Running paint cracks in the roof gutters on a T5 LWB after respray

[aSimpleLife]

Had the roof resprayed as part of the latest hail damage repair on my white van.

After about 5 months when the weather started to heat up I noticed cracks opening up in both gutters...wear the welds/seams run...and they kept opening...to the point where they were close to the full length of the roof. It was diagnosed as having too much paint in the gutters which dried on top faster than it did underneath. Like mud at the bottom of a big puddle. So it was sanded back and resprayed.

Another 2 months and the cracks started opening up again. So this time after it was sanded back they applied body deadener before spraying. They did a pretty poor job of applying it and didn't smooth it all down properly.

Yet another 2 months and now more cracks are opening up. Less than before and smaller. It looks like they are above the areas where body deadener was applied.

A VW mechanic advised there is some product that should be put down in the gutters before painting? But he couldn't remember the name.

Has anyone else experienced this?

[Transporter]

The product you want is probably called a Dripcheck.
The 2months and cracks in the paint seems very short time. Was the surface sanded down to the bare metal and done properly.from the start or was it just re spray? If it’s cracking, you have to remove everything from there to the metal, in the joins you have to get as much of old paint and putty out as possible, then use Dripcheck.

Be aware that, in majority Australian paints and clear coats aren’t as heat resistant as European paints. The Magnas, Falcons, Commodores and AU made Toyotas are the only cars you see with pealing and fried paint, unless EU car had a paint repaired here, you won’t see paint cracking and pealing on them.

[aSimpleLife]

Thankyou very much for that information. That's the info I needed before going into battle yet again today with the repairer and the insurer in an attempt to get the repair done properly.
I don't believe they ever went back to the bare metal. Just a quick respray initially. I don't think the preparation was very good in the gutters as on one side it was initially peeling as well as cracking. They had even initially sprayed over the top of the roof blanking bolts, probably because they stripped the hex head on one of them
The rest of the roof is still good, just the gutters have had the problems.
It initially looked like there was too much paint in the gutters. It was then sanded back and repainted but I think it was only a very thin coat which cracked much faster? With the 3rd attempt they applied a black sealer (not sure what brand?) to prevent the cracking and again only a thin coat of paint. The sealer has been roughly applied. In some areas you could clearly see where there is too much and uneven. In other areas I think they have missed it with sealer and it is here that it is now cracking. Not all over like it did the first time.
They seem to be able to match and blend the paint well with the rest of the roof on the 2 attempts to fix it.
So now I have to insist they fully remove all the paint from both gutters, apply Dripcheck properly to all of it, and then respray with multiple light coats of paint?

Also interesting what you say about Australian paints and clear coats. You would think in our conditions they would be more heat resistant, not less. Do you know why that is?
I have witnessed exactly what you are saying for myself. Had never stopped to think it was just an Australian problem.

[Transporter]

I bet you, they must’ve been in shock when you complained about cracking paint in the gutters on the roof.
I’ve painted quite a few cars in my life and know a bit about automotive paint, but I don’t know why Australian built cars have dodgy paint finishes, maybe there is a crash repairer in the forum to shed some light on.

[Sunny43.5]

Not sure its just Aussie cars because my sons AH paint went all white and flakey the top coat seems to disintegrate . that model was built in Belgium so its an EU car .

[aSimpleLife]

Apparently so...as they genuinely seamed (haha) to have no idea about why there was a problem.

[Transporter]

Not sure its just Aussie cars because my sons AH paint went all white and flakey the top coat seems to disintegrate . that model was built in Belgium so its an EU car .

I consider Opel as the last EU car manufacturer I’d buy, if there were no horses.

[Hillbilly]

Just an aside Our neighbours daughter has a fairly new Skoda wagon and right along the join where the l/h roof and side meet there is a full length crack in the paint. Yet the r/h side is perfect.

[Sunny43.5]

I consider Opel as the last EU car manufacturer I’d buy, if there were no horses.

Strangely I had one of the first Opel Barinas back in 96 did a shade over 100000 in 4 years cost me one set of front tyres and a heater hose during the time I owned it so $85 for one hose not bad for the distance . Then I had the next series Astra and again no money spent during that time . Sold the Astra bought my first VW T4 second hand it was prettty good until I tried to kill it by running into the back of a truck , then our T5 new in 2005 nothing but a bloody nightmare and only did 111000 over 8 years but it cost at VW prices nearly $18k to keep on the road .

[Transporter]

Yeah, really strange, maybe it was just my dream, I was working on Barinas, Vectras, Astras... cracked cylinder heads, coil packs, failed ECUs, broken timing belts before 60,000km come quickly to my mind ...and boy they had very expensive timing belt kits also had to be done at 60,000km intervals. If you needed to remove radiator you had to remove A/C gas. They were really rubbish cars.

Glad I stopped working on them 15 years ago.