Paint Damage

[twobjshelbys]

Wow, that's a bummer! It looks like the gas found its way under the cap and under the paint to the lowest spot where it simply made a bubble. It looks similar to what happens when water gets behind paint on drywall. You'll have to go all the way down to the bottom and it'll be difficult to blend the surface let alone the color.

What color would you repaint?

Good luck.

[spdbrake]

Originally Posted by twobjshelbys

Wow, that's a bummer! It looks like the gas found its way under the cap and under the paint to the lowest spot where it simply made a bubble. It looks similar to what happens when water gets behind paint on drywall. You'll have to go all the way down to the bottom and it'll be difficult to blend the surface let alone the color.

What color would you repaint?

Good luck.

Tony has a point. If the fumes or gas liquid gets under the paint it will lift. Was this right after a fill-up? And was the car sitting in the sun? Gasoline volume increases 1% per 10C and what comes out of underground tanks is much colder than ambient.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by spdbrake

Tony has a point. If the fumes or gas liquid gets under the paint it will lift. Was this right after a fill-up? And was the car sitting in the sun? Gasoline volume increases 1% per 10C and what comes out of underground tanks is much colder than ambient.

Wait a minute. Wouldn't water freezing and thawing on your car do the same thing?

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by patrickt

Wait a minute. Wouldn't water freezing and thawing on your car do the same thing?

Yes, but I wouldn't expect water to have a solvent effect that would unbond the paint, at least this quickly. (Remember from high school chemistry that water is the universal solvent. Sometimes it just takes a long time...)

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by spdbrake

Tony has a point. If the fumes or gas liquid gets under the paint it will lift. Was this right after a fill-up? And was the car sitting in the sun? Gasoline volume increases 1% per 10C and what comes out of underground tanks is much colder than ambient.

I suspect this is close to what happened... Rather than a spill, the tank was filled, topped off, and then the car parked. The gas expanded, slowly, and got past the seal on the cap and over time seeped slowly enough volume to break the bond of paint to surface. The lowest point is a "bubble" so it took a while.

How it happened is a potential mystery or a lesson (don't overfill), but that it happened is a major bummer.

Modern vehicles have the evap recovery tank that captures vapors, but that can get flooded with liquid if the tank is overfilled and is in the path to react before it hits the cap seal. Alas, not here...

[patrickt]

Well what's to stop this from happening again? It doesn't look like he has any drainage holes for little spills, or even a recessed area on the fender for it to safely pool <see pic>. When I'm filling up with any of my cars I would say I spill some gas more often than not. I can remember one time with one of my cars that I spilled a lot, and I'm not even sure how I did it. But I pretty much ruined a nice pair of shoes and smelled like gas all day.