I've had mine for about 3 weeks and I have noticed 3 bad rock chips. I don't even recall hearing rocks hit to make this happen. I don't follow close and am very cognizant of trucks dropping dirt/rocks and whatnot. Has anyone noticed that it seems the paint is easily chipped? I wonder if the paint quality or thickness is just not what it used to be. On my '95 it had one or two over its whole life...

 

The chipping on my 02 is rediculous! I got it that way, but i see it on most of the 5th gens

 

maybe you can get the clear 3m wrap for the front?

 

clear bras are great but costly..i always use the black leather bra for all my cars. never ever get rock chips or any paint damage

www.carbras.com sells best product ive come across.

 

I would not use a leather bra on my car if you can afford the clear bra. Unless you take the bra off from time to time and clean it,m and the part it covers, you will have damage on the hood. If it ever gets loose(it will) it will flap around and damage the paint.Some people don't mind the small paint damage, depends on how **** you are about your car. You have none of this issue with a clear bra.

 

id have to agree, the clear is WAY expensive, but so is your car... a 1200 investment might not be too bad in the long run...

im not a big fan of the leather bras for the same reasons....

 

Wow, 1200 is a lot, especially for a mainly cosmetic item. FOr that much you could probably just repaint the hood after 5 or 6 years. I am happy to just dab some touch up paint in there to prevent rust.

 

$1200 seems kind of pricey. I am taking mine in tomorrow for the clear bra and have been quoted $648.00. Thats the 3M brand top of the line stuff installed. Your price probably came from a dealer, if so look for a shop that specializes in this and you will find it a lot cheaper.

 

i think the price was for my car for the entire front, fenders hood and mirrors

it might have been less, dont remember..

 

yea no $h*t on the 5 gen hood stone chips. i'd even call it ridonculous.

 

My 06 front end looks sandblasted, eventually I might get it resprayed, I think it's just paint quality, with pollution standards becoming more strict especially with the auto industry and with the switch to water based paint from oil based, may also be the giant front ends on modern cars that is all paint

 

Yeah the 5th gens have some soft paint! Sucks, I may do the clear bra soon once I get the hood repainted along with my lip....

http://www.shiftice.com/clear_bra.html

If I had a 7th gen I would invest now.....

 

5th through 7th's paint seem to be more fragile than the prior gens, I see lots of them with chips on the front end!

 

ive been using them for over 10yrs on my cars. if u get a good quality one, you will not have any issue's. keep a good wax under neath the bra and take it off from time to time and wash it and you will be fine. Id rather take 5 min to remove the bra and wash and clean the paint then to have rocks chips all over my front end.

 

At least we don't have to worry about rust with these aluminum hoods.

 

my 4th gen is insanely bad with this. the hood and bumper are atrocious (i got it painted about 2 years ago). I never hear rocks or anything but there is like 3 spider webs on the bumper and dime size chunks missing too.

i think its just a way of life you have to deal with but i do drive 60 miles a day on the freeway too.

 

Really?? They are aluminum?

 

Yep. Not only does Nissan advertise them as aluminum in their expanded technical literature, but I have had occasion (with my 6th gen) to find it inconvenient to repair a small ding in my hood for a few months, and the small bare metal spot was still shiny after lots of driving in rain and worse. All 6th and 7th gen Maxima hoods are aluminum. I don't remember if my 5th gen Maxima's hood was aluminum or not.

 

I have had my new '09 Max for a week and while there are no rock chips on my hood yet, there are about 10 tiny little knicks on the front bumper already. I was beginning to wonder if my car had been repainted, I mean it's only been ONE week!!

 

5th is as well.

 

The dealer sold me a paint protection plan that is supposed to cover rock chips and bug damage...We'll see

 

Well, I've had mine now about 6 months. Tomorrow, the windshield is being replaced from all the rocks thrown my way in 25K miles, but despite all the bug and rock hits at highway speeds, I've yet to find any paint issues..of course LoveBug season is just around the corner, so that will be the ultimate test!
Lt

 

Wow, really? After 25,000 miles no rock chips on your front bumper or hood? Now I am really beginning to think my front bumper was repainted, especially because in front of the plastic piece in front of the radiator there is some paint bunched around it, almost like they had to put something there to cover the plastic and spray paint all around it.

 

Shark. LtLeary is in Florida. We don't have "rocks", just lots of sand. lol

LtLeary, I'm dreading the Lovebugs too. For those NOT in Fl who don't know what love bugs are, they are quick multiplying, nasty little bugs that do nothing but mate and swarm and smash themselves into your car. Their guts seem to be quite acidic and really screw up paint jobs.

 

Don't know if they use this? Maybe it's softer overall.

http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS...1202-01-e.html

 

Seems to me this is currently being utilized on some Infinitis, but not any Nissans yet.

 

Brought my car into my Nissan dealer today now that my sales guy is back from vacation. Turns out to correct the paint issue inside the opening for my radiator they will have to repaint the entire front bumper. Naturally I said there is no way I will accept taking the car back having to be repainted only one week after buying it! I initially demanded to trade mine for one of the other silver SV's, and finally we met in the middle - they let me pick a front bumper to put on mine from the other silver SV's in stock.

 

I sure hope you got the exception. But Compusmurf is right...with the exception of RoadWork, all we have to worry about in FL is sandblasting and LoveBugs. But to answer your question directly, the only "body" damage I've sustained to date (now up to 26.5K) is a small ding on the rear window's "chrome" trim where I pulled out of a gas station and left a plastic pepsi bottle on sunroof (of course it promptly fell with the dreaded THUMP and left a small ding that reminds me of my old-age forgetfullness whenever I look at it!) Front bumper and rest of paint pristine.

 

The paint seems thin IMO, seems like mine chips easy too....