Paint cracking on my VW. What can I do to slow it down/stop it?
 

Car was painted by the previous owner. As you can see, I’ve got the paint cracking on the rear trunk/engine lid. I suspect that he applied too many layers of paint and the vibration of opening and closing the lid is causing the paint to crack. Any suggestions as to how this occurred and what I can do to try and slow down or stop any further cracking? Thanks! I really want to avoid having to repaint the engine lid as I’m not sure I can find an exact match to the paint. Plus it would be a pain in the butt to do so.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1642092962.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1642092962.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1642092962.jpg

I know of no way to fix that short of painting it.

In the interim, you might make sure it’s heavily waxed, to keep water infiltration from occurring.

Yea, the paint is lifting off of whatevr is underneath. Likely just a bad paint job.

Nice car, but in the end, all that area will need to be sanded off and repainted. The only other solution I can think of would be a wrap.

I wouldn't consider a wrap as a fix - until the area is sanded down and reprimed at least.

Far from a paint or body expert, but from what it looks like there is either a old repair down there and the bondo or whatever is separating (not likely...) or that area wasn't completely and properly cleaned, primed, etc. before paint.

Call it patina and live with it.


Or get a pro to match the paint.

She's a beauty, Kurt! I'm no expert but seems like just being careful with any further jarring would help the most. Waxing those areas also is a good tip from Java. Good luck!

https://live.staticflickr.com/498/32...01f844c0_b.jpg

Looks like body filler is lifting off the metal and taking the paint with it.

No, me either. Yes, poor prep. Many heavy coats of lacquer would sometime do that as well.

Wonder if some super glue down in the cracks would buy you some time .

that's a cool car!!

no clue on the temp fix. to me it seems like "game over". water can get in. and that is never a good thing.

seems like that is either gonna propagate rust, or if you are in a freeze thaw area, it will simple get under there and the cracks will spread.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I’m wondering if maybe I should just put a clear bra over it for now. That would at least keep the moisture out and perhaps slow down the cracking.

In the long run, it’s just easier to paint it. You can have some test panels sprayed before you start the repair, to the nail the color match.

Caulk it ;)

I SOOOO want to take a large disc sander to that thing. Nice coarse grit, go right through to metal and leave a nice layer of bondo dust all over the garage and the rest of the car. :)

Do as Java says- practice mix to get the color right, then strip that off and clean up whatever is underneath.

Flex Seal perhaps???

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I laughed, but this is probably the only answer. :)

Clear caulk.

There's bondo under that paint. Sorry to say..

if it's only on the deck lid
a few hundred bucks and its fixed

This.

My TR is almost that color. One of the fenders cracked the same - after an ungodly expensive bare metal respray. Wasn’t bondo - too heavy on the paint.

The only fix was to take it back and redo. You’ll never be happy until it’s fixed...

I have the same thing happening on my '84 BMW 6-series, still trying to figure out what to do with it....but will live with it for a little while longer but ultimately might end painting it,

^^^This. "bad" paint generally flakes, "bad" body filler lifts. This looks more like lifting than flaking.

Patina... leave it

But the Flex Seal idea has some merit

I found a sticker that will cover the cracks in the paint.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1642184497.jpg

That IS a cool car. Yeah, perhaps caulk it for now. It seems to me it's worth stripping and repainting but I am not familiar with its value. I'd LOVE to have one of the old station wagons.

I think caulking it would be the same thing as killing a pimple with fire. It would make it look worse.

I’d strip it and paint it. Boom. Done.

I think I’ll probably just go ahead and strip the paint off and repaint it this summer. In the meantime, maybe I will put a couple of stickers on to cover up the cracks.

Like everything else, the price of the air cooled Volkswagen’s have risen dramatically. What used to be a $1500 car is now a $10,000 car.

My mom won a square back when I was a tiny kid. Blew me away she could drive a stick shift. Same color.

She sold it. Total bummer.

Mentally, I've already removed the lid, and sanded it down to metal. Good news is that the filler wasn't thick at all. Any corrosion was superficial and sanded right out. My problem is that when I removed the emblems, 1/2 the emblem nipples broke off, and the other 1/2 -the metal backing clips snapped. Also, the threaded pot metal attachments on the the rear center assembly snapped when I went to go undo them, so I'm bummed. I'm on ebay looking for replacements now. Hoping your project goes better! :D