Ok so I bought an 87 Camaro Iroc, its a t-top car with original 350.. says 8 as 8th digit of vin, also has 5.7 liter emissions sticker under the hood.. 144,000 kilometers (not miles)

The car has original paint, and no visible rust
However all the paint is jumping off the factory primer, also original paint is sunfaded.
I read the articles about the water bourne paint, but my car by the vin is a norwood car. So it seems i'm a victim of the crazy primer not the painting process.

I've thought about razor blading the car, or maybe sandblasting the whole thing, but really, it doesn't need it. From what i've read the factory primer on this car has excellent adhesion to metals and plastics, its just that it didn't like the paint bonding to it

What i'm thinking of doing.. is taking the original paint off with 80 or 100 grit paper on my D/A and leaving the factory primer, then doing the whole car in epoxy primer, then high solids primer.. block the car out and go from there

Is this method good for the plastic parts of the car? I've painted a few trucks, never painted much plastic, only some ABS mirrors.

I've heard of people just scuffing the car and going from there, but i'm concerned that the adhesion issues could always be lurking under my new paint and i'm thinking the epoxy primer would "bite" into the factory primer better than just spraying high solids and going from there

How do the skirts come off? Would it be worth while to pull the front and rear bumpers? How do they come off?

Any other suggestions? Has anyone painted a car with the paint delamination issues that sometimes appear on our cars? How long did your method last? Did delamination occur again?

Thanks guys!

 

thats what I just spent my weekend doing to my car, I sanded all the paint off, but kept the gm primer where ever I could, but I also had rust to deal with so I went more in depth and took my ground FX off, revaled alot of rust. I too was concerned about the old paint flaking off under the new paint, so I took it all off just in case. if your car is bad enough, you could just use the razor blade, mine wasn't quite that bad though.

 

What are you going to use to bond to the factory primer now?
how do the skirts come off?

 

my car wasn't a noorwood car, so my primer wasn't bad like yours, you may be better off getting all your primer off, but then again, Im not really familiar with whats wrong with your primer. I got my old base/clear off, then sanded alot of the gm primer off (not purposely), then used high build primer on the whole car. to remove the gfx on my car you take out the interior plastics in the back, then you'll see 3 nuts, take them off, then go underneath the car and you'll see 3 more bolts to take off, thats just the 1/4 panels. for the rockers, go underneath the car and you'll see a bunch of bolts, take them off, then open the door and you'll see a lot of philips head screws holding the rocker gfx on. for the door, take off the door panel and the weather guard, then along the inside of the door you'll notice 3 or 4 bolts, take them off then on each side of the door you'll see an acorn nut, take it off, and then the door gfx will slide off. atleast thats how it was on my Trans Am, not 100% sure if its the same.

 

HOLY CRAP!I got a headache reading this.zachd,are you absolutely sure the paint is original?80 or 100 grit seems a bit harsh.My 89 had some nasty looking paint on it when I got it,but I just hit it with 220 on my d/a to remove the previous owners cheap (dollar store primer),and washed the car and then wiped it down with mineral spirits before putting on two coats of two part epoxy primer.I then wetsanded the primer job with 400 grit,and put two coats of color and clear on the car,now wetsanding and buffing the car for hopefully a beautiful finish.

 

sorry not sure why you got a headache, i guess my style of writing doesn't agree with you?

Yes.. sure that the paint is original.. and you are probably correct 80 or 100 is likely harsh and would eat right through the primer too

How straight is the car being that you never blocked it at all?

Thnx for the details 87TPI

 

haha!It had nothing to do with your style of writing,just a long day for me.
Just remove the factory paint and leave as much of the primer as you can since its original.
Forgot to mention,I was in a bit of a hurry when I posted earlier.I block/wetsanded between every coat from primer to clear.Even the color,I used a single stage urethane black,and a clear from same manufacturer.
On your bumpers,you can just give them a light sanding as long as they don't have the hideous paint cracking.If you do though,you have to remove all of the paint,and go from there.I had to do this.I used SEM flex primer on my front nose,rear bumper had no cracking.

 

off topic question, but if I lightly sand my bumpers, leave most of the paint on them, then do I need to use any flex additive?

 

If the original paint on the bumpers is not cracked anywhere,you should be in good shape to just lightly sand and repaint without any flex additive.
If the paint on the bumpers has stress cracking on them,you have to remove all the finish including the primer,and will need a special primer(like the sem product I mentioned)I didn't need flex additive in my final finish,bumpers don't have enough flex to them to require it with single stage urethane that I used.However,the two part epoxy primer I used had no flexibility characteristics,which is why I had to use the flex. primer.

 

 

id just wire wheel the entire car then spray epoxy primer then go over that with high build stuff, then do dent smoothing and blocking

 

dude i would need a dozen guys all jacked up on coke or meth or something to wirewheel the whole car.. plus it wouldn't work very well on plastic

of course i could sandblast the whole car.. i could also run around the block 100 times before i took out my garbage... just depends how serious (or stupid) I want to get I suppose

 

ok.....you sand blast it and see how your paint turns out........itll look like a body colored spray in bed liner........i dont care how much you blow it out there will still be sand in the cracks.........use a wire wheel on the big parts, and a DA on the spots closer to the glass and plastic pieces......sand blasting is a last resort....for a rusty POS

its your car do it like you want......but if the primer permits adhesion between the paint......i wouldnt want it on my car

I do this **** for a living......believe me i know

 

what do you think of the advantage of using wire wheel verses razor blading the car then?

 

none I can think of, Ive never heard of doing a wire wheel to the whole car before. Id think it'd require alot of feathering afterward, if the paint is peeling bad enough then razor blade it.

 

its just a quick way to get to bare metal, without all the bs of sand blasting.....razor blades work but are slow

 

You're welcome.

 

so what if I like to get peoples opinions when it comes to my car