I don't know for sure if they use a different paint process, but I can tell you the paint on my I30 seems better than on my 95 Max. I have had the I30 since 2/00 and have 2 chips on the hood. My Max by this time had many many small chips!

 

hmm at about 12k miles.....before my accident..i was thinking of having it resprayed..due to the MANY MANY MANY paint chips. 90% Highway driving probably contributed to all the chips. But..i had it resprayed with PPG and Diamond hard coating and its held up GREAT! So much for nissan..can we order our cars in primer?

 

damn

people are too ****ing picky

if it's that bad and means so much to you
sell the car and buy something else



I barely see any awesome condition 3rd gens, especially better than 4th gens..

My 3rd gen's paint was a lot worse than either 1 of my 4th gens..


When it's clean.. it's not that bad.. The bumpers chip easier and a lot of 4th gens are mismatched with the rest of the body, other than that, i don't see that much difference or a trend...

 

well the paint on my 95 isnt too hot either....i dont have any chips, but a new bumper may have helped that out. i have a serious lack of clear coat on my roof and trunk, however, the paint on my hood is relatively good

however, the paint on my moms 1992 grand marquis is in excellent condition. the paint shines bright, there are no chips, and there is still and bunch of shiny clear coat. her paint makes me jealous of her boat...

 

I had a TON of paint chips on the bumper and hood of my black 96 I30, I don't think the paint was any better than a Max. I'm talking about the tiny chips that you can't even touch-up.

 

Guy's it must be process variation....my 96 max's paint looks as good as the day I drove it new off the lot. It's Pebble Beige Metallic. Previous environments, Connecticut, Nevada, now Southern cal. Just out of curiosity, for those members having a bad experience, what colors are your cars? Pigments can sometimes influence appearance over time.

 

Many of the people on the forum are young, and they picked up the cars 2nd hand. They may not know if it's been repainted before. I know several people in the office who had to bring their cars back to a body shop after having work done. I am aware of a laundry list of defects on the 4th gen Maxima, but until this year my 98 had never seen a garage. And the paint is perfectly fine.
Sounds like your 96 is the same.

 

Hmm..I do have a 2002, but my paint seems to be holding up pretty well. I also have a clear bra...

Anyway, my old car, a 97 Chevy Lumina LS, had a multitude of paint chips on the hood. I think it had to do with the way the air traveled over the hood on the car + the extensive highway driving it had done as my dad's business car (before it was mine).

Speaking of Nissan paint though..my mom has a 2000 Nissan Pathfinder with about 50k on it. It has no paint protection and as far as I can tell - no paint chips. That also may have to do with how low the hood is to the ground though.

 

10 year old bmw = great paint still
2 year old nissan = paint chips galore

Memo to NISSAN:
REPAINT MY CAR JET BLACK AND GIVE ME A SUPERCHARGER FOR SOME COMPENSATION!