Why did GM have so many paint issues in the 80's and 90's? (vehicles, engine)
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I had a minor peeling problem and had a proper new paint job done, free of charge days before the 5 year warranty ran out. The dealer said the reason for the failure was due to the fact that the primary coat was dry before the finish coats were applied.
The only (and last) new GM I ever had came with this problem and was repainted three times (the first time, they paid half).
I have been told every story you listed. I was also told they just did some jobs too quick. I don't know jack about paint, but I know GM sucks.
We had several other GM cars in the 80s and 90s (my family that is) and only one other had the same problem and it was only evident on the trunk and hood, but it looked exactly the same as my problem.
It wasn't just GM, though their seemed to be the most problematic. And gray colors seemed to have more problems than other colors.
From what I've been told, it had primarily to do with a change in the composition of the primers they used.
Of course, that was also the era during which the major shift to base-coat/clear-coat took place, and I'm sure they were still working out the kinks in that system.
The interesting part is I have two vehicles with this issue, but on the inside behind all the body panels where you can't see, the paint still looks new and shiny. So I wonder if something else helped accelerate this?
I had a Shadow with the issue. from my research, this is what I found:
The manufacturers had to switch to low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint to meet EPA regs. most went to a basecoat clearcoat system. However, they were really just learning about the vagaries of this system. early paints needed 45 minutes drying time before the clearcoat was applied. When the factories needed more product, they didn't wait as long as they needed to, so the paint wasn't truly dry. this caused adhesion problems as the paint aged.
The only solution is to strip all the paint and re-apply properly.
I see this problem on quite a few cars out there. Most of the time it's on the hood or roof toward the leading edges....seems like I see it most on white cars.
I work in the aircraft industry and have seen some similar issues with coatings before. In years past we've had to go to a more EPA friendly paint. This new paint doesn't bond as well and doesn't have the ability to 'move' with the surfaces. Where before it was more flexible and wouldn't crack it now is not flexible and does crack. So when the airplane goes through heat cycles (Sun and engine heating up and cooling down surfaces) and typical vibrations and flexing....the paint doesn't want to expand/contract as well....which eventually will result in the paint liberating from the surface.
This seems somewhat similar to the situation we're discussing. A car gets hot from the sun. The sun hits the upper portion of the car. The paint and the body panels have different coefficients of thermal expansion. If the paint cannot flex and move around with the body then eventually you'll have a similar problem. Then you take said car out and drive it down the road at 70mph. The wind will impact the leading edges...along with bugs, rocks, birds... so you will have some peeling there first.
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