FAQ: Flaking, Chipping, Cracking, Thinning Paint

Ok so the paint on my hood and rear deck is starting to break up and come off im not to happy about it but i guess we all know its part of the white riv's . My question is the car it self is still kind of shiny would you guys just repaint the two or do the whole car. and then when that comes down to it that special paint is expensive would you just go with somethin worth wild?

When it was happening to me I just decided to paint the whole car. I went with a blue instead of white too. I love the white but I didnt have the extra $1,500+ to spend on the pearl.

Is it only the whites that do it? Anyone hear of another color that did it?

I've seen several Rivs around town that are losing paint on the hood and the rearend. None of them are bright white diamond. Mine is, and the paint is pretty much perfect still other than a minor scratch here and there (VERY few). If mine started to get bad, I would probably go with a different Riv color, maybe even black. Depends on finances at the time. I really do like the pearl white...

I think they fixed the paint by the 1998 year. Seems a lot of flaking happened to the earlier years, especially on the hood. It's shiny underneath because the hood is aluminum; it was probably harder to get the paint to stick.

Mine is a 98 and it peeled. It was only on the roof and pillars. The hood was fine.

Yeah my 97's hood started to bubble, it was all aluminum oxidation underneath.

One thing to remember if you go with another color: it will cost $$$$ to get the door sills painted. Some people dont mind it, but It would bug me to get into black car with white door sills.

And the trunk inside edges and underhood places etc.......

urbsnspices wrote:

Yeah my 97's hood started to bubble, it was all aluminum oxidation underneath.

One thing to remember if you go with another color: it will cost $$$$ to get the door sills painted. Some people dont mind it, but It would bug me to get into black car with white door sills.

Yeah cost me $100 per door/hood/trunk.

Crap. Did some close inspection around the exterior this evening, and I'm finding some paint peeling issues in a few spots, not especially obvious, but I'm sure they will get worse. What do I paint first, the 68 GS or the Riv?

hmmm tough choice flip a quarter? let god decide

Neither one will get painted anytime soon, but getting both done eventually.... $$$$$

My 68 has seen around 50,000 miles since previous owner painted it around 10-12 yrs ago. Then used it for DD duty out in Oregon/Washington. It has plenty of flaws and paint chips now, though it looks great from 20' and the interior is nice. I'm more concerned with what will be found when the old paint is stripped. I know it's not all metal underneath. But if I want it to hold it's value, it needs to be kept up.

The Riv... well it deserves to look good too. And the paint will probably hold up well for a couple more years or so. Guess I'll have to just wait and see what happens. I want to get it up in the air and clean up the underbody with a wire brush and maybe POR it. There's surface rust in some areas, and I don't want to let it get any worse. I really do not intend to ever let the Riv go. Except it's gone NOW. Let my wife drive it to Mpls MN for a weekend with her sisters. That's another 500 miles would rather not have on the odo, but I couldn't say no. Since I have the kids here with me, it IS nice to use the van anyway. (can't believe I just said that!)

I woulnd't say that paints going to last a few more years.

My paint had this LITTLE TINY chip in it about the size of half a dime. So I thought "Just a little touch up paint,"

6 months later an entire pillar of the car and tons of other various spots had "Just a little touch up paint."

I can dream, can't I?

Truthfully, I expect to repaint the Riv in the next couple of years. But we'll see how this stuff develops. Just not sure of color. Damned expensive to do it in bright white diamond again. I'd like to go with a factory color, but it will be hard to decide which one. I really like my original the best.

Paint the 68. I'm sure the paint on her is much older than the riv's and nothing looks better on a classic than fresh paint!

1998 Riv wrote:

I can dream, can't I?

Truthfully, I expect to repaint the Riv in the next couple of years. But we'll see how this stuff develops. Just not sure of color. Damned expensive to do it in bright white diamond again. I'd like to go with a factory color, but it will be hard to decide which one. I really like my original the best.

I didn't repaint it the bright white diamond again because it would have been like $2,000 more. I was already spending $2,200 didn't want anymore and this was a macco job.

The hardest part was the color choosing though. I think I spent about 3 days sitting in macco trying to decide a color will all those books infront of me and the guys making fun of me for not being able to decide.

Its not an easy decision!!!!

jax95riv wrote:

Paint the 68. I'm sure the paint on her is much older than the riv's and nothing looks better on a classic than fresh paint!

Problem is the 68 will need more than just paint. There are other issues that will need to be addressed at the same time. Right now it is a decent driver quality vehicle, and I think I'm content to keep it that way for a while. What it really will need is an off-frame resto, out of my financial reach for now, maybe forever. Paint alone won't fix what's wrong.

Fresh paint on the Riv will make it look like a brand spankin' new car.

Spacebar, I assume Maaco just sprayed over your old paint?

[quote="1998 Riv"]

jax95riv wrote:

Spacebar, I assume Maaco just sprayed over your old paint?

I paid for them to prep it. I don't think they just sprayed over they most likely sanded it down (I hope?). Theres no sign of white underneath the blue where the paint has chipped (my wonderful cousin hitting a wall will the door).

The paint on the 99 Riv I plan on buying(tomorrow), has thin paint in the drains that run down each side of the roof and also at the very base of the A pillars there is very little paint.
I was just wondering if this was something that was common on these cars.
It does not look like the paint was wheeled off with a polisher, it looks like it was just applied very thinly from the factory.
Thanks for any info or tips.
I may try to get it airbrushed to touch it up, or perhaps just drive it...
Bert

yeah my '98 is the same way.

Mine doesn't seem thin in those areas, but I have paint chips missing along some seams, not really visible until you take a pretty close look. I've seen a lot of local Rivs, mostly 95/96 cars, that have massive peeling problems. Probably were not garaged much. Hood, roof, trunk lid mainly.

I had my windshield removed/replaced to repair some surface rust around it. When the body shop buffed the car out they chipped the paint along the roof drains. Took me long time to touch it up with a brush.

They did a superb job around the windshield, though.

Albertj

1998 Riv wrote:

Mine doesn't seem thin in those areas, but I have paint chips missing along some seams, not really visible until you take a pretty close look. I've seen a lot of local Rivs, mostly 95/96 cars, that have massive peeling problems. Probably were not garaged much. Hood, roof, trunk lid mainly.

Unfortunately, it's a massive defect in the primer GM used on a LOT of their vehicles from late 80's to late 90's. To my recollection, it's a water based primer that hardened before the paint could "adhere" to it. The paint will hold up for a while but there's literally an air gap between paint and primer.. the only thing holding the paint on is... the paint....
once it starts flaking, you can strip it off with a fingernail. The Upside is... you won't rust where the paint's flaking because there's still a strong layer of primer underneath... the downside is.. in order to have the car repainted, you have to take it to bare metal (get all the primer off) and start fresh.

Crap. This winter I've lost my first 2 flakes of paint on the body. On the trunk, the backside on the vertical surface. 2 spots about the size of dimes. Guess I'll have to try out that little bottle of bright white diamond touch-up paint I got at the dealer last year. This really bums me out, my paint is sooo good everywhere else.

i hear you, i think most 95-99 rivs did it tho, it really sucks

I've really only seen it on the TOP of the lid though, not the lower back area, and on the front of the hood on other area Rivs here. Seems strange, the specific location of my flakes. Not at an edge or anything, just right in the middle. I'll have to get a pic later.