1995 Buick LeSabre Paint Peeling

[CarDude225]

1995 Buick has areas where the white paint is peeling right off. Underneath is smooth gray surface. My white 1990 Buick Century still hasn't peeled like this. Not sure if this is a repaint or what. Did GM go cheap on the 95s?

Looking at $600 for repaint with some surface preparation in certain areas where the peel is.

Anybody else having this trouble?

[Loekee75]

I think it depends on whether the vehicle is garage kept or not. My '92s white finish is immaculate except for where it was scratched from having been backed into some shrubs a couple years ago. The previous owner never kept it outside and it was covered inside a storage room for 3 years before I bought it). Our '01 Saturn is losing paint around the b-pillars now(it's black and has NEVER been stored inside a garage) My dad's '93 LeSabre with a cherry metallic finshish has several flakes and is fading all around the trunk area, however his '91 LeSabre (which he has always kept in his carport at night) has an excellant looking finsish. Don't feel bad about your '95s paint, here in south Texas the salty air preys on new cars' paint like you wouldn't believe!

[Smith1000]

My white '97 Lesabre is doing the same. Paint has flaked off, particularly where the plastic is painted (the lower parts and molding). I have just touched up the gray primer spots with appliance paint touch up. Due to the miles on it, I probably won't be doing any major paint job. Also have a silver '97 and the paint has not flaked off. I think the previous owner garaged it, but the sit outside here. I am fairlys sure the white one has never been garaged.

My sister has a white '98 Olds Eighty-eight and the paint is flaking off.

I just recently repainted the silver on the plastic centers of the wheel hubs. They look much better.

[jconatser]

Originally Posted by CarDude225

... Did GM go cheap on the 95s?...

And the answer is Yes. I'm not sure of all the exact years and all of the makes and models, but GM did have a paint problem during the 90's.

In 92 I bought a new Pontiac Grand Am, and in 93 the paint started coming off the hood, trunk and top. The Pontiac dealer repainted the hood, trunk and top under warranty, explaining to me that the problem had to do with the primer that GM had used and/or how it had been applied. In 95 I bought a 95 LeSabre and in 96 the exact same thing started happening to it. I took it back to the dealer and got the hood, trunk and top repainted under warranty as well. My understanding at the time was that GM was not issuing a recall to repaint all of the cars that went out with bad primer, but they would repaint, under warranty, all of those brought in with the flaking problem.

If you'll start noticing, you'll see a lot of 90's vintage GM cars with paint flaking off the hood, trunk, and top.

['97ventureowner]

I've seen that a lot in my area (Central NY) and it seems limited to white colored cars more than any other color. I've seen tons of Chevy Luminas from the mid '90s with paint peeling off the horizontal surfaces. I remember talking to people a few years back when I started noticing the problem and they had a bunch of theories ranging from some component in the paint was breaking down, to something in the painting process (in the spray booth) was causing it, to GM trying to save money but "cheapening up" the whole painting process. Someone also said that GM changed the way they painted vehicles back then and the first few years saw many problems that they were trying to work out. Another theory was the different metals used in the body panels were conflicting over time with the paint and as a result the paint was separating from the panel.