Took my car to the dealer today to discuss paint issues and the trunk rubbing. My paint issues are similar to the majority of the people here, plus I have a spot where a bird did his business on the trunk of my car and even though I got it off within a half an hour, it marred the paint and ruined the clear coat - it looks like crap (no pun intended). Took it to my dealer today - said what I expected:

bird droppings are not covered
stone chips are not covered
we fixed your trunk TSB once - not again
black is the 'softest' of all the paint colors and will chip worse - WTF is that?

I called Nissan NA - 1-800-NISSAN1 and talked to a consumer affairs specialist.

She told me that in regard to paint issues, the new procedure is that whatever the dealer says goes. They no longer have the procedure to use paint inspectors and they rely on the knowledge and expertise of the dealers (she said they are their eyes and ears) to determine those issues and if they say it's not covered, I'm out of luck.

So, now the inept dealers have the power to just say no. She said this just related to paint issues for now. I even asked her if I have ANY recourse because I am very unhappy with the lack of service I received and the quality of what they are calling paint and she said no.

I was always happy with this car and thought it was great, and people can tell me that paint is not perfect and this is just going to happen, but I have 18,000 miles and drive 10 miles round trip to work - no highways - no construction - my front bumper and hood look white from all the chips. My wife has a '96 Honda Accord - 110,000 miles and has worked the same job for 6 years - 80 miles round trip all on highway and construction on some part of the highway for all 6 years plus parks in a gravel lot. Her paint looks like mine should after 20,000 miles - a few chips but overall looks really good.

I am so mad. Thanks for 'listening' to me vent. Mark my words - I don't care about the 2002 Max or anything, but I am done - I will NEVER EVER buy another Nissan product again. Their customer service or lack thereof is worthless.

 

My Black Max is only 4 weeks old and already has more paint chips than my 3 year old jeep wrangler. There are even some down the side on the pasenger door.

I went to Advanced Auto Parts and ordered a CarFlector stone gaurd. I really don't like those on a car, but I have to admit that on a black Max it looks pretty good and actually blends in well with the hood. It was about $40.

I agree that if Nissan does not correct this problem, this will be my first and last Nissan Product, but in the meantime I have to try and keep what I have looking nice. At least Black is an easy color to match on a repaint. I wonder if a body shop could just hit the hood with an extra shot of clear ?

Perhaps we can find enough people here to file a class action suit.

Oh btw, this statement from Nissan "black is the 'softest' of all the paint colors and will chip worse" is total bull****. I had a black accord EX with 40,000 miles that had fewer chips than my month old Max.

 

Then never by a Import product again from anyone. There all the same...thin paint. You will have to go domestic to get thicker paint. Also bird crap isn't covered, thats right....neither are stone chips (get a bra).

 

We have www.nissanpaint.com that we are going to use to make a statement. I kinda like the Class Action Suit as well but don't know if we have grounds for it as of yet. Might be good if one of the members of this board was a lawyer or had a good lawyer friend to give us advice.

Unfortunately, I had to agree with you...This is my FIRST Nissan product and if things don't improve, IT WILL BE my last. I don't have the idiotic sense to pay this much for a car that is going to look like I have been offroading in it or using it as a test target for a missle site.

 

I had an issue with Nissan NA a couple of months ago. I needed a new AC Condenser and they literally could not find one anywhere. I had a rental car for two months while my car was in the shop and when I asked for some kind of a compensation for their screw up they acted like I was crazy. It would take a lot for me to purchase a Nissan product again.

As a side note, I would highly recommend the carflector for the front of the hood that jopa mentioned. It does a good job preventing the chips on the hood.

 

Thanks for your overly helpful reply you must work for Nissan - I understand that all that junk isn't covered - that's not my point. My point is that the damage is above and beyond what should be normal for this car. While bird crap isn't covered - if it is removed in a very timely fashion, it shouldn't go through the clear coat - unless there was a defect in the paint process. Also, I would submit that since I don't drive highways to work and there is no construction on my way to work, all the marks on my car aren't necessarily from stone chips per se. (Did you read the post before you decided to be so helpful?) I think the paint on my car is failing - and failing miserably. You can think I'm just whining if you want - I even admit that I am because I expect more from this car - and I even told you how good my wife's Honda's paint is holding up and jopa had a good experience with a black Honda as well. Last time I checked those were both imports. So, I expect more than what I am getting and that's my opinion. A bra causes other kinds of paint damage.

 

Unfortunately the paint issue isn't specific to Nissans. New government regulations in the U.S. and Canada have forced car manufacturers to change the chemical make-up of the hardners in the paint in the last couple of years. That would explain why the paint on your wife's 1996 Honda is so much better than your new Max. I have friends with VW's, Toyota's, even a new BMW 540 who have the same types of issues with their paint. I know it sucks but at least you know you're not alone. I'm not sure if the same rules apply to domestically produced vehicles. The same regulations do not apply to aftermarket paint jobs so typically you'll find that anything you get repainted at a bodyshop will be a lot more durable.

 

That's interesting - that explains why my back bumper which was repainted (my dealer contracts with a local body shop) with my first trunk TSB looks better than when I first had the car. I think you have mentioned that before - about the new regulations, but this was the first I heard about aftermarket paint places not being subject to the same regulations. I might just save up some cash and get the hood and front bumper re-done by that place and then get the stoneguard. Thanks for the info.

 

Yeah I just had my front and rear bumpers repainted and they look great so far. I'm hoping that they stay that way. The paint job, in terms of physical appearance, is much better than what was put on by the factory i.e. no rippling.

