Okay, it's a poor statement, but I'm tired of these cars.

This is in reference to the cheap paint on my last few Japanese cars (96 Maxima, 98 Accord(gone), 99 GSR(gone), 00 4Runner). On Thursday, I took the minivan/Runner out to the mountains to snowboard. We got a fresh coat of snow and the plows were out laying their dirt and rocks. Well of course your going to run into rocks and what not, but this was ridiculous. The next morning I went to the car wash and noticed at least 100 paint dings in my front bumper. This vehicle has been with my family for 7-8 mos and the front end looks like crap. This is totally unacceptable. I may not be the smartest man, but a $30k+ vehicle should come with some decent paint. My Maxima has about a dozen good dings and my past hondas weren't any better. What the h#ll gives?

Anyways, I told my wife that we aren't buying any domestic or Japanese cars again. From now on, I'll be sticking to German autos and their bullet-proof paint jobs. After that, I'll be rolling with Kia and Hyundai.

To top it off, my 4Runner's windshield developed a huge crack, ALL IN THE SAME DAY!!! )^8 Grrrrrrrrrrr

 

What happened to your Accord and GSR? They seem like pretty new models.

 

I am sorry you feel that way.
Why don't you just get the cars painted with the paint that the german companies use on their cars.

 

Well Lexus has really good paint..but then they better since they are a premium brand.

 

it's not about the origin of the car, it's about the paint they use.
usually, german cars are luxury brands with higher price tag so they might use better paint. lexus is made in japan but it uses good paint since it's a luxury brand, and it doesn't chip.

 

I traded the Hondas off.

That is a good idea about getting the runner re-painted with German paint. I'll give one of the local VW/Audi or Bimmer dealers a call tomorrow. I don't see why they couldn't paint my Japanese car.

I did hear something about the more expensive car manufacturers using a higher quality paint on the more expensive cars. I wonder how the I30 & Maxima paint jobs compare. You'd think they'd use the exact same paint. All in all, I refuse to deal with this crap.

Has anyone had better experiences with their luxury car paint versus our regular car paint? I'm interested.

 

Woodear: Actually the name of my paint is Millenium Silver Metallic. The silver used on the IS300 is also called Millenium Silver Metallic. I'm sure it's the same stuff and that lex owner is going to end up yelling at their car in the same manner that I did.

How's your bimmer paint holding up?

Zam

 

I have one word for the black paint of my I30: HORRIBLE!

 

I've had a terrible time with the Pebble Beige paint on my car... I think the verdict is a resounding "bad" on Nissan paint.

 

the new volvo painted bumbers suck it like the paint is peeling right off!

 

So gar, 1.3K miles later, the paid is still good on the i30T. I sued to get new chips every day on my perl white Maxima!

 

Hmm. My max is darn near 10 years old and the paint is still in excellent shape, save for the side mouldings that are a bit faded, but that's mainly due to the material.

 

The paint problems don't seem to occur until the 4th generation. Guess they decided to let handling and paint go down a bit...

 

I have some buddies say this too--when you go to buy a new car, some of them will have 7-15 miles on them. Then you'll see others with 80-100, 200, 300, etc. You know if the mileage is about 10 it's hard for the car to have gone anywhere but to the dealer's lot.

I work in an office park near a ton of body shops, I'm talking 15 or more. Sometimes when I walk by them I'll see a brand-new car with the sticker in the window in for repairs, which leads me to believe there are vehicles damaged before delivery that are fixed-up.

With your paint having over 100 chips I would suspect that it had been repainted before you got it. You cannot really "repair" a urethane bumper. The color is molded in. Just look at NYC taxicabs and their body work, but cabs are capital goods, they don't care how they look. Toyota has a fairly good reputation in the quality department so yours could be an exception.

German is pretty nice, and will be my next choice too. You do get what you pay for. Though Japanese or Korean is more than good enough for lots of people.

 

my 90' 325I had impecible(sp) paint. I bought it used in 1994. Awseome paint.

my 87' Prelude - cheap paint

my 83' Cadilac Coupe DeVille - Cracked paint

91' MAXIMA - scratched easily, but still is a nice white

91' S-10 - horrible paint (no clear coat)

91' Miata - cheap paint

GranPa's 93 Cadilac Sedan DeVille - better than normal

85' RX-7 - cheap paint

97' COBRA - decent paint (takes alot of caring)

Out of my list of family or self owned cars. I'd definately pick the BMW for best paint, best performance, best apeal over all the others. Despite the 325I U had was a base model 3 series and used, it still out did all the others.
GOooooo GERMAN!

 

The accord was a piece of junk. The accord was about as fun to drive as driving a caddy, but with about 200hp less. His accord was a 4 cylinder 5spd (even with the 5spd, the thing had trouble accelerating). The GSR was too small. Didn't feel fast either. Handled nicely, but, bone stock, it got beat up on by a bone stock mustang GT (pre99).

I think Nissan paint in general just sucks. It's not as bad as Ford paint (check the older thunderbirds), but it's pretty horrible. My Supra's paint wasn't half bad. Just a bit faded due to improper care. My Honda's paint was ok, it was rock chip proned.

 

it's ok, has 1 chip on front bumper.
i don't think you can avoid that, many bmw owners use xpel, because they don't want chips.

 

My wife drives an '88 BMW 325e 4 dr and the Cirrus Blue paint is still really good. There are some pits here and there up front from stones but noticeable only up close. Definitely the difference in paint quality IMO.

 

Johnny: The mileage was in the 5-15 range. The truck looked like it was new. I'm almost 100% sure that the thing couldn't have been repainted, but who knows. I'll take a better look once the cold goes away.

MrSolo: I saw crouching tiger and cried. Not at the end but during the sweet martial arts action. Mom shoulda brought the DVD back from Taiwan. Geez. And when did my GSR loose to a Mustang? You must of been driving. Gotta go back to work...

 

your sappy underpowered GSR lost to a mustang GT when you were in the passenger side watching me power-shift trying to keep up with that POS! =) GSR was never a drag racer though...get me on a road course and mustang is checking out taillamps.

Crotching Tiger should win the oscar just for being so flipping crazy in the action sequences. glad you liked

 

I don't recall that. Or maybe I do. My fat butt may have slowed the GSR down. I'll be coming down to Vegas in about 2-3 weeks. I ordered a supercomputer yesterday so I have to wait for fedex to deliver (about 2 weeks). I'll kill you at Counterstrike.