Ok I know there's alot of paint threads out there, but check this **** out.....I went up into W.Va. to ski a few weeks ago and of course the roads were heavily salted due to the snow....Well, finally had good enough weather to wash the car and as I am SCRUBBING the rocker panels and bottoms of doors, I realize that it is not dirt there....IT IS HEAVILY CHIPPED PAINT. Looks like the bottoms of the doors and rocker panels were sandblasted, plus the front edge of the back door. WTF!? This never happened on my 3 previous black cars. So, anyone have a solution to fixing this and/or preventing this in the future?.....ie. larger mud guards, rocker panel rubber coating, paint, black wax etc.....this makes me very angry that one freakin winter storm can do this to the car. See pics below....
Front edge of back door....chipped down to metal

Back of rear door/front of back wheel

Front door

Underside of rocker panel

 

You must have been driving in some heavily salted roads at a good clip to get that kind of paint damage. Time for visit to a bodyshop. I would advise washing your car immediately after driving on salted roads. Take it to a hand car wash place or spray it at the self service cae wash.

 

WOW!!!! never seen that b4

 

Yeah we were doing between 45 and 60 most of the time (mountain roads and switchbacks)....road was not slick, probably because they dumped an entire beach worth of sand on it.....I could hear the salt/sand hitting the car and was a bit worried about it at the time....but what could I do...drive 25 for 150 miles? I drove the same way in my Accord coupe (which was black) for 6 years in snowy/salty roads and never had this problem at all.......Maybe i should get some wide step rocker panels lika a truck, and some "back off" mud flaps with Yosimite Samn on them....f..ck

 

Don't drive your max to far away places in winter!
Maybe it wasn't the salt hitting it, but the salt "eating" the paint, what caused the paint to come off.

 

My buddy's 2k1, which was driving in front of me for most of the time, had the same problem, albeit to a lesser extent (and his is gray, so it doesn't show up as much)...

 

That really sux dude. That's some major paint chips.

Next time, don't take your Max knowing how heavily they salt those roads. You are better off renting a car from enterprise or something.

 

Gee thanks for the so-helpful response. Yes, I suppose if I just left the Max in the garage and never drove it at all, it would still be in mint condition with low miles in about 10 years....

Unfortunately, not all of us have an SUV to take road trips in, so we have to take the max. That's why I bought it, cuz I like driving it and its roomy and powerful for long trips.

But like I said, this never happened in previous cars of mine, who did MANY MANY MANY winter trips into the mountains, so it's defintely the car.

 

Hey did you ever hand wax the Max or have it detailed?

 

Still, that paint should not look like that after driving on a public road. Nissan should replace our cheap *** paint.

 

True ..... maybe car was in an accident with previous owner- ****ty prime/paint job-

 

My GOD... are you absolutely SURE that's chipped right down to the bottom?
That's ****ed up!
Did you routinely (i.e. once every 6 months or sooner) wax your car? I think mine's got roughly 2 coats of wax on now from the past few months (and I use Turtle Wax Zip Wax, which is supposed to keep the wax from stripping too easily I guess)... I wonder if it would protect my paint from that kind of damage...

 

i also use turtle wax, such a pain in the a$$ to take off, after done waxing!!

 

Car was waxed at end of November, and also back in September.....As to the chips...the only ones that appear to be down to the metal are the front of the back door rim....the stuff on the sides appears to be down to perhaps a primer (gray/white color)...is the rocker panel metal or fiberglass? I think it might be some kind of fiberglass material behind it. As far as previous owner, don't think it was accident.....bought it from a Nissan dealer and had it independently checked (both carfax and the car itself) at a different car place....no evidence of accident or repainting. Taking it into the dealer to see what the hell is up with this....paint should not be that wimpy.

I know there are a number of you guys from Chicago, Northeast, etc....have you had this problem in the winter - I know they salt the roads there too....