 

but you talked to an idiot rep or purposely shot you down! dealers have to call nissan for every and I mean EVERY warranty repair. She was blowing you off. Get out your warranty book and call them back. Have it ready, start reading phrases out of it that back up your claim. THEY HAVE NEVER NEVER NEVER READ THE OWNERS MANUAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY DONT HAVE A F'Ning CLUE WHAT YOUR WARRANTY SAYS. They are told by their supervisors to hold claims down. They've been trained to blow you off, just like the service managers. Don't freakin skulk away, lock on to their @ss. Get your manual in front of you.. Start talking over their head. Ask them to explain to you if "my warranty says 'x', so why are you telling me 'y'" They will try to blow it off again. They you say, ok.. you clearly are not familiar with my car or my warranty, lets elevate this to your supervisor. ASK FOR NAMES! ASK FOR CASE NUMBERS!!! Document your call, hell tape it and tell them you are!

Understand that they are doing their job, so try not take it out on them personally, stay professional and try not to mock them. make the know that you are only fighting for your rights, not them personally. Tell them you understand why they are telling you this as that is their job, but that that they have been told wrong. Avoid directly confronting them, sidestep them and get to a supervisor. then hopefully a zone supervisor.

You can actually get them on your side... but know the wording of your warranty. it works in many cases.

of course, this is all from a guy with a still slipping transmission. I actually havent been able to muster up the strength to make this call about the tranny, but I did about the paint and other problems and I got alot closer to satifaction. not perfect, but closer

 

Sorry for my response, I had a bit of a rough day at work.

Anyways, I have had other black cars in the past, Mazda's, Pontiacs, Many Nissan's, Ford's, and friends with Honda's, BMWs, VW's, etc.

The best paint out of all of them was on the pontiac, and fords.

All of them got scratched easy, or chipped easy. Especially the Honda's. They chipped to the point where the front end looked like crap. VW, and BMWs defintely not as bad. I have seen toyotas as well that did not look good. If you ever compared paint on cars, you can see the thickness level in the paint in manufactures. Most imports are thin, and domestics are thick. My friend is a professioanl detailer, and he hates import paint, especially honda's. There paint sucks the most he said, it doesn't blend well with parts of the cars.

I also have a black maxima, the paint isn't great, but its good for black. My black TA was the best black car I owned, paint was mint. Also on the bird droppings, all depends how bad of acid the bird had, that will depends on the damage, as well as how long it sat in the sun. All it takes is 15 min to really break the clear coat.

 

15 minutes, huh - see to me, that is totally unacceptable, but I will stop being a baby now <---Me. I guess to back up what you are saying, I used to have a '98 Chrysler Sebring - sherwood green - that I hated and never washed. Bird crap, whatever would just sit until it rained. I think I washed it twice before I got rid of it and nothing like that ever happened to the paint. I guess I just have too high expectations. I understand your point, though, and I will just accept it and move on. It just struck a bad chord with me and since I was nice too the service manager and I didn't scream at the consumer affairs rep (they don't deserve that), I just let all my pent up frustration out here. It's my last word on the paint issue, though. If I can ever dump it without taking a huge bath, the Maxima is gone.

Russ, thanks for the reply - it is good to get different views even if they aren't what I want to hear!

 

can sum1 direct me to the trunk TSB...i think i might have some similar problems...
A_T_W

 

Just my $0.02, but about the recent regulations on the formulation in paint. I can see where this is true cause we also own a 1994 Quest and it takes a beating on the highway, but seems to hold up really well. I accidentally chipped a small piece of the paint off a couple years back while removing the bench seat and the coating of paint is noticably thicker on the Quest than on the Max. It also seems like the Quest paint also has a thick light gray primer coating or something underneath.

 

Damn, Sunlit Sand kicks ****! I once left bird crap on my car for 3 days, in the hot sun, and it looked like it was never there once I washed it off!

 

Quest paint is FORD. Ford also builds them in there plant..Not Nissan. That is why it will stand up better.

 

My other friend was reading the forums today, and he use to own a max. Well anyways he runs a body shop, and basically he said, if you guys ever want to walk through a parking lot, find a white car, and a black car parked next to each other, put a hand on both. The white will be warm, but the black will burn your hand if you leave it on there for more than a few seconds. That is why BLACK is more effected with bird droppings, than any other color. The temperature difference is near 80 degrees most likely. The paint will be slightly softer as well due to the heat difference. It's not the paints fault its the color and the heat. If its hotter where you live, like in Texas, it will most likely chip easier than other colors.

Makes very good sense guys....

 

My brother-in-law is a lawyer. I'll bring it up the next time I talk to him to see what it takes to launch something like this.

Cheers!

 

Oh, that's right, I forgot about that. My bad. Also though, a relative has a 93 Sentra and that paint has held up pretty good too.

 

hmmm i thought nissan was nissan, and ford's mercury villiger came after nissan quest?

 

The Quest and Villager twins were a joint project headed by Ford. That's why they look so much alike even when different body styles come out. The Quest even uses Ford headlights.

 

Please go to the paint complain site and file your complaint. RCTICMAX...please have your brother in law look at this site and tell us what he thinks. There is also a cover letter I drafted that unfortunately isn't displayed, but it was in the thread when the moderators were so kind to have it up there in the "sticky" area.

I hear all the stuff about thin paint, but I don't walk by a car anymore without checking out the paint. It's become an obsession and I've not seen any NEW cars that show the evidence of paint flaws like my Max.

Michael...if you read this...can you get my cover letter imbedded in the site? Since the thread is no longer there that contained it, people don't get the opportunity to read some of the info in there.

thanks!

Scott

 

Scott,

I just now found the cover letter and will email it to my brother-in-law tomorrow.

Please check out my comments posted under the "Paint Chips..." thread re: my conversation with him tonight.

Cheers!