Paint Bubbling
 

I bought my K20 about 7 months ago and it had a fresh paint job. The whole truck had been gone through and worked out. I wouldn’t consider it a professional restoration but overall well put together. I just noticed that the paint is bubbling under my gas lid. It seems like the base coat and the clear are both coming up together in just this one spot. I imagine it had to do with gas getting spilled at some point even though I make a big effort to wipe things off. I can’t see any rust underneath. The whole truck is clean as it came from California so I would guess poor prep rather than rust popping through.

Anyways, my question is do you guys have any recommendations on how I can prevent this from spreading. I don’t really want to repaint that area right now and am fine with dealing with a bad cosmetic spot. I just want to prevent it from spreading as the paint is lifting. I almost want to take my heat gun and push it down... As you can see the trim is attached using adhesive clips and the trim was not mounted with drilled holes and clips. I don’t drive the truck in the rain or weather so it’s not out in the elements.

Thanks for any advice.

Jim

Re: Paint Bubbling
 

Looks like gas to me, I would take that area down to metal and seal it with an epoxy then you can have the paint blended and not have the hole truck painted. Gas must have stayed wet behind the trim long enough to get behind the paint
AKA the HACK

Re: Paint Bubbling
 

I'm willing to bet there's a hole in the metal behind that failure that's causing moisture to get in behind it.
(Some folks think body filler is hole filler, which it certainly is not.)

There's no cure to prevent it from getting worse except a proper repair.

Re: Paint Bubbling
 

That’s a good point about the trim hole being filled in. The seller said all the original trim holes were welded but maybe not... I’ll just break down and fix strip it/ repaint it. At least it’s a small area.

Re: Paint Bubbling
 

Let us know what you find out Looks like gas to me i’ve never seen paint curdled up like that from rust, if you look even the black on the trim under the gas filler is Messed up from the gas! i’ve seen that too much around the gas caps on motorcycle gas tanks.
AKA the HACK

Re: Paint Bubbling
 

Now that the lifted paint seems to have dried, (Yesterday it didn’t feel wet but was much more flexible. Now it is brittle) I delicately pulled the lifted paint back and the primer underneath looks great with no signs of discoloration or odd texture. It’s looking like gas perhaps ate it from the outside. Unbelievable as I have never seen gas eat a paint surface so quick!

Fortunately I have a can of blue and white PPG paint that was used to paint the truck that I can use for this touch up. I just don’t want it to happen again as I now will be paranoid!:eek:

Re: Paint Bubbling
 

This may have started before you bought it, once it gets under the paint the less it takes to soften the paint until it crept out from under the trim prep it good you don’t want it to come back. If you accidentally have gas spell and gets behind the trim hose it down
AKA the Hack

Re: Paint Bubbling
 

I appreciate the advice. I’ll learn from this and hopefully won’t let it happen again.

Re: Paint Bubbling
 

Not paint related, but spilled gas?....do you think you have the correct cap and did your year 71-72 have a internal vent loop up in the opossite side? My 71 had a vent loop up 24 inches behind the door. Don't know how many or whether it came that way on all models.