[GVblue]

I bought my Alfa Red Brera new almost ten years ago to the week. It has been lovingly cared for and has only covered 35,000 miles.

I last washed it on Friday of last week and towelled it down with a spray of Meguirs quick wax which I have done many times before and covered it with a Stormforce cover.

Went to it this morning and was sickened by what I found.

Large areas of the car the bright red paint had faded and was covered in tiny little blisters.

Have Googled problem and it seems as though it is caused by the cover and a mixture moisture and heat.

£3000 respray required on a car worth little more than that, what do I do?

Car cover users beware.

 

[Giorget2]

Owwwww! :depressed::depressed: Yep - car covers need to be breathable, but even with breathable covers, cars should only be covered when completely dry, not soon after washing. You'll see that most car manufacturers even advise not parking a car inside a closed garage soon after washing.

 

[TheGrimJeeper]

Oh no.


And Alfa Red was a pay-option as expensive as metallic for the Brera & 159.

 

[GVblue]

Oh no.


And Alfa Red was a pay-option as expensive as metallic for the Brera & 159.

You're right there Nev. Still, I had promised it a front end respray and it's the bonnet and one wing that's worst affected. Plastic roof panel to rear of sky-view also bad but considering painting that black anyway. Can't see the point in bothering with a full £3000 respray on a car that is probably worth less than that anyway.

At least got a good price from local paint shop for the bad bits.

Not having much car luck at the moment, eleven days of Evoque ownership and it's spent the last five of them at the dealers with a dead engine, at the end of a queue of seventeen other broken down LRs. Don't recall the sacked Top Gear lot having a laugh about their reliability.

 

[GVblue]

Owwwww! :depressed::depressed: Yep - car covers need to be breathable, but even with breathable covers, cars should only be covered when completely dry, not soon after washing. You'll see that most car manufacturers even advise not parking a car inside a closed garage soon after washing.

Cover is a Stormforce and is breathable, cost about £180.

The instructions state that the cover should be dry but they do not say that paint damage will occur if cover is damp.

 

[halftone]

Are you sure it is damage to the topcoat/paint itself, not just a reaction in the resin/wax coat you had just applied, that hadn't hardened off? I've been polishing and covering up sometimes-wet motorcycles for 30 years and never seen anything worse than superficial marking of the polish used, which is easily fixed by re-waxing.

OTOH I have had lacquer blister all over a Renault, starting in the most exposed areas, but that was just age as the acrylic becomes porous and water penetrates to form little blisters underneath. Moisture trapped against the surface would accelerate that, but if that's what it is, it was well on the way to certain doom anyhow, whether covered or not.

I had the bonnet resprayed by Renault on that particular car. The same thing happened again within 5 years, but by then half the rest of the body had gone the same way.

[EDIT: that was a metallic red too. Which may be interesting because I never saw silver, metallic green or blue versions of the same car with the problem, but knew of several the same colour as mine that had leprosy.]

 

[Top Down]

Not having much car luck at the moment, eleven days of Evoque ownership and it's spent the last five of them at the dealers with a dead engine, at the end of a queue of seventeen other broken down LRs. Don't recall the sacked Top Gear lot having a laugh about their reliability.

You see that Nev? Go careful.:biglaugh:

 

[TheGrimJeeper]

Mine's not missed a single beat and has only been to the dealer for services.

 

[Top Down]

Mine's not missed a single beat and has only been to the dealer for services.

Now you've blown it!

 

[TheGrimJeeper]

 

[MalcQV]

As Halftone says...

I have a fitted cover from Specialised Covers. Wasn't cheap. I still use it but after four years it de-laminated. I use now with a waterproof cover over it.
I have took it off (Spider 916) this year and it all looked good. However a few years ago when we had, had quite a bit of snow one winter, when I took off the cover there were two rings (always a closed ring, not circular but closed) of tiny blisters in the red paint.

A friend of mine whom does restorations told me to leave the cover off for a few days, preferably in the dry. I left it under my mum's carport. After a week they completely disappeared as he said they would.

Apparently the car had, had some body work repairs before (not surprising on a 1997 car) and it is where the repair was not prepared quite as well as it should have been and not done in warm, dry conditions. Water gets trapped in the paint I believe and reacts when moisture is in constant contact. I think the snow sat on the cover did not help. I also believe this was when the cover de-laminated.

Anyway it has never done it since. It was just two places and when I think about it probably two patches of filler. So if you leave the car without the cover they may disappear.

I no longer have pictures but they were almost micro like. Like a pin head all close together.

 

[W1NST]

Mine's not missed a single beat and has only been to the dealer for services.

I'm sure r5omeo appreciates you sharing that with him given his current woes. Any chance you could edit your post and put something like nanananana on the end for full effect?

 

[GVblue]

Wezley

All the paintwork is original and lovingly treated with Autoglym products.

I've had my Stormforce cover on for long periods through two winters with no ill effect.

Last Friday I washed the car and dried it off before putting the cover on, paintwork was fine.
When I took the cover off on the following Monday, half of the bonnet, one wing and a section of roof was covered in a white bloom with tiny little spots UNDER the laquer. I suppose it was not accurate to describe them as blisters and they certainly could not be burst. There was a clear line of unaffected paint coinciding with the seam of the cover.

The areas affected seemed to be the ones catching the most sun and it was quite sunny at times that weekend, so it seems to be caused by heat rather than cold..

 

[GVblue]

I'm sure r5omeo appreciates you sharing that with him given his current woes. Any chance you could edit your post and put something like nanananana on the end for full effect?

No sweat WINST, I think Nev was just responding to AlfaRed's Jibe, rather than lacking sympathy for my self pity. :thumbup:

 

[TheGrimJeeper]

NaNaNa....


No, it's a bugger when things don't go right.
As well I know.


Squirrel gnawed pinecone dents on the Brera and 159, anyone?

 

[MalcQV]

Wezley

All the paintwork is original and lovingly treated with Autoglym products.

I've had my Stormforce cover on for long periods through two winters with no ill effect.

Last Friday I washed the car and dried it off before putting the cover on, paintwork was fine.
When I took the cover off on the following Monday, half of the bonnet, one wing and a section of roof was covered in a white bloom with tiny little spots UNDER the laquer. I suppose it was not accurate to describe them as blisters and they certainly could not be burst. There was a clear line of unaffected paint coinciding with the seam of the cover.

The areas affected seemed to be the ones catching the most sun and it was quite sunny at times that weekend, so it seems to be caused by heat rather than cold..

Yes that was different to what I had. Bugger.