911 paintwork horror

[dave b]

After me posting my lovely clean car yesterday the paintwork has gone tits up!

Got it washed at my usual place and noticed about an hour later the back end had bubbled up in places!!

After fainting i took it back to the car wash. The owner swears he doesn't use any acidic cleaners but offered to pay to fix the damage so i've to get a few quotes for him.

Bubbling is restricted to mostly horizontal surfaces. Boot lid, spoiler, arches and rear bumper will need resprayed

Has anyone ever heard of this happening before??

 

[John_MK5]

Micro blisters. I wouldnt put it down to the car washer. Id say the panels have been repainted at some stage and the water/damp has seeped through. Ive had it before with a porsche boxster. Was repainted white. Bonnet, boot lid and tops of wings all blistered after being washed.

 

[John_MK5]

Also, do you use a car cover? they can hold serious amounts of damp and moisture which wont help in this mild damp weather atm.

 

[davey-dimples]

Pfft... you call those bubbles? Get an E46 lol

Seriously though, that's not good at all - have you had it long? Any history of damage and/or painting?

 

[chris_b]

Not good ! As said a wash won't have done that, that's happened at the painting stage.

 

[weeloaney]

Definitely not the car washers fault.

As said micro blisters caused by moisture getting into the paint or already in the paint after a bit of a respray and are now just appearing.

 

[Eager]

As above.

 

[AndyG]

If you charge the owner of the car wash you're a complete ****.

 

[big_pete]

That's micro blistering as said. The change in temperature can cause it to appear. As said is moisture trapped underneath the paint. A lot of the time is actually moisture in the gun as its been painted etc

Not the washes fault, just bad timing

 

[chris_b]

If I remember correctly from my apprentice days, which was a long time ago, it normally happens when the compressor isn't drained regularly. Moisture builds up inside then travels down the line into the gun.
Or the environment the car is painted in is poor but that's unlikely in this day and age.

 

[pedenjohn]

And this is why I use a refrigerated dryer and some use a water trap. Likely as not its moisture coming out of the compressor, heated up the moisture stays as vapour and ends up in the paint. A water trap only removes a small portion of moisture. No matter what you do after that point it's in the paint and it will 'need' to be stripped to bare metal. In a warm climate it's not a problem but when the weather is like this that's when it occurs. One reason I'm very weary of taking on re sprays on older cars.

 

[pedenjohn]

If I remember correctly from my apprentice days, which was a long time ago, it normally happens when the compressor isn't drained regularly. Moisture builds up inside then travels down the line into the gun.
Or the environment the car is painted in is poor but that's unlikely in this day and age.

it can be the environment, but that's relatively Easier to manage with heat and air flow. I have a home made booth (not oven) and I can see anything from 91% humidity, or if I run it a while I can get it around 20%. But the bigger problem is that primer is porous, and soaks the moisture up, hence why it shouldn't be left outside, and it's worse if it's been flattened back

 

[BobSpounge]

That's would drive me nuts. Hope you get it sorted without too much pain.

 

[hutchy_belfast]

Can't believe the owner of the car park offered to pay to fix that. 99.9% would tell you to sling your hook if they had washed your car with a wet brick never mind had nothing to do with the issue.

 

[KevM]

He'll probably get caught for a respray now

 

[Gambit]

thats a complete sickner on that car i had it on my old classic impreza and it was because of cheap repair/paint job on the rear quarter panel

 

[richie_mck]

He'll probably get caught for a respray now

It would be a crude move to expect him to pay up after advice that it was the painter at fault rather than car washer. Real pity it happened to such a nice car.

 

[Chris_702]

You can't get the car wash to pay after all the advice above saying it wouldn't be their fault and is due to who painted it.
Surprised he even offered to pay for it, as said, most would tell you to beat it.

 

[56oval]

Have you not recently purchased the car?, is there any way you could go back to the vendor?, as everyone has said the fault lies with the paintwork not with the person who washed it, i would head back to the guy who washed it and reassure him that you have been advised that his work is not at fault here, the last thing he probably needs is the thought of having to shell out thousands or a big insurance claim hanging over his head over the christmas period.

 

[Jethro]

That's not a nice thing to discover on such a nice car, but I think you'll also find that if you had inspected it closer when purchasing you should have noticed the blistering albeit on a smaller scale. It just doesn't appear overnight and disappear again completely.

 

[BobSpounge]

Not blaming the car wash owner in any way as obviously the paint is at fault but would the heat from a hot pressure washer speed up the blistering process?

 

[Jason]

Bad paint job and as mentioned micro blisters

 

[Jason]

Not blaming the car wash owner in any way but would the heat from a hot pressure washer speed up the blistering?

Thats irrelevant, yes temperature will effect it, but thats like taking it out on a hot day vs a cold day lol

 

[Phil_D]

Bring it back to where you bought it. That would drive me up the wall

 

[BobSpounge]

Thats irrelevant, yes temperature will effect it, but thats like taking it out on a hot day vs a cold day lol

Yes, but would explain why he thought the car wash was at fault. No blisters before washing and then they appear after he gets it washed therefore thinking the washing process was to blame when all it did was highlight an underlying problem. Agreed that a hot day would have had the same affect.