Dear Guys: I have a 69 Beaumont convertible with which I am still deleriously happy. However, when I got it, it had a few paint chip touch ups mostly on the front. Since then, I have managed to put a few little dings in myself, once with the hose nozzle ( I felt stupid ) and so on. Further on, the car seems to have picked up one or two more chips on the doors and some on the front. Now I've had cars with various issues, but never one so prone to chips in the paint ( small chips, head of a match size ). I do not drive on gravel roads or follow behind gravel trucks or other potentially hazardous vehicles. Is it possible that I just have very soft paint on this car. I have had the car fully 3 years, so there is no very recent repaint involved. Should have cured by now. Any opinions on this? Thanks. R.B.

Seen this many times. Either the paint wasn't mixed correctly and failed to catylize, a sub-standard brand of pain or clear was used, the painter failed in the prep stage or any combination of the above three. The only real solution is to strip and re-paint or if that's not an opption, keep touching up the chips until you can re-paint.
Gordon VM
Restoration Motorsports
http://groups.msn.com/Restorationphotos/shoebox.msnw?Page=1

Thanks, I thought I was "wigging-out", but I'm old enough to have had a lot of cars, and never run into this paint chip thing before. I guess I'll put up with what I have to and get it repainted some day. R.B.

This probably has little to do with "soft" paint and more to do with just the opposite, brittle paint.

To test if the surface is actually soft, rub your finger nails across it, it it marks easily it may be too soft. The other test is a bit more aggressive. Take a rag soaked in lacquer thinner and rub on it (in a hidden spot) and see if it softens or comes off on the rag.

More than likely it is simply a hard undercoat that is making it chip easy. If you were to paint a Cue ball and a golf ball and then drop them on the floor, which would chip easier? The cue ball because it is hard would ship much easier than the golf ball which would flex under the paint and protect it. If the paint on your car has little primer under it, or the primer wasn't sanded well, it will chip easily. It is real common to simply seal over ecoat or thin primer and paint, it is not enough of a cushion.

------------------
1965 Buick Gran Sport Convertible
1965 Buick Skylark H/T
"Fan of most anything that moves human beings"

Thickness of total finish material can also result in a surface that is prone to chipping. Most replacement urethane finishes (bc/cc) if properly applied end up at 7 to 9 mil of film. Example: original finish (lacquer) 5 to 7 mil max. Add one enamel or acrylic enamel repaint 6 to 8 mil. or more, minimum. If it has had one more on top of that, probably urethane, add 7 to 9 mil. Deduct some for sanding and prep between refinish jobs, approx 6 to 7 for all. The paint finish is probably 15+ mil thick, and that is being conservative. Depending on types of products on car 15+ mil. thickness is in the danger range for chipping and crazing. That is a lot of material that is very brittle as MARTINSR said. If the vehicle has had any significant amount of refinish work done over the years it probably exceeds that 15 mil. number. Due to product upgrades they are probably different types of products (lacquer, enamel, acrylic enamel, acrylic urethane, and urethanes. All these products have different chip and corrosion resistance characteristics. Just for giggles and your own piece of mind, find a local shop or paint vendor that has a mil gauge. Thickness and age of paint will tell you a lot. Karl