Scratches! 'Soft' paint? Arghh?

[Ken Figenus]

>apologies this is a bit ranty< Never have I made such an effort to look after a car, but sadly never have I noticed so many blemishes appearing on a car out of the blue. 'Reaching out' to this self help support group as I don't think it is me being paranoid or excessively OCD here?!

There is no doubt that the level of 'being particular' has been elevated to a new level with this car, and my knowledge of how to care for paint has never been greater (used to wash the TVR with Fairy Liquid and a hard B&Q sponge) ! But never have I had a car where scratches so seem to come from 'nowhere'. I did have an issue recently that she was scuffed and scratched whilst with the motor trade but this event was very clear and has been fixed.

I really hang back from cars in front, I've had her CQuartz coated which hardens the paint, I've stopped using the indoor cover unless its just after a wash, I'm paranoid about where I leave her, I use snow foam and hundreds of pounds worth of top end cleaning stuff and even a 4 horsepower blow dryer when washing her, I don't let ANYONE else wash her...but still the fine scratches and chips come

In my head, by now, its cr@p paint albeit with a lovely smooth shiny finish. I just get nothing like this grief on the workhorse Beemer that gets only 10% of this mollycoddling and effort. What is the score?

[petesv8v]

Yep Astons paint seems to have all the durability of cream cheese , you only have to look a them with a bad attitude and scratches appear. The darker the colour the more noticeable. Very annoying, you spend money on all sorts of lotions and potions but it still makes every wash a trauma trying not to add swirls and scratches.

Have a 2003 Civic with metallic paint as a work horse ,gets a polish once every 2 years or so and comes up great with hardly a swirl mark.

[Murph7355]

The more I think of the quality of the paint on my car, the more I think it will be the single biggest reason why I am unlikely to ever buy another modern era Aston Martin.

[DocW]

I understand exactly. I have just ordered Cover-up glaze from 50caldetailing which gets great reviews from those who want to mask the swirls and minor imperfections. It get slated by those who are good with a DA polisher who maintain that this is sweeping the problem under the carpet. I am more realistic and want the car to look good and this seems to address the issue. I can let you know how I get on as soon as it arrives and I have tested it.

[DB9VolanteDriver]

Must be a UK thing? Here in the good 'ol, these issues don't appear to be so prevalent. But then you seem to have lots of gravel drives everywhere and narrow roads with probably lots of detritus on the edges to pick up. Don't know why you all don't have paint protection film if this is such a problem.

[hashluck]

I cannot say mine is any worse than the Audi it replaced (factory paint issues aside), it is probably better in fact.

Two likely factors... i) It is Lightning Silver and ii) It is Gtechniq Crystal Serum protected.

Oh and..... iii) I never wash it

[GT Two]

So I had tried to mentally prepare myself for this as a owner I know had told me of his issues but I have been pleasantly surprised.

My car is a 2010 car in Carbon Black and I had heard dark colours are the worst on Aston Martins.

It seems ok and certainly no worse than my previous Ferrari.

[Ken Figenus]

hashluck said:

I cannot say mine is any worse than the Audi it replaced (factory paint issues aside), it is probably better in fact.

Two likely factors... i) It is Lightning Silver and ii) It is Gtechniq Crystal Serum protected.

Oh and..... iii) I never wash it

Bloody shiny primer coloured crowing John! Thanks for that

Other response have helped already Thanks.

[hashluck]

Ken Figenus said:

Bloody shiny primer coloured crowing John! Thanks for that

My pleasure, always happy to help, you know that

[AMDBSNick]

My Storm Black DBS is the same and has really been looked after by both myself and my valeter. I have no idea what these serum's are supposed to protect but its not the paint

[RobDown]

I'm saving up the money saved by not buying serums etc so that I can pay for the inevitable respray 5 years down the line

But then living in London i have no chance of avoiding scratches...

[mikey k]

After seeing the difference Ventureshield made on my Lightning Silver Vantage I've just ordered a full covering of Suntek self healing film on the McLaren

[steveatesh]

Mine is Lightning Silver too and after nearly 6 years the paintwork is pristine. I do my best to wash it properly. Three buckets, snow foam once, rinse, snow foam again for lubrication when using the wookies fist, pat it dry rather than rub etc.

