danted23

All,

I purchased a new Onyx SE last week. This weekend I showed some people and we all noticed that the clearcoat has what they call "orange peel" (the paint jobs looks rough) in it.

It's pretty much all over the car, you don't have to look real hard to see it either.

Now, I'm wondering how the Nissan dealership where I purchased this will handle it. I'm sure their bodyshop could fix it by wet sanding/buffing it out.

Has anyone else noticed this in their finish? Do you think the dealership would repair this at no cost?

Thanks in advance...

jaydabee

Demand that they either repair the damage or replace the vehicle. There is no excuse for organge peeling in this day and age. That car should never had gotten out of the plant.

danted23

I agree, I'm not a body man but I noticed it right away once it was pointed out. I should've seen that when it was on the lot.

Do you think I'll have trouble at the dealership?

jaydabee

They should be able to buff out the clearcoat fairly easily. My dealer let his body guy buff out a couple of scrathes in my ride three months after I got it at no charge. They do stuff like this all the time and shouldn't make a big deal out of it.

danted23

Cool. Thanks jaydabee!

TechCI

I just got mine last week too. I took a look after reading this post and I do not see anything without looking very close, and when I run my hand across the paint I feel rough spots. Is that the same thing?

I live in the North East and there is a lot of pollen around and sap dropping from trees. I have not washed it in that last week so I am not sure what the rough stuff is. What does the Orange Peel stuff look like?

Thanks...

danted23

Congrats TechCI. Bad a** car huh?

My finish isn't rough, feels pretty smooth. But if you look close, it almost resembles a "golf ball". I found this at a website:

"Orange peel can best be described as a wavy, slightly lumpy, light-and-dark pattern resembling - what else - the skin of an orange. You know it when you see it: the magic just isn't there."

It almost looks like the finish on the rocker panels of cars where they apply that chip guard.

MrHpsn

I'm gonna take mine in this week because I noticed it Saturday while I was waxing my car. It's most obvious on my roof.

Chris_RI

i wonder if claying your car will fix this? I have yet to see this on my car, unless I hav e but didnt relaize it. Are you guys saying its pretty easy to notice? Any pictures?

danted23

I don't have any pics but it's real easy to notice, especially on darker colors. I just got back from the dealership and all the new Maxima's had it! Even some Altima's and the new Titan.

I'm going to make another post and have people check, I'm curious as to how many are actually "orange peely".

danted23

I sent you a Yahoo IM, I'm curious to see how your trip to the dealership went. I took mine and they definitely agreed it had the "peel". Actually, all the Maxima's there did.

BLAXIMA2K4

iTrader: (1)

Uh oh havent seen this yet....hopefully I wont see it in the future either.

2004 Smoke

I was reading a service bulletin on the Nissanhelp.com website. It went into great detail about how a dealer is supposed to remove the "paint guard" chemical, during the dealer prep process. It showed that a lot could go wrong (for example, if you don't keep the car "wet" with the special solution long enough), and could result in paint imperfections.

I am wondering out loud if some of this paint imperfection has to do with improper paint guard removal by the dealers???


Craig

mchne

iTrader: (3)

I see this orange peel effect a lot on newer cars.

my friend's '03 RSX has it, but my other friend's '93 MX6 doesn't... my friend's '03 sentra has it, but my '96 maxima doesn't.

maybe manufacturers are cheaping out on the quality of the paint they use?

oTranscendental

iTrader: (4)

I believe that they are trying to save a little time and effort. Which is the same as money.

Take it back and demand that you get it fixed, or take it to better bussiness buero.

My 97 doesn't have orange peel, but it sure does have the thinnest paint I've ever seen. I got all kinds of pebble chips up front. I never had that many on my 90! i had her for 13 years too.

danted23

Can you tell me how to get to this bulletin on the site? I found the bulletins but can't find the one about the "paint guard" chemical.

Chris_RI

Its not just the paint, its quality overall of the car. my 97 max was much buitl much better, interior and exterior. They use cheap parts all around on new cars. Dont get me wrong I like the Max, but you are def not getting you moneys worth on the quality of the interior and paint job... Youre paying for engine quality and thats why i bought the max and not the TL. Hopefully the engine competes as all its previous generations did.

I felt that I should buy a car that had a great engine and decent qulaity interior, dont get me wrong it looks sweet, just needs brushed aluminum etc... instead of a fancy car that was always having engine troubles.

2004 Smoke

Here is a TSB that covers paint guard removal...

http://maxima.theowensfamily.com/tsb...=2004&tsb=none

danted23

Thanks 2004 Smoke, I printed it out and I'm going to take it to my dealer next week when the adjustor shows up.

SilverBelle04

Is this still in effect for the 2004 models ? it's dated from 1991. It can't hurt to try at the dealer ?

Bob

Mike_TX

Orange peel is just a fact of life in these days of robotic painting and "environment-friendly" paints. When cars are painted, the paint goes on in a "fog" of tiny, tiny droplets, and some of them simply coagulate into little clumps that dry into what we call orange peel.

With a hand-done, custom paint job, the painter can apply mutiple coats to mask or eliminate this effect, but mfr's turning out hundreds of thousands of cars simply can't take the time or money to custom paint every car.

The degree of orange peel will vary from car to car, because of slight differences in the consistency of the paint, static electricity, and even stuff like relative humidity and barometric pressure.

I think the worst ornage peel I've personally experienced was on a Cadillac ... which some people even today consider to be a premium brand, and which averages $10,000-15,000 more than the price of a Maxima.

I wouldn't sweat it if it's just orange peel. If you actually have a paint defect instead of a cosmetic gripe, that's something else.

Mike