This weekend I totally detailed my monte to get it ready for some up comming car shows. I first used Megiures #9 polish with an orbital buffer. And then applied Megiures NXT Tech Wax 2.0. When I was polishing the bumper I almosted died at the sight I saw. My paint is spider cracking on the front corner on the right side. I have never been hit and the car has been garaged it's whole life. It's doing this because I live in a climate with cold winters and hot summers. I stored my car in my parents unheated garage this winter thinking that it would be ok, I guess not. I am shocked and very upset! I need to get the bumper repainted because paint cracking is unexceptable. My car is only 5.5 years old with low miles. I should have turned back time and used Megiures #7 show car glaze. I wish my fiancee would have told me to start using #7 years ago. He found out from owning Camaros from the late 80's early 90's that they were notorious for spider cracking on the plastic and that #7 helped tremendously. I also was thinking that todays paint is better than 10-15 years ago, so I thought wrong. This little fiasco is going to cost me hundreds of dollars to fix.

So my advice to anyone who lives in the same climate as I do is to slather your painted plastic bumpers with #7.

End rant.

 

I feel your pain. I have a similar situation happening on the right corner of my front bumper. It was like that when I got the car with only 20k on it. Mine however looks like it got popped up there by something.

FWIW: I just put it out of my head and I have can't even see it unless I'm on top of it looking for it and even then its tough to see (and trust me I notice EVERYTHING). When I got it I had my stepdad (a bodyman for 25 years) look at it and he told me that I'd "be surprised" how long it will last without getting worse.

Thanks for the #7 tip!

 

Those cracks can be a real pain. You have to remove the paint all the way to the plastic or it will come back. Might want to add some flex additive to the basecoat to make sure they dont come back. Some paint systems you can actually add hardener to the basecoat which makes it more flexible.

 

yeah, that sucks! as plastic gets old it gets hard and to a degree shrinks. mrl390 is 100% right. flexing the basecoat is a good idea. todays clearcoats no longer need flex additives just the base. to save some cash... pull the bumper off yourself and shop around onthe price to repair and paint. removing and installing the bumper is about $50 charge. 1-2 hrs repair @ $38 or so an hour plus 3-4 hrs paint time @ $38 or so plus paint material charge of $78-104. roughly $250. I wouldnt pay over $275 cause the crackingisnt that hard to repair and it isnt all over the bumper.

 

Ya I was thinking around $300. My fiances's good friend works in a body shop so I'm sure I can get a good deal.

 

[align=center]Hi `Amy,[/align][align=center]I was sorry to read about your discovery of cracking around[/align][align=center]your bumper's, but was also happy to read that[/align][align=center]you voted in the poll that you still loved your[/align][align=center]Awesome Trophy Winning & MOTM Monte Carlo SS 100%[/align][align=center][/align][align=center]When I was doing ReSearch on the World-Wide Web[/align][align=center]about your problem, I found your post question on[/align][align=center]the MFC listed on my Googles/AOL Search Engine.[/align][align=center]So now, people from all over planet Earth will know[/align][align=center]about your problem, and about the MCF.[/align][align=center][/align][align=center]It's another example on how many people will read [/align][align=center]our words/posts that we submit.[/align][align=center]I hope that your body shop does a show winning `job for you.[/align][align=center]Good Luck, and thanks for all your contributions to the MCF.[/align][align=center]`Space[/align][align=center][/align][align=center]Below is the link I found on the World-Wide Web [/align][align=center][:-][/align][align=center][/align][align=center]Paint spider cracking on the bumper [/align]Monte Carlo Forum- Discussions for Monte Carlo Forums Enthusiasts.
www.montecarloforum.com/m_94010/tm.... - 46k - 21 hours ago - Similar pages

 

I just noticed that I've got one of those near my right fog light. I know it wasn't there when I bought the car last summer, and my car was only 2 yrs old this past January. I really don't want to have to repaint the front bumper, as I'm already probably going to have to repaint the rear one due to some dimples on the left side that were there when I bought the car.
I'm not familiar with the Meguiar's #7 as I don't take my car to shows. Will this keep the spider crack from spreading?

 

I sure hope so. My fiancee has owned early 90's Camaros and according to him it helped. I don't know if it completely stops it but it prolongs it.