher, but I use some of these materials in the theater stage industry and this is a technical guess.

It sounds as if the new primer is not fully bonding to the improvements you did sometime ago. Even if the body and your improvements are both 'fiberglass' the resin formulas may have been slightly different causing whatever the new primer is to not adhere equally well. As the paint dries it shrinks enough to cause the cracking where it is not immediately bonding. This effect is similar to 'faux crackling' techniques on new furniture copying antiques.

I would consider sanding off the new primer in this area and trying to reapply in multiple thin layers of spray rather than one heavy coat. You could also try a primer with a similar solvent formula from a different manufacturer. The idea here is perhaps the new 'glue' formula in the paint will be better for your situation.

If the area still cracks again, you might sand once more and try a primer with a different solvent in the formula from the ones recently applied. If you do a change up, make sure your new top coat agrees with both primers on a test sampler.

 

[mrvette]

Well, I took it to Macco to get it painted all over, not so awful evil, but some cracks did reappear in other spots where none showed before.....so hell with it, it's a nice GREEN metallic now, that can be seen from backside of the MOON.....:shocking: some sanding errors on back deck where the ASStro vents were blocked off by me some 7? years ago....the last guy primed it, and so Macco left a line in the finish, screw it, I just painted a 2" wide black stripe across the back up top, and so it mimics spoiler for the overall effect.....

the remaining stress cracks are nothing for me to stress over, the car looks good now a nice 5/20 driver.....

:gurney: