Paint Quality on New Cars
Discussion
finlo said:
snotrag said:
It's not just cheap cars. Most new BMW have shocking paint.
BMW have the worst paint quality on this planet by a country mile.Why is it so bad now though?
I had a 1997 M3 coupe in black and it was like a mirror, move on to a 2016 car and it's orange peel that bad i was convinced it had been resprayed after it had left the factory.
I had a 1983 Lada Riva. The paint, despite being camel s
t beige, was actually pretty decent and shone shone up nicely when attacked with a tin of Simoniz and an old sock. I'll admit to wondering whether it was a paint brush bristle, horse hair or human hair embedded in the front wing. I used to dream it may belong to a beautiful Russian girl, Svetlana, who would seek me out and move to the west, but alas, she never did get in touch. Other girls email me from time to time, but these girls are young and beautiful, and she'd be bloody ancient by now.
Worst modern paint I've seen was on an Alfa Brera S, the Pro Drive version. Disgraceful.
t beige, was actually pretty decent and shone shone up nicely when attacked with a tin of Simoniz and an old sock. I'll admit to wondering whether it was a paint brush bristle, horse hair or human hair embedded in the front wing. I used to dream it may belong to a beautiful Russian girl, Svetlana, who would seek me out and move to the west, but alas, she never did get in touch. Other girls email me from time to time, but these girls are young and beautiful, and she'd be bloody ancient by now.Worst modern paint I've seen was on an Alfa Brera S, the Pro Drive version. Disgraceful.
My Jag's not bad at all to be honest.
It's not that robust though, having gathered some gravel rash on the back bumper in the wheel arch returns. In fairness though, the councils don't help by spreading that surface dressing st everywhere either.
I went to look at new M3s about 2 years ago and the orange peel on their showroom car was really bad. It was as though a kid on work experience had painted a car. Dreadful.
I hate Skodas generally but the paint doesn't seem that bad on them.
It's not that robust though, having gathered some gravel rash on the back bumper in the wheel arch returns. In fairness though, the councils don't help by spreading that surface dressing s
t everywhere either.I went to look at new M3s about 2 years ago and the orange peel on their showroom car was really bad. It was as though a kid on work experience had painted a car. Dreadful.
I hate Skodas generally but the paint doesn't seem that bad on them.
PhillipM said:
Orange peel has been a big issue since they started switching paints to waterbased.
But, 99% of people don't notice beyond "ooh, shiny car!" so nobody bar RR and Bentley, etc, etc, do anything about it.
This, most modern cars have terrible paint and dealers will only make it worse when they prep it But, 99% of people don't notice beyond "ooh, shiny car!" so nobody bar RR and Bentley, etc, etc, do anything about it.
But most people lease / chop their cars frequently so don't care
I can go back to my fathers first cars, a 1953 then 1958 Hillman Minx & a Ford Classic - no orange peel & no swirl marks, this after several years ownership including many European tours. No faffing about with two buckets to wash them either, just a sponge & chammy & a wipe over with Nenette when dusty.
Likewise my 1959 & 1962 Sunbeam Alpines & a Mk1 MX-5. But what a pain keeping swirl marks at bay from day one of a new 2006 Honda S2000, paint as soft a Plasticine. Year 2010-onwards Audi & Mercedes have much harder paint.
Agree with other posters about BMW orange peel. When first noticed at night new cars under strip lights look so dreadful I was convinced they were faulty. Are the prospective owners blind, or because most are company issued who cares.
Likewise my 1959 & 1962 Sunbeam Alpines & a Mk1 MX-5. But what a pain keeping swirl marks at bay from day one of a new 2006 Honda S2000, paint as soft a Plasticine. Year 2010-onwards Audi & Mercedes have much harder paint.
Agree with other posters about BMW orange peel. When first noticed at night new cars under strip lights look so dreadful I was convinced they were faulty. Are the prospective owners blind, or because most are company issued who cares.
It's because of "high solids" lacquers and a way of spraying - I'm guessing cheap - It's just how they lay.
I have a devilbliss set up air cap to match "European" high peel finish.
It is not difficult to wet flat and refine to a flat finish - this is what manufacturers do to their show cars.
A well known electric car company were advertising for this but I'm not doing it for £10 an hour thanks!
