Paint Advice

I've used a breathable car cover on my 65 Corvair Monza for the past 10 years of which the first 8 years was indoors. In the last 2 weeks we've had close to 9-10" of rain almost everyday and night. Consequently the car cover never really dried out due to all the moisture. Saturday I removed the cover and noticed the entire car is covered with little "braille" like dots. It's as if someone poked the paint from the inside layer with a needle and all you see are these little projections. I'm curious if these can be color sanded and polished out or am I royally screwed?

Are you sure it's not just something weeping from the cover? Those breathable covers have a kind of waffle pattern to them, maybe whatever treatment they use on them has been drawn out.

Is it near a tree? Maybe something thrown off the tree.

I would take some warm soapy water with a soft towel and see if you can wash it off.

Is it a two stage (base/clear) paint job? If it's the clear and it's messed up... well... at least it will only need to be re cleared (maybe, assuming you can paint over the damaged clear).

Wash it ..... And wash it again..... I had this on my project camaro when it was living outdoors. The crud is on there good and feels permanent but it isn't. Elbow grease and multiple washings will get it off eventually.

Clay bar?

It's the substrate lifting under the paint. Sorry, but that means the paint is dead. If you try to color sand them out, you will have primer colored pinholes all over.

This sort of bubbling can only be solved by stripping and repainting.

If that is the problem, what is the cause?

In reply to Chris_V:

Chris, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Like T.J. asked, what causes this?

It's moisture popping under the paint. Was this a repainted car?

We think of paint as being a sealed surface but the truth is it's porous. In the conditions you described the water is held in contact with the paint for a long time. I'm not sure about this but I think what happens is that water passes through the tiny "pores" and then the temperature changes and it can't escape fast enough therefore it lifts the paint forming the bubble.

I've read and thought about this a lot. My MG-TD has the same problem and I've seen it on many other cars. IMO, repainting is the only permanent solution.

In reply to Chris_V:

That happened to the paint under a magnetic American flag I left on my truck for years.

I would, before whipping out the sandpaper, let the car dry for at least a month, see what happens. It's very possible it will need a repaint, but for right now what will it hurt to let it dry?

By the way, this is why I am not a fan of storing a car outside under a car cover. I've never seen any good come of it.