wet sanding an old corvette

The paint on an old corvette shows visible signs of stress cracking. The car is a white 1969 and it was repainted sometime in the mid 70's using the same color and type of factory lacquer paint. I believe the original paint and the repaint were both made by DuPont.

Now if you have ever seen anything like this, you will know that the stress cracks are hardly noticed until you get into an exact angle of light. Actually, the car looks like a brand new car from a few feet away at most other viewing angles. The cracks appear to be on the surface as you can actually feel them with your fingernail. Also, the stress cracks appear to be more concentrated to the hood, roof and rear deck. The sides are relatively good.

In an very small inconspicuous area, I tried using a polishing pad and an agressive compound by hand. I was somewhat surprised to see that the cracks appeared to be almost completely removed with very little effort. So I am now wondering what the results might be going with a wet sanding process.

Any comments on wet sanding an old repainted corvette?

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Frank:

I would have a professional body and paint man look at the paint and tell you what they think of the finish.

The cracks could be from stress as you say, which laquer paint can do, but as often these cracks appear on a repaint when the surface was not properly prepared before painting.

In lieu of that I would try a small area and see what you get. Then decide if you should do the entire car.

Bud Abraham

Over the years, I have owned and restored several Vette's.

The condition you are seeing is not going to be resolved by wetsanding.

During the first repaint, years ago, they did not remove all the many layers of old paint, rather they just sanded it smooth and refinished.

Now, in order to make it right you must "remove all the paint, primer layers, down to the type of composite fiberglass used back then.

Note, the present, and for the last decade or so, are not really "fiberglas", but a composite material.

Once you have removed all the old paint layers, you must then use the correct primers, sealers, etc and smooth the surface, then refinish with a base coat/clearcoat system of your choice.

Ketch

Mr. Canna : I think Ketch's recommendation will solve the problem. If you have time left over, I'd add a step, though. Apply a body-shop safe glaze such as 3M Hand Glaze to improve the shine. You don't have to thank me for this nugget.
( heh heh )
Doug

Noticed something rather interesting the other evening at a local car show/cruise night. While the sun was still out the painted finishes on just about every car looked great. Not a flaw or imperfection to be found. However, as soon as the sun went down and the lights in the restaurant's parking lot came on, it was an entirely different story. You would have been amazed to see all of the paint defects that became visible as the lights reflected in the finishes.

Thank you very much Bud and Ketch for the informative and thorough responses.

Considering the car has been stored in a garage and not driven very often since it was repainted 30 years ago; do you think the repaint would have held up, without signs of paint cracks, if the car had been prepared properly way back when?

30 years years of expansion, contractions, of a very unstable, at the time, substrate, I am suprised that the paint is not in a worse conditon.

Couple that with the chemistry of the paint systems, back them, (of which I am very familar with),that's the best you can expect.

Today, the "kiddies" who think they can read on the net, and know what to do, well, they have the sort of expectations that makes the "boutique" companies a lot of money.

Cause most of what they share with each other is just a lot of "here is a miracle", not real world.

What I am saying is so many today wish to have some "easy answers", not real, documented, input.

If it makes them actually think and not use true logic, makes their heads hurt.

They don't like for their heads to hurt, sort of like a bum thumb when playing with the Game Boy, just too much trouble to deal with.

Ketch