Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

I am in the process of removing all the paint, and cracks and crazing which are apparent in the undisturbed paint seem to tend to become somewhat obscured during stripping sanding. Does anyone have any tips on how to highlight minor cracks and crazing once the sanding and stripping are mostly complete?

TIA

Marc,

I know exactly what you mean. When I did my shell I lost track of some of the problems when it was stripped back to the gel.

FWIW if I ever do it again I would either sketch sections of the car to indicate problem areas or better I think, photograph each panel with cracks delineated by marker pen and bad areas shaded so that you don't need to find them or remember where they were.

Going on memory a damp cloth run over the surface will show cracks as a dark line Colin

I use a guide coat...just a quick spray over with an aerosol of matt black will show up the cracks. I do a panel at a time, fix the cracks, do it once more to make sure, then move on to the next panel. Remember to rub the guide coat off with DRY paper...never wet...of couse this applies to all paint stripping.
Mark