Have you owned the car from new?. I ask because i suspect the reason for this is that at some point in the past the bonnet has been repainted. Because of the way new cars are painted, it is unlikely (but not impossible, bearing in mind the car’s age) this would happen with the original paint.

Yes we have had it from new and no the bonnet has not been repainted. We had to have a wing done once but not the bonnet.

Yes, the only likely reason for this must be a poor repaint some time back. Sometimes cars are 'blown over' before going on the road, because of minor scuffs in transit from the makers.

There is that, and its possible the bonnet paint had to be blended in when the wing (presuming front wing) was painted.

So I had it professionally resprayed (£400 - its biggest bill so far). Twenty eight years on the champagne is on ice for its 40th birthday in May and it still looks pretty good with no further rust bubbles and paint defects - especially after its rarely applied wax polish last week!

That would be real paint back then, not this new fangled dull coloured water :-)

and <expletive deleted> the environment.

More fool you - without the environment you won't exist.

Slightly retorichal, but what is the environmental impact of respraying the bonnet a second time, or even having to have to replace it with a new one.

That would be real paint back then, not this new fangled dull coloured water :-)

Thank the lord for this new "fangled dull coloured water" which was introduced on new cars in the early 90's, possibly before that.

Since that date not had a single issue with any of the cars we have had and a couple were owned over 10 years.

Before that date we had a few warranty paint issues (all sorted with no argument) but the even the ones that seemed OK at first only had to wait a couple of years before worms holes were visible for stone chips and paint flaked off when washing the car. Had one where I masked off to drill for an aerial and when I removed the tape the paint came off with it.

I just love the way members of this forum take issues with an old car as being to norm for all modern cars and make it appear like a mega disaster that affects all cars.

For gods sake accept that we have never had it so good. I remember cars back in the 60's and 70's, even into the 80's (and some in the 90's) that fell apart, rusted broke down etc etc. Only Dacia have managed to produce a dissolving car in recent times and other than the inevitable lemon even the cheapest of new cars is way better than the best car was in the 60's.

But the causes were more to do with metal preparation before painting than with the painting itself. Witness the durability of (undamaged) Peugeot 205s from the late 80s, for example.

I think that you have hit the nail on the head Andrew. I took it to the paint and panel guy this afternoon and he said that the primer had not been sanded before being painted and that was why the paint had not adhered. We are now waiting on him to quote on the job. I suspect that the car had been damaged between the factory and the dealer and that the repair had not been properly done. Anyway at 11 years old there is nothing I can do. I don't think our dealer knew anything about it. He is a local guy and this was the second new car we had bought from them. Only an idiot would try to pull a dud deal in a small country town. It would kill his business.

Do tell us the quote please.

A$330 which is about 168 pounds. Pretty much what I was expecting. It goes in on Monday.