Paint Quality on New Cars

Paint Quality on New Cars

Author
Discussion

BlueHave

Original Poster:

4,636 posts

107 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
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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 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?

steve-5snwi

8,592 posts

92 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
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I was in the local Mazda dealer today and thought the same thing. I thought the car had been smart repaired with a rattle can. Turns out the rest of the cars were all the same.

CaptainCosworth

5,832 posts

92 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
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My new Focus is fine smile

When you say brand new, do you mean fresh from the showroom, or 65/16 plates in general? I imagine there's plenty of people out there who buy a new car and decide to wash it every week, but probably use a cheap sponge/shampoo, hose it down and let it dry in the sun.

snotrag

14,446 posts

210 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
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It's not just cheap cars. Most new BMW have shocking paint.

finlo

3,731 posts

202 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
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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.

Klippie

3,096 posts

144 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
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I wasn't too impressed by the paint on Honda's...very peely, the sides was the worst, the sheen on most of the panels looked different as well.

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.


delta0

2,334 posts

105 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
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All are like that now. Chemicals used in paints have changed due to the law.

Sump

5,484 posts

166 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
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Lexus has really nice flat paint. Quite happy with the Merc also. BMW is orange peel heaven.

HarryW

15,150 posts

268 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
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Sump said:
Lexus has really nice flat paint. Quite happy with the Merc also. BMW is orange peel heaven.
Had a 2013 E class and thought the paint was less orange peely than the 5 series equivilents, I now have a 2015 VW Touareg and the paint is solid, almost enamel like, and dare I say it it is way way better a quality finish than either the BM or Merc offerings.

jayemm89

4,002 posts

129 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
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My Lotus just went through the paint shop today for a re-polish and "mop" as I was unsatisfied with the paint finish. Lots of swirls.

Apparently not visible under the lights they use in the paint shop. I did point out those should be the harshest possible lights to examine all defects.

In fairness to them, I've NEVER seen a new car with immaculate paint. The actual quality of the paint is much better than my BMWs - no orange peel etc.

Mound Dawg

1,915 posts

173 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
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Anyone remember what the paint was like on 70s cars?

No? Just me then.

swisstoni

16,845 posts

278 months

Wednesday 24th August 2016
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Swirls hadn't been invented.

BlueHave

Original Poster:

4,636 posts

107 months

Thursday 25th August 2016
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swisstoni said:
Swirls hadn't been invented.
Most people in the 70's were afraid to wash their car in case it was rusted by the end of the day.

Löyly

17,990 posts

158 months

Thursday 25th August 2016
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The quality of paint these days is pretty poor. I'm not one to take a micrometer to my Astra VXR (;)) but if I can see that the paint looks ste in the showroom, I won't be impressed.

BMW are without a doubt the worst offender. VAG don't seem to be far behind either. I gather it's the change from oil/metal paints to water based paint, it's thin and cheap and doesn't coat well. But that's not going to change any time soon.

grumpyscot

1,277 posts

191 months

Thursday 25th August 2016
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At least we've gone past the days of bright red VWs, Vauxhalls and Fiats turning pink after a year!

Or have we?

MarkRSi

5,782 posts

217 months

Thursday 25th August 2016
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delta0 said:
All are like that now. Chemicals used in paints have changed due to the law.
I'd assume that, everything is water based these days? You just need to visit a classic car show to see the difference.

On the plus side, my red car isn't slowly turning pink.

Uncle John

4,269 posts

190 months

Thursday 25th August 2016
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The paint on the Skoda is flawless.

The paint on the BMW is copyrighted by Jaffa.

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Thursday 25th August 2016
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It's not the best in terms of finish but this can be rectified with wet sanding.
Generally paint nowadays is pretty resilient.
And much better for the environment, we can't have it all.

eybic

9,212 posts

173 months

Thursday 25th August 2016
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I've worked for a couple of manufacturers and what is considered "acceptable" is far from gleaming perfect paint, I'd be rather disappointed if I'd bought a brand new car and the paint wasn't like a mirror.

mikemike08

1,609 posts

93 months

Thursday 25th August 2016
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Less paint = less weight hehe