New paint peeling off ...

Jul 17, 2005 23 Replies

Bought an aerosol spray can of custom color paint for our Suzuki Swift. Masked up the wing, cleaned the exiting paint with gasoline, applied the new paint...............looked good. Then I went to a coin op high pressure car wash [ about a week later ], damned paint was blown off in chunks. Now I'm back to square one.


What did I do [ or not do ] Don't want have this happen second time around. Any advice much appreciated. John Hewitt, Malaga, Spain


Gasoline is definitely a no no for cleaning paint. OK use it for getting lumps of grease and oil off prior to sanding, but not as the last thing you do before painting. It contains a bit of oil that won't completely evaporate.

Rub down with wet-and-dry and make sure the wiping cloth is 100% clean. Don't let water dry on the paintwork before spraying.

Rob Graham

( snipped-for-privacy@arrakis.es) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

You didn't prepare for paint. You didn't clean the wing. In fact, you made it worse.

Last thing before you paint, get some thinners on a clean lint-free rag, and wipe with that.

Give it to somebody who knows what they're doing.

Come on, lets be helpful. I suspect that it looked reasonable, and if he hadn't used the gasoline it may have stayed on too. I suspect that it probably isn't worth paying for it to be done professionally anyway because it could be a fairly old car.

Sand it properly before spraying. You need to use a scotchpad to rub down the base surface before aplying paint.

And don't clean it with a high pressure hose as the paint won't have fully hardened. I've never found pressure washers much good for cleaning cars, prefer a conventional hose and bloody big sponge myself!

Hellraiser..........>

It's a suzuki swift. If you see one on fire, it's not even worth whipping your old man out and pissing on it.

You may think, but I happen to know, for a shopping trolley they aren't bad. Especially the 4wd 2 door saloon version.

The Hatches are proving more and more popular in rallying. They are cheap, they handle well, and the motorsport parts are still easily available from Japan.

Pask it. Use panel wipe or thinners to wipe down. Buff or roughen with either a scotch pad or fine wet and dry paper. Panel wipe again. Leave to dry, spray. If it needs laquer, use a laquer coat (next day after last coat has dried). Then leave a couple of weeks to dry before washign at all.

Bad move. You really mustn't like your car if that is how you treat it.

Is panel wipe really OK to use as the final wipe prior to painting? I've got some and the instructions are not specific on this point. They just say that it's good for cleaning panels prior to commencing work. On one occasion I cleaned the area prior to spraying and the new paint gathered in little wells as though the surface had been a bit greasy. This may not have been the reason, but I became wary.

Rob Graham

Of course, thats exactly what it's designed for.

Panelwipe can be safely used on old or newly painted surfaces without fear of it softening or dissolving the paint, this includes Acrylic, Cellulose and Synthetics. Don't use cellulose thinners unless your wiping over original factory baked paint otherwise you'll wipe the paint off instead of cleaning it.

You've picked up oil or grease and spread it over the surface instead of wiping it off, turning the cloth over frequently helps keep the area free from contamination.

Steve.

HANG ON STOP THERE!

ok thinners will strip your paint off so if you want to start from scratch go ahead.

If it's a case of preparing the surface for paint then you should 'go thru' the wet & dry paper grades using CLEAN water every time you change grade of paper. Once ready wipe the surface with Panel wipe (also know as Pre-Paint - I'm sure there are a few other brand names)

Panel wipe is safe to use - some people are ok with it but just be on the safe by avoiding contact with your skin (wear gloves) as it can 'dry' them out causing an irritation.

The amount of times I've washed my car and not being able to get rid of dirt/stains and yet one quick wipe with panel wipe and its clean.

dave F ( snipped-for-privacy@btinternet.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Just remind me what you mix paint with to make it thin enough to spray? Could it be... thinners?

It seems there is a problem with the surface so why not use Cellulose thinners?

Ok the surface is prepared then yeah thin your paint down with the SAME Cellulose thinners.

Adrian, what's the problem with that, please tell all?!

dave F ( snipped-for-privacy@btinternet.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

There isn't one. That's why I suggested the wipe down with thinners. You suggested that'd make the paint fall off.

If not used correctly, it'll lift the original paint off.

Conor ( snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

If poured on, and lit, perhaps.

If the original paint is so poorly attached that a quick wipe with a thinners-soaked rag will remove it, it's probably better off removed.

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