Micro-blisters !!!

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palacebear
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Micro-blisters !!!

Post by palacebear »

My Moggie was repainted about 28 years ago. When I bought it last year it showed some evidence of micro-blistering beneath the paint surface the car went into storage last August whilst we went through the chaos of selling our house in London and moving to Worcestershire. One way or another the car spent 7 months in a fairly dry farm outbuilding, under a breatheable car cover, being uncovered and driven once a month. In January I discovered the paintwork was looking very dull. Closer inspection revealed that almost every panel was covered with micro-blisters and the surface of the car felt like fine sandpaper to the touch. I quickly decided that my very cheap car cover had not done its job and that condensation had formed on the bodywork and been trapped beneath the cover. Acting on advice from a local bodyshop, I left the car uncovered, and finally brought it out of storage in March. With the car home, I washed and dried it and left it outdoors for a couple of weeks... and success!! the raised, rough blistering began to dry and shrink. Six weeks later with a few spells of reasonably sunny weather, assisted by weekly washing (warm water, no car shampoo), a thorough drying (I use an old micropore cloth) and two coats of Autoglym applied a week apart, the paintwork feels smooth to the touch again and my Moggie looks as good as it did before it went into storage.
Moral of the story: Cheap so-called 'breatheable' car covers are USELESS... but you all knew that anyway!
1956 4-door called Max
firedrake1942
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by firedrake1942 »

Any hint as to where you got the cover as I want to avoid a similar fate.?
Trickydicky
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by Trickydicky »

Sorry Palacebear but I have to disagree with you. The most likely cause of the problem was due to not having enough air movement to disperse and prevent the condensation.
My car is covered all year in a concrete garage with a inexpensive breathable indoor cover but I have a 14" desk fan set to come at intervals on a timer throughout the day. This creates an airflow around the car.
Before I used a cover and a fan during the winter the paint would suffer from blooming and the chrome would show rust spots in places from the damp environment. Since using the fan and the cover for the past 3 years I have not suffered the issues.
Richard

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Nickol
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by Nickol »

i would tend to agree with the above. Both my cars are stored in a dry "fachwerk" ( oak Framed with clay infill - clay soaks upmoisture like a sponge) outhouse which is quite well aired. In other words the walls have holes in them. The Roof is however about 15m high. I too use a cheapy cover with some blankets underneath just to Keep the dust and bird droppings off. The inside of the cars each have a chemical drying Container. Even though the temps in winter are somewhat colder than GB and often below freezing for weeks on end, there is no evidence of condensation here.

Not so in my normal concrete Garage used for my modern car. I did store Morris there a couple of winters ago and it was always wet with condensation and the inside attracted mildue ( is that the word?) . Fortunately that is past history now.

The tip Palacebear how to revive the surface is though well received, thanks for that.
Gott schütze mich vorm Sturm und Wind und Autos, die aus England sind.
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firedrake1942
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by firedrake1942 »

A friend of mine keeps his 1954 convertible in a 'Carcoon' in his garage and swears by it. My garage has no power being rented, and have thought of using a photovoltaic cell on the roof to charge spare battery as it only needs 12 v to operate. I like the idea of the dehumidifying trays inside, Has any one any experience of the carcoon or similar or any photovoltaic cells which are reliable ?
palacebear
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by palacebear »

firedrake1942 wrote:Any hint as to where you got the cover as I want to avoid a similar fate.?
I sourced the cover from fleabay around a year ago. Can't remember the seller name but it was one of the companies who sell all sorts of stuff and have feedback in the hundreds of thousands. Cover only cost around £18 and yes I know... you get what you pay for etc etc!
1956 4-door called Max
firedrake1942
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by firedrake1942 »

I got one from aldi and use old sheets etc. underneath in a local authority concrete garage, but am nervous about trapping moisture.
palacebear
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by palacebear »

Trickydicky wrote:Sorry Palacebear but I have to disagree with you. The most likely cause of the problem was due to not having enough air movement to disperse and prevent the condensation.
My car is covered all year in a concrete garage with a inexpensive breathable indoor cover but I have a 14" desk fan set to come at intervals on a timer throughout the day. This creates an airflow around the car.
Before I used a cover and a fan during the winter the paint would suffer from blooming and the chrome would show rust spots in places from the damp environment. Since using the fan and the cover for the past 3 years I have not suffered the issues.
You may be right. Perhaps my expectations were too high but I would have thought that, as the building was in use with the main doors (10ft high x 12ft wide) standing open every day, air movement wouldn't have been an issue. If its of relevence, the building has a footprint of approx 25ft x 40ft and stands approx 16ft high to the roof apex. Construction is concrete floor, concrete block walls, steel roof trusses supporting corrugated sheet asbestos (eeekk!!) roof. Plenty of gaps under the eaves as evidenced by the nesting swifts. The building stands in a dip, surrounded by Welsh hillsides so I guess its possible that mist/moist air could settle there.
1956 4-door called Max
SteveClem
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by SteveClem »

Sheet asbestos roofs are fine unless you start drilling or cutting holes in them.
Oh, and a good condensation reduction tip is keeping a big sock full of cat litter in the car over winter.
palacebear
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by palacebear »

I'll definitely remember the cat litter suggestion. Hopefully the car's new permanent home (brick garage integral with house) will be a more forgiving environment.
As a foot-note, the asbestos roof at the farm has recently begun to fall down leaving some pretty large holes and for safety reasons the electricity has been disconnected until the building is made weatherproof. Seems like I got out just in time!
1956 4-door called Max
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by Alchemist »

regarding car covers... I bought a fairly expensive one (around £120) for my Morris that lives outside (cover is definitely needed as our front garden is canopied by a sycamore tree which drops horrid sticky gum seasonally, and is a haven for collared doves who love flying down and perching on anything in our front garden, using it for a toilet and other unsavoury things)...I digress... Despite being "breathable" the instructions of even this expensive cover states that it should be removed at least once a week to "air" the car, not be put on when the car is wet, and not to be secured too tightly so that a constant flow of air can pass around it..... all seems to confirm what you guys have been suggesting, that condensation / trapped moisture is the cause of much grief..!
kennatt
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by kennatt »

having had several fiberglass bodied cars over the years,lotus,scimitars etc, which are notorious sufferers of micro blistering/osmosis, and from personal experience and combined with that of other owners,car covers are the one main cause of the blistering,just about every scimitar that has been stored under a cover has blistered . I would never use one again ,where ever they are in contact with the paint they encourage moisture to form.....osmosis starts and blisters pop up.If inside, a better idea is a simple cotton sheet where moisture can evaporate . If I was forced to store outside I think I would try to rig up a tent or such ,so that nothing touched the car .
When my lotus suffered ,fortunately my family owned garage had a heated spray booth so a baking overnight got rid of them,but when. the scimitar GTC suffered, they had blistered right down to the fibre glass gel coat .I had to strip the whole car down to gel coat re prime and re spray. Good job I could do it myself,would have cost an arm and a leg to get it done in an other body shop.
Sleeper
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by Sleeper »

kennatt
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by kennatt »

sleeper, sorry about your micros, but if you can find a body shop and they have nothing in their heated booth,24 hours will drastically reduce the blisters, good luck
Sleeper
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Re: Micro-blisters !!!

Post by Sleeper »

PM'd

John :wink:
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