Bubbles under paint :0

[Dee 4x4]

Yeah, so my car has been sitting in the rain for about 2 days. I'm working on it today fixing the interior light and I succeed. So here I am, feeling all good about myself and how I've finally straightened all the loose ends out with my new car, only to see BUBBLES under the paint on two panels on the right hand side of the car!

There are tons of them. Tiny little bubbles up to 1mm in diameter across the paintwork on this side of the car. I pricked one with a knife and dirty water came out!

What the hell does this mean? Is the side of my car going to completely rust out in the near future? What can I do? This really sh!ts me. After the alternator blowing a day after I picked up the car, finding a hole in the fuel tank on my first trip out, and the fuse holder for the main relay being stuffed (causing my car to die and me having to call RACQ) I'm starting to worry that I purchased a complete heap of sh!t.

How bad are these bubbles and what can I do?

Maybe I'll end up driving this till it falls apart, sell the Skyline, buy a mint low km 1998 coily and transfer everything across...

[sierrajim]

rub it back and repaint it.

Sounds like whoever painted it before didn't prep it properly.

[Bad JuJu]

Sorry to bum you out here but I only know of 3 things that cause this

The paint was contaminated by the spray painter who did not have a water trap right at the gun. Running a compressor causes condensation in the storage tank which will blow through the lines.

It was painted at dew point .... it will need to be done again properly. But usually the panel has an orange peel effect or crows feet also.

The other thing it could be is rust, The water was probably not dirty but contained rust. Check the otherside of the panel there may be some rust there and the water has soaked through to behind the paint on the outside.

[grimbo]

sounds like rust to me unfortunately, had the same problem on an old valiant. It was the precursor for some pretty horrible discoveries once I got started. Fingers crossed its not but …

What panels, hopefully doors or something easy to replace or fix

[suzuki boy]

Doesn't sound too good! Good luck.

[nickw86au]

The other thing it could be is rust, The water was probably not dirty but contained rust. Check the otherside of the panel there may be some rust there and the water has soaked through to behind the paint on the outside.

Hopefully not tho...

When I bought my zook I thought that I had a great deal till I pulled out the flooring and really started to dig at the floor paintwork - heaps of rust showed up. I'm sure others (esp. soft top owners) might have similar stories. Anyway, good luck with it, hope you didn't buy a dud...