Paint problems

[lordrobs]

So, soon after I bought my MX5 I spotted the tell tale signs that the boot and one of the headlight covers had been resprayed. No big deal but the paint on these two areas has now gone really odd. I get what looks like water marks but they are not on the surface, instead they are actually in the paint.

If I polish it until my arm falls off I can get it looking a little better but it is still visible. It isn't a huge problem as eventually I want to fit a boot without a luggage rack and headlight covers are cheap as chips but I'm just curious as to what the deal is with this.

 

[Haggisman]

Tiny holes in the clear coat, and water getting underneath? (just a guess)

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

Watermarked before the clearcoat was applied?

 

[lordrobs]

AFAIK there is no clear coat as it is flat british racing green. Also these have evolved over time. If I polish them so that they are less obvious then when they come back they look different. It is almost like the rain water that sits on it is reacting with the paint

I even did a little experiment by stripping the wax off of one section. Where the water didn't bead on this bit of paint the marks were less uniform in shape.