Actually upon reading that back, it lends itself to double entendres but I'm sure that won't happen on the Aston forum

[Ken Figenus]

mikey k said:

After seeing the difference Ventureshield made on my Lightning Silver Vantage I've just ordered a full covering of Suntek self healing film on the McLaren

TBH Mikey I think this really is part of the solution - have always semi discounted it as its not far off the price of a respray which you may need anyway down the line as its only patches of film not a full covering. But when I do get the stone chipped bonnet sprayed next year I'll be putting it on as that should help it keep up its appearance for a good few years.

You really looked into it didn't you - Suntek is the current daddy yes?

[paddy328]

Yep, suntek is the best, followed by expel and then anything else isn't worth bothering with. I did a 599 last week that had ventureshield on and I wasn't impressed at all.

[Ken Figenus]

Good to know - to help avoid whiny threads - cheers Paddy!

[mikey k]

Ken Figenus said:

mikey k said:

After seeing the difference Ventureshield made on my Lightning Silver Vantage I've just ordered a full covering of Suntek self healing film on the McLaren

TBH Mikey I think this really is part of the solution - have always semi discounted it as its not far off the price of a respray which you may need anyway down the line as its only patches of film not a full covering. But when I do get the stone chipped bonnet sprayed next year I'll be putting it on as that should help it keep up its appearance for a good few years.

You really looked into it didn't you - Suntek is the current daddy yes?

I always disliked the PPF films as you could always see the edge and the clarity wasn't great.
My first Aston had a partial Ventureshield kit on it from the the previous owner.
I was so impressed I put a full kit and full bonnet on the V8S.
I could still see the edges where it didn't cover a full panel but then with a bit of clever pattern shaping this was kept to a minimum.
Clarity was better but not perfect.
Meantime Xpel released their gen2 film which is self healing and has better clarity.
I know a few guys on here have had paintshield fit this and love it.
Upping the game with the McLaren the cost of painting the "Volcano" paint to get rid of chips etc is scary

So I did a bit more research and found the gen3 films from Xpel and Suntek who seem to be market leaders.
3M have recently launched their Pro film which claims to take it to the next level.

Couple of the things I like about PaintShield is they are not locked in to using one film. They have recently moved to Suntek from Xpel after 6 months testing it. They are a few months in to testing the new 3M Pro.

I went over to look at how they do it and there are a few other things that convinced me a FULL coverage was the way forward.
They make their own patterns WITHOUT any blades going anywhere near the car
The fit and finish of their Suntek pattern is amazing
They had two white 996 GT3RS's in white in one with the gen1 film on and one with the gen3 Suntek. The suntek just looked like a nicely polished car.
Next to them was a 12C (similar pattern to my 650S) which had full coverage. It was very very well done, no edges showing, high clarity and complete protection.
Beauty of the gen3 stuff is you can clean, polish & wax it the same way you would paint

I'm a convert!

[erics]

One of the reasons i sold my v12v in storm black was the soft paint.

If i ever buy an aston again, it will be detailed and instantly ppf'd. The whole car ppf'd that is. Otherwise, welcome to the world of nightmares.

[Ken Figenus]

Jeez I think I have met the elephant in the room!

Superb info Mikey; much appreciated mate. Now are we talking over or under £3k here?

And what Is this soft paint thing? Surely Aston just use paint from Dupont or similar big industrial multinationals? They don't make paint in Gaydon! Do they trade durability for showroom gloss and BMW like orange peel?

Edited by Ken Figenus on Saturday 5th September 17:58

[GingerMunky]

Ken Figenus said:

Jeez I think I have met the elephant in the room!

Superb info Mikey; much appreciated mate. Now are we talking over or under £3k here?

And what Is this soft paint thing? Surely Aston just use paint from Dupont or similar big industrial multinationals? They don't make paint in Gaydon! Do they trade durability for showroom gloss and BMW like orange peel?

Edited by Ken Figenus on Saturday 5th September 17:58

time to buy shares in 3M before Ken Figenus wanders in with open cheque book

I would suggest looking into supercavitation and how the US military are looking at it for displacing water around torpedoes. It would be the ideal solution to insure NOTHING touches the car

Did the other bits get sorted at the dealership?