Hey Guys.,

I was washing my car the other day and I noticed some rust FRECKLES. Yes, Freckles... If you stand behind the car you won't notice a thing. The paint looks perfect. Take a closer looks and its a different story. Pictures tell the STORY. Does anyone else with Sterling Mist have this? Is this something easily resolved? YOUR INSIGHTS are highly appreciated.

Here it is from pretty close...



Here it is where you can see the RUST...

 

yes, our paint blows big ones.

 

your pictures are way too big. this can be caused by a brake laid. or if someone what grinding metal close to your car the hot metal shavings could have landed on your car. you can remove this by first washing the car and then using clay bar on the rust spot. but when you are finished with this clay you must throw it away. next you are going to use a compound on the damaged areas. after that wax it and seal it and you should be good to go. if the rust is really deep and down into the paint then after you compound the area you will see small black marks.

 

yes, the paint is terrible on our cars..

 

the paint is awesome on my car. I dont believe it is the paint that is bad from the factory its how you take care of your car.

 

My paint is bad enough at 74k miles (chipping on the edges of the hood, worn to the primer on the edges of the doors) that I'm anticipating a paint job at around 90-100k

 

I wash, clay bar, paint cleaner, paint polish, wax and seal my paint once a week

 

To be fair, though, I don't think its just the Max that has bad paint, I've seen a ton of 6th gen Accords and 4th gen Camrys that have bald spots on the roof. In the 20k-30k price range, the paint can only be so good.

 

You are a doting parent, my friend.

 

I dont believe it is the paint itself. I stronly thing your paint will last if you take care of it. It's like anything else if use it and dont take care of it, it will go to ****. Same goes for your paint if you take care if it, it last last a very long time.

 

i'm a what?

 

Doting...loving. A loving parent...of a Maxima...

 

Alright guys... I went to this detailing place I was once recommended real quick. They look at it and said, PLEASE... This is NOTHING. A little clay, a little compound and you will be good.

I made an appointment and they will handle it on Saturday. Pricing is good so I will be there and am happy that this was a FALSE scare. Apart from that, my 01 paint is doing GREAT.

 

can I say I told you so lol

 

Paint on the 5th -5.5 gen's suck! The colors they use makes the paint extremely soft. You can look at most 5th + gen's and notice that the front bumper looks like it went through dowtown Baghdad. Horrible paint! Also, I constantly wash/wax my car so you can't say they car isn't taken care of.

So...

 

dude I dont know who the he11 you think you are but get off my back about this. Im sorry that the paint on your car suck a$$

 

YES you may... You are the reason I decided to go to the detail center... You were right, some clay and it should be perfect.

 

Get off your back? You are telling people who's paint is jacked up that it's their fault for not caring for it. It has been discussed in detail in a lot of threads that Nissans paint sucks. I take great care in my car, and still have horrible paint chips on my front bumper and hood. Looks like you got lucky, but don't blame people for the crappy paint Nissan uses.

 

its not nissans fault you have paint chips on your car it is from road trash flying up and hitting your car.

 

On vehicles with good paint, simple depris will not damage the paint like nissans does. I've had plenty of cars with more miles, and a lot less chip damage. I started getting rock chips bad with only 10k miles on car. And I haven't been down a dirt road yet.

 

Im sorry it sounds like a personal problem

 

Paint issues on the 5th and 5.5 generation maximas are very common. There really isn't any sort of preparations you can do to keep the car from falling victim to the "rust freckles". My car is covered front to back with them, but it's not really something I concern myself with. There's pro's and con's with any car and without having the entire car repainted, there really isn't anything you can do about it, so I don't complain about it too much.

 

I don't have rust freckles - I have a Super Black, with paint scratches and chips instead. The nice thing about my scratches and chips, is I don't have to stand so close to see them - they're always out in the open for the whole world to see.

 

absoundlab is cool.

 

I guess every color has its problems...


I will take pictures when the CLAY the b1t*ch this Saturday. The dude at the detailing center was certain that this would not be an issue and the RUST freckles would be no more.

 

what?!?..........

 

Actually I think he's your typical 17 year old know it all. Nissan paint sucks, it's well known. I've owned many cars and took great care of all of them and none had the chips and scratches that my Maxima has. Like SEmy2K2go said there's good and bad with any car.

 

The paint on my '97 sentra (black) w/ 140K on it is in much better shape than the paint on my '00 max (black).

The front of my max looks like a galaxy of paint chips.

I actually took it to a body shop to see what they could do about it. (they offered to repaint the hood and front bumper for $1,500) The guy though I had an aftermarket paint job on the car that wasn't properly done.

It is my biggest complaint about the max. The irony is that consumer reports rates the paint on 5th gen Maximas as "Excellent".

Paint quality may not sound significant but you have to look at it every day and it is extremely expensive to fix. Paint quality is one of the main reasons I would be hesitant to purchase another Maxima.

 

My car has had some freckles in the past and I can vouch for the fact that a clay bar WILL remove them. Easily.

 

Not sure what kind of polish you are using, but if it's an abrasive one and you are doing it once a week, you'll soon be getting a new paint job once you wear through the clear coat.

 

ftr, i was bein hella sarcastic when i said he was cool.

 

Wow that is bad, maybe keep a good coat of wax on the paint to stop this from happening?

 

rmd0311 - I've clay barred my car a couple of times. The spots don't simply go away. Rust comes from under the paint, you can't simply rub that away through the clear coat with the clay bar.

 

Let's see what happens. I will post back on Saturday when they finish.

 

I have freckles on my 95 gold max. Maybe because its old. They are on the tip if the hood.

 

Well., I must say I am truly impressed. It was perfect. Not one left. PERFECT. They washed it, clay barred it. Light compound then polish, than 2 coats of wax for this coming winter months and it is PERFECT.

By the way, out of curiosity I took a look at my brother in laws silver 02 accord and the trunk looked the same. A lot of freckles, I guess is just native to the paint color.

BUT, nothing a good claybar won't take away.

 

it's not really a rust... i have that on my mom's plastic bumper...
just wash->clay->Klasse*2->any canauba wax (i use Mothers)

 

Wow tahts a lot of money...

Let me know if a clay bar gets it out, as most said it should. Mine Has the same issue.

 

CHECK out post #36. The clay bar did work.

 

LOL, i agree about the bumper part.........my front bumper IS CHIPPED TO HELL. i need to get that and the hood repainted