paintwork on toyota aygo

mrtobs

Hi there, wondering if anyone can help/has experienced similar problems? The paintwork on the front bumper of my (55 reg) toyota aygo has several areas where the clear lacquer is bubbling and then peeling off. The dealership have told me that it is stonechip damage, which I find odd because: 1. the paintwork underneath is totally undamaged, 2.There are several areas where it is bubbling up (what are the chances of stones causing this at the same time, without damaging the paintwork?). 3.I have owned plenty of cars in the past & inevitably, some have had stonechips, but I've never seen anything like this before. I feel that it is more likely to be some sort of fault in the paintwork/lacquer and am worried that the same thing will happen elsewhere on the car (not an attractive image - looks like someone with sunburn with their skin peeling off!). Anyone any thoughts on what could be the cause?

chrisw

It sounds like the bumper has had a bit of a respray in the past and the paint hasn't stuck properly. Even if you've had it since new, it may have been sprayed following a small knock during transport which is not unusual. If so, it is unlikely the rest of the car will go the same way. You could really do with an independent inspection to identify the cause.

Inactive

The cause of this is lack of adhesion between the base coat and the top lacquer coat, usually caused by a poor application following previous damage.

The " stone chips " shouldn't be the prime cause of this under normal circumstances, however, if poorly applied as I suspect, then they will start the process of peeling, the weather will do the rest.

Exemplar

Agree with inactive.

thescouselander

I have had this before - I've heard one cause can be the use of high power jets when cleaning the car (like at the jet wash). Anyway, you'll need to do something about it to stop it spreading. If the damage is low down you can do a reasonably good job of fixing it without noticing too much. If the area is quite small you can get a lacquer touch-up pen and go round the inside of the peeling area to seal the gap between the lacquer and paint - this will stop the weather making the lacquer peel more. For larger areas you might consider using a can of lacquer and spraying the damaged area. Try to sand down the edge of the original lacquer to make it a bit smoother.


I have done the above with reasonable success and it has stopped the peeling area getting any worse. The the damage is in an obvious location it may be better to have a body shop look at it.