Problems with shaved door.....

[Carbo]

Guys, looking for some help here. I have a 69 camaro that had the doors shaved and the whole car painted black (dupont 8555 urethane basecoat/clear coat) about a year and a half ago. When I first picked it up you could see the bodywork where the handles used to be. It was obviously done wrong. I took it to another body shop to have them fix it as the old body shop screwed around with me and said they couldn't do it right away as they were too busy. When the new body shop stripped the paint and the filler off the car you could see that it was stitched welded and not welded solid all the way around. So the bodyshop welded it solid and believed that should cure the problem, right?

Well, this weekend I went to a car show and the car was in the sun for an extended period of time (3-4 hours) and sure enough the bodywork was visible again once the paint heated up from the sun. Once you moved the car back in the shade and the paint would cool down, it would go away. Now I know it was welded solid this time as I saw the photos. So why is this happening again?

[thetoystore]

the filler metal could have been a thinker or thinner gauge than the door skin? a number of things could cause this as to improper filler application or sanding to coursly then filling in the scratches with primer.

[BRIAN]

It can be caused by many things. Problem is you see guys mig welding huge gaps to fill panels. They grind or use 36 discs to prep the area before welding. What this does it thin the base and new metal. They then to make it worse load up a weld because they do not understand why they are burning through. Then to finish up once again they grind the crap out of the now bubble gum looking weld.
Well in the end you wind up with a welded panel that has a seam that is about to break when pressure is applied to it. To make it even worse they use cheap filler and rush through the job without wire brushing the weld.
This all leads to a failed repair. It is rare that it will happen to a better repair process though. Sometimes fillers just react and it will show a shadow. Use lead for initial fill and then finish with a good filler and it should be good to go. Humidity can also get trapped under or behind the bondo which depending on the type is not water proof.
Next time have them bake the repair and spray some primer. Let it sit a day the see how she looks wet sanded.

By the way I used to sell 8"x8" 18 gauge panels with the Vette style handles water jet cut out and the retaining brkt welded on if you want to try again. I sell them on Ebay every every couple of months.