 

wonder if there are longer mudflaps available....the ones on there seem really short compared to my honda.....

 

Most of the time people fock up their cars and dont place police reports/ report to insurance companys-
get a Maaco quality job and return the cars to dealer -
My friend just returned his IS300 and did same thing

 

I don't doubt that...but this happened all over the car...left, right, front, back...everywhere but the front air dam and rear bumper, so I don't think it was a re-paint.

Besides, previous owner left some paperwork in the seat-back pocket. Address was in Great Falls, va. If you're not familiar with Great Falls, the cheapest houses there go for 750,000 bucks...it's where all the DC bigwigs, CEOs, pro athletes, etc. live....not the kind of person who would probably do something sneaky like that, IMHO.

Guess I'll see what the dealer says.

 

I think that I read about a product by Turtle Wax that waxes and has color in the wax. I haven't tried it, but some have said that it works. I had this happen to me on my 3rd gen black Max. I used a product called Color Back (from a TV ad) on the rocker panels only (I wouldn't trust it on the rest of the car). With a couple of coats, it did a pretty good job. Then I just use regular wax after that and it wasn't very noticable. You might pose this question on autopia.com and see what their experience is. Short of this, probably a body shop or a professional detailer. Hope this helps a little and sorry about your car.

 

Thanks...I have seen the Turtle Wax black at the auto store....may have to try that...Also got a touch-up paint to do the parts where metal was showing. I'm not too worried about the look (not that noticeable) but am worried about it starting to rust.....

 

That's some serious paint chips. That sucks. If it rusts and you have a certain amount of miles, I think Nissan will fix it.

 

Just sent an email to the various commissioners of the West Va. DOT explaining the problem. Maybe they are using some kind of new salt on the roads...hopefully will get a response/explanation (crossing my fingers)...Will let everyone know how it turns out.

 

I don't think it was the salt eating the paint, our paint just does that... (I know thats a horrible answer...) My Max has pretty high miles and I have not been able to 'baby' mine too much and I have many chips as well. This paint is just terrible for flaking off on impact. My hood looks f-ing ridiculous after 4 years.

Know what's funny? Does anyone have the original marketing brochure for your Max's? In 2000, the brochure had a 2-page spread on how Nissan shot diamonds out of an air gun at the paint to test it for chip-resistance. This, by far, is the crappiest paint I have ever seen on a car. I hope those engineers lost their jobs! I 100% love everything about this car, but I think I could find paint at Walmart that would hold up better.

 

ouchhhhh that looks bad, aint my car and it still hurts to see, sorry brother...

 

Mine is like that to but not that bad. That's why I am getting the whole car repainted once I get my kit.

 

Mine is starting to get that too, I just noticed my Back of rear door/front of back wheel starting to get like that (not that bad though). Is there any way we can get that covered by warrenty or maybe an insurrance claim?

 

A 3 or 4 steps compound should clear that out.

P.S: So now you understand what we have to face every winter here in eastern canada.

Good luck

AA

 

Which was it, salt or sand? I suspect sand (silica) as it is significantly harder and more abrasive than salt.

We don't use sand here in Chicago, salt is the way to go. It mysteriously vanishes in the rain and deposits itself in the nooks and crannies of your door drains, rocker panels and fenders. The deers love the salt. It brings them up to the road edges right where they belong.

I can seriously believe sand would do this kind of damage if you were driving 45-60 MPH for 150 miles. I know there is some sort of clear coat available to protect against this. I have had it on my F150 and other cars. Your paint shop should be able to hook you up.

Or try repainting with Sheer Silver... next time it won't show until it rusts.

 

I know I'm reaching at straws here, but are you positive that none of that is build-up of salt/sand crud that needs to be clayed off? From the pictures it almost looks like something is on the paint.

Good luck.

 

WOW!! drive through construction sites much??

