Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

[Terry F.]

Re: Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

Could you guesstimate how long it was from purchase of panels and painting them? I think there panels need to sit and cure a long time to dry out. Terry

[Joe C.]

Re: Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

Terry:

I don't believe the "cure out" theory. As I said, my problem only occurred AFTER repeated exposure to ambient moisture. After this hard lesson, I now take better care to prevent recurrence of the problem. During this fiasco, and PRIOR TO THE REPAINT, I spoke to quite a few painters/restorers/experts, in order to learn how to repaint for minimal problems. The range of answers was astonishing, and frustrating. One very well known shop advised me to "repeatedly wash the panels with lacquer thinner, to leach out all the silicone and other contaminants". I believe that this practice is in direct conflict with the manufacturers instructions. I had a few other people tell me "remove the panels, throw them away, and replace with NOS panels.......there is no solution for this"
As a precaution, the paint shop, at my direction, used a heat lamp to "cure out" for a few days prior to prep and paint.
I am not really sure why, at this point, the paint is holding up. The "cure out"? The extra heavy layer of gelcoat? The moisture prevention measures? A combination of the three?

Joe

[Richard S.]

Re: Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

Thanks for the information/experiences. I sure wish I had known of these possible problems when we did the car. We followed Corvette Image instructions all the way. We completely gelcoated the car before painting. The last week was very humid here and the car was covered tightly with two covers as we are having work done on the house. I really need to know what to tell the body shop about stripping and preping for another paint job and what products to use/avoid. What is coming through the panels? I certainly can't take all these panels off. Thanks for helping.

[Brandon K.]

Re: Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

Have you tried contacting CI for advice? Since you followed their instructions to the letter, then they should be willing to help you figure out what happened. Jerry is a pretty nice guy, and he runs a Corvette body shop, that's how he got into the biz of making the panels. You might also want to contact Wayne Womble, who assembles the one-piece front ends for CI, has hung and painted a zillion of them himself, and is very knowledgeable.

Brandon

[Terry F.]

Re: Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

Washing the car by repeatedly wiping it with laqure thinner may pull the silicone from it. Man, if there is the slightest bit of that stuff it there, it is pretty darn hard to get it all out.

Heat lamps might help. I was going to suggest that but I didn't want to people to think I was that nuts or extreme to try and prevent a problem. Lots to consider.

All for now, Terry

[Joe C.]

Re: Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

Rick:

Painter used Sikkens products complete. Gelcoat was standard polyester, gray, with special additive to make it flow for minimal sanding. Additive also eliminates necessity of PVA for full anerobic cure.
After painter stripped the car, some areas showed small specks of liquid that were sticky, like tree sap. After a few days, the oozing stopped. Application of heat caused a few remaining areas to ooze. After a day or so, all oozing stopped with the heat. This was, most probably, the last remnants of the trapped moisture, migrating to the surface.
AFAIK, Image was never able to develop a sealing system to duplicate the density of the NOS parts. The best you can do is take all precautions during prep and paint, and then protect your car from excess moisture. The worst thing that you can do, is to leave your car covered during extremely humid periods.
Fiberglass composite is porous, and will never be as moisture resistant as steel. Even original panels will blister if you repeatedly expose them to severe conditions. They can, however, tolerate much more abuse. Before I restored my car, it still had all original panels, mangled as some of them were. Shortly after I bought the car,I covered it with a blue plastic tarp for a few months, before I started the restoration projec. When I uncovered it,the ENTIRE CAR was covered with the tiny blisters, just like I found on the first new paint job. Here is a case of original panels blistering the paint under extreme moisture conditions.

Joe

[Joe C.]

Re: Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

Rick:

Keep me (us) posted on your progress. If you need to discuss further, feel free to contact me "off the boards", or via telephone.

Good luck,
Joe

[Joe C.]

Re: Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

I agree. I spent many hours on the phone with him, discussing the problem, and his quest for a solution. He was always forthcoming with me. We worked up a "mutually agreeable" solution to my problem, and parted ways on a friendly basis.
I got the impression that his intentions are good, and he in no way was trying to flim-flam his customers.

Joe

[Richard S.]

Re: Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

The painter who did my car also used Sikkens paint and prep. The car was a seven year project and it was painted three years ago. The car has less than 700 miles on it since restoration.....4:11 rear and summers are short in Montreal. With the gelcoat applied what could have come out of the panels? The car's original panels are all fine.

[Richard S.]

Re: Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

A friend just reminded me that the car sat in the sun for a whole summer once the panels were changed out ....just the bare fiberglass in the summer sun. How could anything still leach out of the panels after that and the gelcoating?

[Joe C.]

Re: Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

Rick:

As I said before, they absorb moisture from the back side. Once they are "dry", they will continue to absorb moisture when the air is humid. This is a continual process. The key is to try to minimize exposure to excess moisture, and not let any condensate remain on the underside for extended periods. If so, it will be absorbed.
If a car's paint blisters in the hot sun, then that is usually the dreaded "solvent pop" phenomenon. These blisters are the same size as the ones I have been talking about, pinhead size. If the blisters are large, say, dime size, then that usually indicates a paint adhesion problem.
Again, drying is not a "one shot deal", it is an ongoing process.

Joe

[Grant M.]

Re: Corvette Image mid year fiberglass

Rick,

I can't speak positively re your specific situation, but a number of years ago I had my 81 Citation X-11 repainted on Vancouver Island in 1987 and experienced similar problems, but only on the fibreglas rear spoiler. At the insistence of the body shop which had just started using Sikkens paint, I let them use that product on my car (black). It looked great when I picked it up, but only a month or so later (my car also sat outside in the summer sun during the period) the paint on the spoiler bubbled in a number of places. When I took it back to the shop they blamed the fibreglas on the spoiler, despite the fact that it was not a new piece and the original paint was adhering just fine prior to the re-paint. I think you might want to look into the paint job (prep AND paint--Sikkens) before you fix on the gel coat/fibreglas as the necessary source of your problem.

Just my experience...

Grant