I have a devilbliss set up air cap to match "European" high peel finish.
It is not difficult to wet flat and refine to a flat finish - this is what manufacturers do to their show cars.
A well known electric car company were advertising for this but I'm not doing it for £10 an hour thanks!
AndySheff said:
Yeah but they have great 'soft-feel' plastic interiors !
Ever tried a base model 1 series? All very basic hard plastic crap with huge panel gaps.Ze Germans can also do hard-feel plastic if needed
All well in line with the orange peel paint, my reference in this case being a black 116i in poverty spec.
nct001 said:
It's because of "high solids" lacquers and a way of spraying - I'm guessing cheap - It's just how they lay.
I have a devilbliss set up air cap to match "European" high peel finish.
It is not difficult to wet flat and refine to a flat finish - this is what manufacturers do to their show cars.
A well known electric car company were advertising for this but I'm not doing it for £10 an hour thanks!
A process you could never do on an assembly line. It's all about speed and repeatability with acceptable results. You will NEVER get a perfect finish on aass produced car. And lead is not allowed anywhere near a car these days so things appear to have taken a dip. I have a devilbliss set up air cap to match "European" high peel finish.
It is not difficult to wet flat and refine to a flat finish - this is what manufacturers do to their show cars.
A well known electric car company were advertising for this but I'm not doing it for £10 an hour thanks!
GroundEffect said:
nct001 said:
It's because of "high solids" lacquers and a way of spraying - I'm guessing cheap - It's just how they lay.
I have a devilbliss set up air cap to match "European" high peel finish.
It is not difficult to wet flat and refine to a flat finish - this is what manufacturers do to their show cars.
A well known electric car company were advertising for this but I'm not doing it for £10 an hour thanks!
A process you could never do on an assembly line. It's all about speed and repeatability with acceptable results. You will NEVER get a perfect finish on aass produced car. And lead is not allowed anywhere near a car these days so things appear to have taken a dip. I have a devilbliss set up air cap to match "European" high peel finish.
It is not difficult to wet flat and refine to a flat finish - this is what manufacturers do to their show cars.
A well known electric car company were advertising for this but I'm not doing it for £10 an hour thanks!
Customers are not expected a dead flat finish which is bad for durability as a slight peel hides marks and scratches as you see the peel not the marks - the finest paint jobs you will see are those with a fine consistent peel throughout the car - any muppet can wet flat and mop but to produce a consistent light peel finish defines a superb paint job. But some modern finishes are way beyond this - as I'm aware it's because of high solids lacquers and higher pressure air caps increasing production.
BlueHave said:
Noticed lots of brand new cars recently , some still with bonnet covers on.
The quality of the paint finish on these cars, most of them from Ford, Nissan, Vauxhall, Jaguar, Porsche, Audi, Mazda, BMW, Alfa is nothing short of terrible.
On wings and doors there is swirls and orange peel effect on boot lids
Is this normal for a £20k+ car?
Most new cars suffer with this it's to do with how thin the paint is applied most cars suffer with this, the best is none matching bumpers.The quality of the paint finish on these cars, most of them from Ford, Nissan, Vauxhall, Jaguar, Porsche, Audi, Mazda, BMW, Alfa is nothing short of terrible.
On wings and doors there is swirls and orange peel effect on boot lids
Is this normal for a £20k+ car?
Klippie said:
For a cheap car my Suzuki Swift isn't too bad the roof spoiler is peely compared to the rest of the car, it took a full machine polish to get a decent gloss on it.
I thought the paint on my Swift orange peely when I first saw it, but having had a look around the showroom satisfied myself that the others cars were just as bad, irrespective of which factory they came from.Someone at the dealer's put a small but deep scratch on the driver's door the day I collected it, which was annoying.
kapiteinlangzaam said:
The paint on our Focus (2015 car, built in Germany) is crap, like a lot of modern cars. Full of orange peel.
The paint on our Mustang (2016 car, built in the US) is fantastic. Completely flawless with a lovely deep shine.
Is there a difference between what they can use in the US compared to the EU?
Same with my 2012 GT Cali Special. Lovely smooth paint. Even my 97 GT is nice and smooth.The paint on our Mustang (2016 car, built in the US) is fantastic. Completely flawless with a lovely deep shine.
Is there a difference between what they can use in the US compared to the EU?
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