Why is my hood paint cracking like this?, Any ideas on how to prevent this after next respray? Options

[oakdalecurtis]

The front area of the hood on my "76 914 was professionally spot resprayed five or six years ago due to cracks in the paint. That painter retired and is no longer in business to return to. Cracks in the paint have again slowly and continually opened up, and the cracks seem to be in a line parallel to the front edge of the hood. Could the hood be flexing while driving and causing this? The underside of the hood nor the front of the car show any sign of previous accident damage. I am going to sand this area down soon and have it resprayed by another paint shop. Should I make sure that the next shop does something different during the paint process that might prevent this from happening again? Has anyone else had cracking like this in their hood? Any advice appreciated.

[Tom_T]

Curtis,

I agree with Andrew & Dave above. You can use a fridge magnet (which you must have as a parent), but put a thin cloth between it & the paint. It seems awfully fast for bondo to fail if your last guy did it, but maybe it was with the PO's shop.

It begs the question of how there was a dent/damage needing the bondo, & you may be able to see it from the underside, since it's only one layer of steel. If it's barely visible as a wave, then the body guy was either too lazy or unskilled in heat shrinking it back to correct shape. If it's bad/noticeable, then it may indicate more front end damage was done.

So while you're at it, sweep the magnet over the entire body to check for more filler.

If you find more bondo &/or other evidence of damage on other areas of the body, then you may want to have it put on a Cellette Bench (old school or laser) by a shop that knows 914 specs to see if it's out of whack. I think Marty Yeoman's shop in the Bay Area has one, & they'd do a better job than most local Valley body shops which are more used to Muscle Cars & Hot Rods, &/or newer accident repairs.

If more areas turn up, then you may want to address them all at the same time, & have the uni-body put straight at the same time.

If the hood/F-lid dent can't be put back in shape by your body shop, then you may want to source a good rust free straight replacement one.

For others reading here, that magnet on a thin cloth trick should be done on any used car you want to buy, but it wont work on any aluminum components - so you'll have to have a good ear & do the light tapping test to hear thickness changes from bondo on aluminum.

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Tom
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