peeling paint white Chev vans

[mkguitar]

like most (it seems) white GM vans, I have some areas where the white color coat is coming free from the primer.


any fix suggestions?


thanks, Mike

[k1hog]

Mine also.

[rowiebowie]

My '2012 was painted factory silver. I do not know if it will have the same problem, but I've seem many white vans with your problem. The hood is aluminum, but don't know if that is the root of it.

Plan on getting it re-painted, unless yours' is fairly new. Then you might try getting GM to warrant it.

[hbn7hj]

Originally Posted by mkguitar

any fix suggestions?thanks, Mike

Nope. We are screwed. I had the hood repainted professionally 5 years ago but now paint on the rear doors is peeling off.

[booster]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

The hood is aluminum, but don't know if that is the root of it.

When did that happen? I just went out and stuck a magnet on our 07 and it is steel. I have never heard of any aluminum panels on the vans.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by booster

When did that happen? I just went out and stuck a magnet on our 07 and it is steel. I have never heard of any aluminum panels on the vans.

Well, I stand corrected. My assumption came from the time I tried to mount a portable CB antenna on the hood and it just slid off. I need to check if the magnet fell out of the antenna mount.

Plus, I should have known better by the way it slams shut due to weight.

[k1hog]

Mine is steel.

[booster]

The peeling paint thing has been ongoing for a lot of manufacturers but no finally seems to be OK on new stuff.


It seemed to be focused on white and silver, mostly white, with a lot of vehicles. Others had clearcoat peeling issues, too. My understanding is that it had to do with the changes to the paints to waterborne and low VOC plus prep changes which eliminate a bunch of costs. Of course, the why doesn't help those with the issue.


From the body shop supply guys I have talked to it appears the only real fix is to strip it to bare metal and then use good quality repaint products which would be a metal prep, primer, maybe surfacing primer if you are going for very smooth panels, base and clear. This makes it a not inexpensive repair in most cases so may not be worth it as you would really need to do all of the van, although maybe you could get by with just the horizontal surfaces. Many people are just sanding the areas that peel, prime and paint with as close a match as they can get in a single stage paint. If you have an air compressor, getting a cheap touchup spray gun might be a good idea as then you can get a better match and better paint than you can in rattlecans. Sand, etching primer, blend in single stage finish (hardened) best you can, fine sand and polish in. Not perfect, but at least you can keep up with it in stages.

[Nick]

Ditto for our 2005 Roadtrek 210 Versatile. We had the hood repainted, but now the rear doors are bubbling. Evidently the body is fiberglass, but the cab and doors areChevy originals, presumably metal.

[SteveJ]

My 2000 Chevy has it bad. Around here it's well north of four grand to get it repainted properly. Idid find a shop in northern AR that said it would be in the mid three grand range.

Contemplating getting it painted in Mexico. Cheaper and allegedly better paint with the different regulations there. Still in the preliminaries on that and of course the Covid thing is complicating that.

[KEN62]

My 2003 Chevy 3500 had the standard paint peel problem. I patched several times. One day I hit it with my power washer and soon all the paint was off. Then I found WAPPING - you have seen the fancy wraps on cars! Well you can buy HOOD WRAPS on Amazon and Ebay. I did and it looks great for less than $50.

[Bjones7788]

An alternative is to lightly sand the peeled area, including edges of remaing paint, apply Duplicolor primer by spray can, then a matching Duplicolor white by spray can. This has worked very nicely - in my hands - for our 2004 RT 190 Popular. Quick, inexpensive, easy, no special tools or equipment if the peeling is in early stages. Most people do not notice my work, even when standing by the RT chatting.

When a new spot in a door hinge, or forward facing edge of fender or door starts to peel, out comes the fine sand paper, masking tape and Duplicolor for the next spot touch up. That RT has well over 200,000 miles on it now by rhe way.

We had a couple of "kids" who were into fixing their own cars and had basic equipment and skills to paint the hood of a 2002 Chevy pickup work truck that had the same white peeling down to the base silver looking base coat and it cost us $250, looked fine afterward and held up for several years until sold.

I mention these because paint shops and buying
a sprayer and compressor equipment are not the only ways to handle minor Chevy truck white paint peeling. You have options.

BTW, we have some high end cars (Porsches & Vettes) They end up in pro paint shops.

BJ
FL Keys

[Monstermash74]

I bought a 2000 Roadtrek 190 last August paint on the body was peeling the original owner tried to repair with spray paint didn’t work and was an eye sore. I took it to a couple body shops for estimate $4000 to $6000 to have the body painted. I got a estimate from Maaco for $2500. I was happy with the work completed by them. I ordered new decals on line from Discontinued Decals.com.

[pasusan]

Is this real? I've been reading this forum for a while now and this is the first I've seen of this.

We have a 2004 Roadtrek with the Chevy van and the paint is pristine. We do wash and wax it a lot. We also got a bug shield for the front since the hood had maybe 2 paint dings.




Should I be worried?

[SteveJ]

Originally Posted by Monstermash74

I bought a 2000 Roadtrek 190 last August paint on the body was peeling the original owner tried to repair with spray paint didn’t work and was an eye sore. I took it to a couple body shops for estimate $4000 to $6000 to have the body painted. I got a estimate from Maaco for $2500. I was happy with the work completed by them. I ordered new decals on line from Discontinued Decals.com.

My 2000 Chevy 200 is also peeling, quite badly. With over 200k miles on it I was not leaning toward spending $4-6000 on it, that is a lot of gasoline for traveling.

I've also been entertaining the idea of heading to Mexico.

The $2500 at Maaco seems much more palatable, though it will now have to wait until the end of my travel season that is starting tomorrow.

Thanks.

[Bjones7788]

White Chevy vans had a very frequent White paint problem but the small spot peeling becoming worse is not nearly as common with other colors.
At first sign of paint choppong, my experience is it can usually be contained with good periodic touchups of bad spots.

We frequently stay at Playa Bonita camp ground on the beach at Rocky Point - Puerto Penasco, Mexico. Local RV paint guys do lots of on the spot paint work, decal work and custom paint "pictures" and have quite a bit of word of mouth business. I suspect this is common in campgrounds not too far from rhe US border - an option to investigate if going to Mecico.

BJ
Fl Keys

[mkguitar]

Originally Posted by pasusan

Is this real?

almost every white chev van on the road displays this, and I am now seeing it.


at the top of the body toward the rear the paint color coat is lifting free from the primer, and I now have a spot on the hood




consensus is leaning towards feathering/sanding & rattle can touch ups


mike

[Bud]

"almost every white chev van on the road displays this, and I am now seeing it."

False "almost every", you're now noticing it. I don't recall seeing it until mine..........

Bud

[Ron J. Moore]

This peeling isn’t only in the white vans, the trucks go through the same thing. I have a friend with a 2000 Chevy PU, White.....big sections are black; I have a ‘98 Chevy in the Brown.....never had a break in the paint. We had the ‘05 190, and the paint was great, then I bought another - gray.

[mkguitar]

various colors- my 2001 GMC is fine, clear coat bubbling, but it's been in the AZ sun all it's life




here's a bit of timeline back to 1993 when GM extended warranty to 6 years



https://www.autosafety.org/gm/