I saw this Ford Taurus at a store parking lot that looked odd. It had obviously been repainted. It was a dark green metallic.

Anyway, what caught my eye where these cracks. It didn't look like crazing. These were about an 1/8th inch wide and extended from one corner to another. Random, not a grid pattern. The lines were pale green and flat. It looked like the edges of the paint was peeling along these lines. It appeared to me that the top coat had perhaps shrunk. Just curious if this is what is referred to as shrink-back. Very ugly.

Well, I wouldn't call it that. I would call it a horrible disaster! It sounds like a serious incompatibility between the topcoat and the sunstrate.

I have seen a lot of that up here on early 90s cars.......probably due to the big flucuation in weather..(summer, winter)...

I think that it is the earlier clear coats that cracked .....................just my thought.

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I don't remember hearing that exact term "shrink back" but I believe "shrink up" or plain old "shrinkage" is the same. That being where you have a primer, paint or clear that is applied too heavy, too slow of reducer, too cool of shop or metal, and the solvents don't flash off between coats. Later the trapped solvents make their way up and out and the layer of product that was bridged over or filling with solvent soaked product dip down into the scratches.

The problem you mention could or couldn't have been caused by an extreme case of "shinkage".

Brian