Was Chrysler using alkyd enamel paint?

sflem849 · Apr 16, 2013

I saw this minivan yesterday and I had to laugh. The top portion was all chalked out from the sun. Must have been cheap Valspar paint. :lol:

CNKS · Apr 16, 2013

I have no idea what year that vehicle is. In the late 80's, maybe early 90's all the US manufacturers had problems with their paint, due to the EPA demanding that they change the formulation before they were ready. In the 60's-70's-maybe 80's I think Chrysler used acrylic lacquer, not sure -- the one paint that is actually worse than alkyd enamel. People with show cars like lacquer, because of the shine, but it quickly went to pot unless it was waxed regularly.

RandyB(MI) · Apr 16, 2013

They used acrylic enamel in the 60,s and 70,s and early 80,s. More than likely alkyd before that. They went to base/clear urethane in mid '80,s. Everyone had clear delamination and top coat delamination problems in the '90,s and early 2000,s. That van was a mid 90,s and more than likely was a chop shop re-paint or repair as it faded some places and not others and adhesive nameplate is falling off tailgate as it was probably re-glued on after an "economy repair/paint" in that area , too cheap to replace the nameplate. Lot of economy body shops that ,even today , will go in and ge the cheapest possible single stage paint (even pearl/metalic) to do a door or fender dammage job on a base/clear vehicle. Match? Wha-du-ya-mean match? That's what the store mixed so it's their problem , go complain to them!

CNKS · Apr 16, 2013

I mentioned acrylic lacquer because of a 66 Plymouth I bought new. In those days Chrysler's drivetrain was excellent (383 cu in/325HP, probably the best automatic I have owned), but their quality control was bad. The car needed repainting when I bought it because of drips and runs. The dealer repainted the whole car without argument. He did a good job, but I had to wax it several times a year because it faded badly. I don't know what he used, but I doubt if it was acrylic enamel, which should have UV inibitors. I kept it 6 years, paint was still good when I traded it, just faded easily, and this was white. It was outside, at least in the daytime, as long as I had it.

sflem849 · Apr 16, 2013

I knew it wasn't alkyd, but I had to laugh because everybody bashes all the cheap paint because it will fade like crazy. This was base clear that faded like crazy.
It may have been a cheap repaint, but I'm not positive. It was clearly faded more at the top where it got the most/more direct sun and then less as it went down. The picture doesn't show it that well. It was even on all panels.

souNdguy · Apr 20, 2013

my 98 dodge ram factory truck paint burnt up and faded and eventually peeled up like crazy.

also suffered the dreaded dodge dash crackup...

i see MANY dodge rams around here with both symptoms. pretty common..

Was Chrysler using alkyd enamel paint?

sflem849

Well-known Member

CNKS

Well-known Member

RandyB(MI)

Well-known Member

CNKS

Well-known Member

sflem849

Well-known Member

souNdguy

Well-known Member

Similar threads