 

My other car is a black '95 Talon TSi. I've been through 9 NE winters with the thing so far and have driven through some really nasty **** and never had that kind of damage. Locally, they mix 'cinders' in with the salt, which is basically just small rocks, and never got that kind of damage, and I drive pretty fast through it.

DId it get past the clear coat? Have you tried a clear coat polish on it yet, something 2000+ grit would help polish the clear coat.

I can remember a time when they just salted. They didn't mix sand or cinders into it. That always worked fine. It ****es me off that they mix rocks and sand in it now. My wife's had two windshields broken after they salted and trucks kicked up a stone. It's cost us over $600 so far. On the road you were on, I bet salt would have sufficed to melt it. They didn't need to mix sand in it. IMHO, I don't think solid salt would cause nearly as much damage since it's a soft material.

 

I have a little of this going on with mine about 25% of what you have! Tahnkfully I won't have to drive the Max next winter! Woot I'm gonna be driving a beater BUICK!

 

Craig - no, positive it's not a buildup....that's what I thought when I first saw it while washing car, but after alot of elbow grease and scrubbing, it doesn't come off at all....also, look at the first pic...the front edge of the back door is down to bare metal.

Papasmurf - the car's never been off the pavement (unless you count snow, of course)

A couple things to add:
1. The more I think about it, and someone mentioned above, that the stuff on the roads that caused this was rocks/gravel. It was black in color and was being dumped off the back of snowplows...maybe some new "mix" of ice prevention...don't know, but it sux. Thought it was just some new kind of salt, but maybe it was just plain old gravel. F-CK

Also, interesting that none of the bare metal has rusted or oxidized at all, even tho we've had a few rainstorms since it happened....

I was talking to my dad (who has a few engineering degrees) and he suggested that the rockers might be made of galvanized steel. He said paint does not stick to that kind of steel as well as regular steel, which could explain the excessive chipping in maxima paint. Also could explain why the areas where the paint is chipped the metal is dull gray, not shiny silver like normal steel. If this is the case, that is a +1, since galvanized steel will not rust, at least.

 

Is your car dark gray (not sure the official Nissan name)? I have seen this on nearly EVERY dark gray Maxima, especially on the lower valence just before the rear tire opening. I just purchased a used 02 about 2 months ago. It is also dark gray and has an excessive amount of stone chips for where it was driven. Maybe that particular paint color has problems, mine does. I have even thought about having the hood and front bumper cover painted but worried about mismatch.

Please post anything you find out.

 

The dull gray is primer I believe. I have chips up near my door handles that are dull gray.

 

I have experienced NOTHING like than on the 2K we own. I has almost 50k miles and a good chunk of those were added last winter in Ohio. I had some hazing on the rockers but the clay bar took car of that for me. Sounds like there was a LOT of sand in that mix. But on that note..... out west they use sand and cars don't look like yours does in the pic. Interesting......

 

Hmmmm. Six years of driving a black car in winter times (w/ heavy snow), never had that problems.

 

that's is the worst sh*t i have ever seen .... Nisssan and their Cheap paint strikes again

 

That looks VERY similar to the body kit I put on my 91 SE-R. A few months after it got painted (teal) this white thing starting appearing. No one could figure it out. My friend told me that it might have been due to poor prepping during painting. I guess for polyurethane you have to make sure all the plasticizers are out before painting or else they get trapped and show up like how they did.

Mine's only happened on the side vallances and looks exactly like your second pic.

 

Yes, but it also looks "sandblasted" in front of the rear wheel, where there is a protective clear plastic film coating from the factory. You can see the piece of film in your photo. If it is "sandblasted", then the stuff went THROUGH that film and ate your paint.

That's some serious hybrid sand/salt/rock stuff they're using up your way.

 

this is the reason you pay for car insurance. I think your best option is to put in a claim, take it to a body shop and get it fixed. It may raise your premium, but at least you'll be "happier" in the long run. Good luck and hopefully you'll get someone else to drive on your next ski trip.