CAV paint

tdm434m · 03-25-05, 08:57 PM

Anyone have trouble with the paint bubbling up on their CAV? Mine did. Also one tire kept going flat, bubble test showed weld on the rim was leaking, got it fixed. I wonder what will happen when its complete and I start to drive it? RWJ

Gary Gibbs · 03-26-05, 01:58 PM

I do have a slow leak on my PS Engineering rear wheels which are three piece welded. The weld seam should be sealed on inside prior to assembly. Where yours PSE?

tdm434m · 03-26-05, 05:21 PM

I don't know what brand they are, I had them rewelded and it still leaked. The tire shop suggested silicone so I used the black silicone used OEM for new cars on the oil pans, worked like a champ, RWJ

Gary Gibbs · 03-26-05, 06:03 PM

None of the 15" wheels made in South Africa are welded. I would guess the PSE. Are these rears for a Gulf flared car?

Canuk40 · 03-26-05, 11:09 PM

Hi Wayne, I have to agree with Gary on the construction of wheels. The OEM CAV wheel is cast and machined from one piece aluminum. These wheels are extremely high quality, of the past eight wheels we've had balanced, a dial indicator has not shown more than .001" runout. As for porisity, it's possible but unlikely.

I hear .005 >.011" runout on some welded multi-piece wheels. That can make balancing the wheel/tire assembly quite challenging. However that going off topic...

About the paintwork, the factory finish is absolutely top shelf as anyone who's seen a CAV can atest, but the "Almighty" works in strange and mysterious ways, and not in the CAV paint shop! I can send you the paint codes for the original PPG tints if your looking at a respray or touch-up.

tdm434m · 03-27-05, 06:12 AM

The wheels are welded two piece with a welded center section. What I didn't like was someone used a can of stop leak which is a mess to clean out. The car does have the 17" wheels and flares. My paint guy thinks the car was painted before the fiberglass cured. The car was a guardsman blue but when I had it repainted I changed it to black with silver stripes, I like the new color, paint turned out great. When I get back from a trip I will take pics of both cars and post them if anyone is interested, Wayne

Gary Gibbs · 03-27-05, 03:23 PM

How extensive were your bubbles, and did you have to strip the car before painting?
Thanks

tdm434m · 03-27-05, 08:37 PM

Gary, the body man sanded the whole car down, but didn't strip it. Under the paint bubbles was small hard nodules, I guess they were resin cooking out of the paint? I'm not much of an expert on fiberglass or paint, Wayne

**Veek** · 03-27-05, 08:40 PM

I haven't had any problems on the wheels but there are bubbles in the paint. Given the pattern, it appears that contaminants were on the body before the final coat (the bubbles look like drip marks). My car is 2002 BMW LeMans blue so some shopping at paintscratch.com got me a very good match. You may want to prick the bubble with a pin and see if any liquid comes out. It may be mosture trapped under the paint like blisters on a boat hull. I popped a couple of mine and with a hair dryer dried them out and you can't tell. I do except them to flake off at somepoint though.
Send me a private note if you want to compare situations as I'm also in Orlando.