Paint on 71 white car

[Carol Ferguson]

My 71 convertible had been repainted at some time in it's life.
The paint has excellent shine and looks great except for several
very fine craze lines where the paint returns on the doors and
several around the headlight area.

The car is white and the craze lines have turned dark. Is there
any way we could touch up these areas. I suspect not but I am hopeful!
Is this a characteristic of urethane paint as a friend suggested.
Thanks!

[Carol Ferguson]

Re: Paint on 71 white car

The craze lines are about 1/2 inch long. Anyone? There are about
10 of these on the car prinarily on the door area.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Paint on 71 white car

Carol, since you're not getting any painter's responding, I'll tell you what I think.

The "craze lines" are probably the result of improper prep or application of the refinish and not the type of paint. The previous painter probably did not prep the substrate surface properly; e.g. if you paint urethane over lacquer, you have to SEAL the lacquer or it will cause you problems (lifting, cracking, and checking?). I have no experience painting urethane, but I don't believe that "craze lines" are an inherent characteristic if you get a quality product from the major paint companies and follow their directions for prep and application.

You didn't say if the finish is base coat/clear coat urethane or single stage urethane. If the finish is single stage (not clear coated), the only thing that could possibly help this problem is to carefully "color sand" the "crazed" areas with very fine sand paper (say 2000 grit or finer), then buff it out with polishing compound. THIS WILL BE RISKY: If the car is clear coated, you will probably sand (or buff) through the clear if the cracks are in the base coat. If the car is not clear coated, you may go through the color trying to eliminate the cracks; in either case, you will be faced with having to refinish the entire door. Color matching is still not an exact science, and refinishing the door would be an absolute last resort for me.

I would probably just tell myself it adds character to the car, and leave it alone. Knowing the risk, I would figure that anything I did would probably only make the problem worse.

[Carol Ferguson]

Re: Paint on 71 white car

Thanks Chuck for your reply. The car was already painted when
I purchased it in March 2000. I may have a company called the "chip DR"
view the car and get his opinion. Your right about a repaint of the
doors. I would rather leave it alone!