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  1. #1
    Mike Phillips
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    Whisper Thin Paint on Classic Cars by Mike Phillips - Be Careful!

    Whisper Thin Paint on Classic Cars by Mike Phillips - Be Careful!


    Recently we restored the original paint on a 1972 Corvette. Before we started, we inspected the paint and specifically inspected all the raised body lines for thin paint. The owner, Kent told me his Dad purchased the car brand new so the car has always been in the family. Kent also told me the car has never been machine polished. His Dad and Kent had only hand waxed the car.

    Even so... I know from experience that when cars get this old they can have very thin paint on the raised edges of body lines just from decades of wear-n-tear or "touching". Including washing, drying and waxing. Even from people simply putting their hands on commonly touched areas paint on these raised body lines.

    Keep in mind, gravity causes wet paint when it's sprayed to flow downward, this is another reason paint starts out thin on these areas.

    Over the years I have created and used a term for very thin paint that's not quite worn through but is very very close. I call this term

    Whisper Thin Paint

    And with this Corvette, I was able to capture to sets of pictures.

    1. Exposed primer - This is where the paint HAS BEEN worn through.

    2: Whisper Thin Paint - This is where the has NOT been worn through but it's very, very close.




    Here are those pictures....


    1. Exposed primer - This is where the paint HAS BEEN worn through.

    First the frame-up shots so you can see the area from far away...








    Thin paint
    Here you can see where the paint has worn though and now the primer is exposed. This is also right where a person would commonly place or rest their hand, that is next to where the door opens.











    2: Whisper Thin Paint - This is where the has NOT been worn through but it's very, very close.

    First, here's the frame up shot. As you can this is the top of the rear fender line.




    Now we get closer - look carefully...






    Whisper Thin Paint
    Just a little rubbing right where you see the darker color along the raised body line and you'll go through the white paint and expose the black primer.







    We carefully buffed this car out and I think the original paint is good for another 44 years!







    The bigger picture

    And the bigger picture is anytime you're working on a classic car wit the original paint, CLOSELY inspect the paint for areas where the paint has been worn through AND for areas where the paint is WHISPER THIN. The paint has NOT worn through but it's very very close to wearing through.

    Then - avoid rubbing, touching and especially machine buffing the raised edges and raised body lines. Simply make it a practice to work up to these areas but no ON these areas.



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  3. #2
    Super Member Harry Da Hamster's Avatar
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    Re: Whisper Thin Paint on Classic Cars by Mike Phillips - Be Careful!

    My girlfriend always tells me "i wash my car so much, i'm gonna wash the paint off". I guess it actually is possible! How would you treat those body lines? Get some Propranolol, anti-trembling drug abused by sharp shooters for a more accurate shot, and some body colored paint, and try to cover the affected areas?

    I noticed new cars can also come with awefully thin paint too. The EPD painting process is so precise with coating panels evenly that they use much less product than what was used before. I've seen new cars in the 2.3mil (60 micrometer) range!

  4. #3
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    Re: Whisper Thin Paint on Classic Cars by Mike Phillips - Be Careful!

    Quote Originally Posted by anonymoususer View Post
    Get some Propranolol, anti-trembling drug abused by sharp shooters for a more accurate shot
    Yeah, well, this is like the last place I'd expect to learn that!

  5. #4
    Mike Phillips
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    Re: Whisper Thin Paint on Classic Cars by Mike Phillips - Be Careful!

    Quote Originally Posted by anonymoususer View Post

    My girlfriend always tells me "i wash my car so much, i'm gonna wash the paint off". I guess it actually is possible!

    You're neighbors probably think that to...



    Quote Originally Posted by anonymoususer View Post

    How would you treat those body lines?
    Good questions. It starts with head knowledge. Knowing you're working on a classic car and knowing that thin paint is an issue, you start by looking for signs of it.

    The person without knowledge would not see the ghosting in the below picture in the first place.







    They would see it after it was too late and they ran ANY buffer, with ANY pad and any chemical over it for a nanosecond because then it would be easy to see, like this,





    So the way to treat body lines is to start by closely inspecting them when you don't see the apparent.

    The next thing you do or rather don't do is you DON'T buff on them. You can buff up to them, for example, buff the paint up close to them, say keep the edge of the pad about an inch away from the body line. Even if working by hand you just work close to the body line but not ON the body line.

    If there are already visible sections of primer showing through the paint then any amount of buffing will simply make the primer sections grow larger and larger.




    Quote Originally Posted by anonymoususer View Post

    I noticed new cars can also come with awfully thin paint too.

    The EPD painting process is so precise with coating panels evenly that they use much less product than what was used before. I've seen new cars in the 2.3mil (60 micrometer) range!

    Yep... car manufactures just don't care about we the people.... at least we the people that would like a little bit more paint on our brand new car to give us something to work on and paint that will hold up and last over the mechanical service life of the car.



  6. #5
    Super Member damaged442's Avatar
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    Re: Whisper Thin Paint on Classic Cars by Mike Phillips - Be Careful!

    Looks great! I see many cracks in the paint in the close ups. It's apparent that this is pretty common on the Corvettes I have seen from this era. I have a friend who has a white 73 (only year with urethane front bumper and chrome rear) and his paint is severely cracked to the point where the paint chips have actually fallen off the car in some areas. Another friend of mine has a silver 74 with cracking too. Not just the paint, but the urethane bumpers too have become dry and brittle.

    How did you tackle this, and were you concerned that the paint would start chipping off? Obviously, I know you tacked it gently. I always wanted to help these guys out, but I am nervous approaching paint like this, especially since it's original paint.

  7. #6
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    Re: Whisper Thin Paint on Classic Cars by Mike Phillips - Be Careful!

    It will be interesting to see what Mike used on this car. Maybe he'll have another thread for that, or even mention it here. I'm guessing an AIO, but he always fools me. LOL! M7 maybe, but I doubt it, before the AIO. Could have used just a paint cleanser. It's fun to guess.
    Bill

  8. #7
    Mike Phillips
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    Re: Whisper Thin Paint on Classic Cars by Mike Phillips - Be Careful!

    ***Update***


    So sad....


    This car was t-boned in an accident. The damage has been fixed but now it's getting a brand new paint job.


    Another original paint car gone forever.


    The good news is "we" were able to polish it before it was wrecked and a number of people had their first opportunity to buff out an original paint classic Corvette.


    Pictures: 1972 Corvette Stingray - Original Single Stage Paint - Autogeek Extreme Makeover!






  9. #8
    Mike Phillips
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    Re: Whisper Thin Paint on Classic Cars by Mike Phillips - Be Careful!

    ***Update***


    Here's another original paint Corvette that was at our May, 2018 Cars & Coffee car show at the Elliot Museum. This car is beautiful considering that's probably the original single stage metallic lacquer or enamel paint from the GM assembly line.

    It does have rub-through areas and whisper thin paint in the exact same areas of the white 1972 Corvette above.







    I didn't have time to get pictures of the rub-through areas and the whisper thin areas but I will in the future.




  10. #9
    Mike Phillips
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    Re: Whisper Thin Paint on Classic Cars by Mike Phillips - Be Careful!

    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Phillips View Post



    Check out the tires on this car....


    Stay tuned...



  11. #10
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    Re: Whisper Thin Paint on Classic Cars by Mike Phillips - Be Careful!

    Forgot to share this picture on the 68 AMC Rebel SST I just polished.

    As you can see right on the body line along the lower part of the fender the paint was very thin with black primer showing through.





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