Espace JE, bubbles under the paint

[jack daniels]

anyone noticed bubbles under the paint during sub zero temperatures?
they look like small rust bubbles just like on a steel body, however this car is plastic .
They disappear during summer.

Can this be caused by washing the car in temperatures below zero or polishing the car in late autum?
Perhaps this is frozen liquid residue in the plastic itself

there is only a few and they are very small, more like a rash. The paint is undamaged.

[renaultbiler]

A well known problem on earlier Espace, its mainly due to poor rubbing before paint and/or too much heat when drying after paintjob - have this area been repainted ? On boats you also get this issue, dont know the english word but something like plastic plague.

Being a plastic body one should also be careful with washing with high pressure. I only hand wash, and never (?) below 0*c

[jack daniels]

The car has never been machine washed.
I use high pressure at a safe distance, however the do-it-yourself wash that I use most is fairly low pressure.
The area has never been repainted. These past 2 winters I have not washed below 0,  however the temp has droped below 0 before the car has dried.
Before I noticed these bumps first in dec 2008,  I had polished the car in early november in about 4 degrees.
Its only on the roof between the roof rack rail and the rear side window.

shouldn't be a problem  I guess, as long as I dont rub at it or spray at it.
I guess too much heat while drying could seal the outer layer of paint before the chemicals under evapourate out fully.
Next year I'll polish at he end of summer, and see if that helps.

[jack daniels]

this winter the car has not been washed at all and there are no bubbles visable anywhere. It has not been polished since summer either. I think I'll just spray the salt off the underside only untill the temperatures are above 0 again.

[colin4255]

I had a similar thing. Notice some bubbling on rhs at rear, though my car was involved in an accident before I bought it and the rear was re-sprayed.  As others on here have  said, its likely to be due to badly prepared surfaces befiore paintiing or re-painting in my case. I am glad you do not seem to have noticed the same problem this winter. I have made sure the car was properly cleaned and fully waxed before winter, but paint bubbles are an indication of an issue with the original spraying of the car. I have tinted windows in my car and in the middle of a very hot summer, any impuirties on the glass whern they fitted the tint film are magnified. IN cold weather they go away again. I guess its a similar thing buit in reverse!!

Just keep an eye on it and make sure the paint surface is not broken or damaged

[jack daniels]

I washed it with a low pressure spray gun with cold water when the outside temp was about 1 degree a few days ago. There are no signs of any bubbles.
      Perhaps any sudden changes in temp are not good for it, such as using hot water when the outside temp is below 0.
I cant remember ever seeing the "bubbles" untill about 2009 and thats when a new do-it-yourself carwash opened nearby with hot water in the spray guns.