Bongo Fury

After todays success of finding the location of my leak, I noticed that the bonnet looked like it had bubbled water on it. You know, the sort after a wax.

Strange thinks I, should be dry, no rain and under the car port. Closer inspection says it's not tree sap stuff either and a rub with spit on cloth does not budge it.

Excellent I says, now paint is bubbling from underneath. What on earth has caused this? Have any other owners with black paint experienced this?





Edit - pics playing me up, sort that another day.

Has it recently been repainted ?, it could be moisture or air trapped between the primer and the top coat. It doesn't look like contamination from a silicate as that has a tendency to "creep" or bleed outwards from it's source.

dont know how true this is or could be. but i was told that the black ones have very little paint on them.
one of mine is black,and whilst working on the paint recently,i accidently rubbed through to the primer ,which backs up this theory to a certain extent as i wasnt working hard on it

If its recently been painted this could the problem.
If its not been rubbed down proper or any wax polish is left on it will blister through.
Also paint and primer breathes we have had a couple of vehicles that have recently been painted and didnt tel us two weeks after the decals are full of tiny bubbles.
If the primer has not set proper this can happen.

Not sure if it's been repainted or not. Certainly not while we've owned it.

Currently blaming the cold weather we had. I've got to get the Chips Away chap back once the weathers warmer to redo a bit on the rear wing and front wing as the weather stopped that from curing properly.

Such fun

I'm not saying you should.. but i'd be SO tempted to prick one of the bubbles with a needle to see if it guffs or dribbles... Going from your piccies, it looks as if some paintwork may be required anyway

I gave it a slight push with my fingernail earlier and swear I could see some sort of 'air' movement albeit slight. Might just wait to see what happens once weathers warmer and see if it sorts itself out.

Crosses fingers

Hi i am a time served painter and now a trainer in vehicle damage assessing.Hard to see but this does look like moisture or solvent trapped under the topcoat probably coming from the primer.unfortunately this would require repainting.Depending on their size it may be possible to flat the surface down and machine polish but i would recommend letting a bodyshop have a look first before carrying this out.If you were closer i would be happy to have a look for you.

I had this on a Fiat once. The way I fixed this was as follows:

Get hair dryer and heat the UNDERSIDE of the bonnet until you can feel the warmth coming through to the painted side. You want this to "cosy" warm, not hot and don’t do it too quickly. Slow and gentle heat is what you want. This worked to remove the very small bubbles but the more stubborn ones need more than this to remove. If they do not budge follow the following;

1. Once warm prick with a fine bladed scalpel, the smaller the pin prick you make the better.

2. Cover a rubber (large school type for rubbing out pencils) with a lint free cloth, and press down on the bubbles hard; they will ooze the chemical “puss” that is trapped behind the top coat. At this point it is important to get as much of this “puss” into the cloth and off the paint, as in my case it made the top coat go matt becuse I did not remove it all on the first few I did.

3. With another clean cloth, dab a bit of meths can quickly go over the area you have just pricked (which should once again be a flat surface) to remove any of the remaining “puss” and thus advoid the matt top coat problem above.

4. Continue the heat – prick –absorb – wipe process until all bubbles have gone.

5. Give a good coat of wax over the top which covers up any of the pin pricks and the area returns to like new again.


As I said, this worked for me on a Fiat and may work for you, just do things slowly and gently and all should be fine.

The quality of replies on this thread really impresses me. Also, yet again I'm struck by how lucky we are to have professionals on here able to make useful comment on difficult problems.

Thanks for the offer stuc, appreciated.

Given my earlier succsess with the fuel pump seals I'm going to give the bonnet a 'try out' with the hair dryer treatment. After all, if I screw it, it needed repainting anyway.

Thanks for the tip Dr. Jekyll, will let you know how it goes.

I know that bongo's are very personable, and like a member of the family... But now that most bongo's are approaching (or are) teenagers, i draw the line at popping the zits on my bonnet!

Great idea though Dr Jeckyll!