Scratches in paint under clear coat
 

I have had my since April 24. Generally see it in sunlight or incandescent light. Looks great. Black. A few days ago, I noticed a scratch. Couldn't figure how it got there. Tried my Scratch Out stuff. Thought it worked. Todays it's raining, car in garage. Decided to wax car. Turned on overhead Florescent lights. Noticed a bunch of scratches. Running a finger over them I could feel nothing. Got out the head band magnifiers. Scratches not in surface but below clear coat. Checked front under saran wrap covering. Could see scratches as well. Have contacted dealer. For the time being will not turn on florescent lights near car. In the sunlight it looks great. So, you all check your cars and I'll keep this thread up to date with what happens.

Yeah it sounds like scratches on the clear coat. Same happens with my car. . . I don't believe its under go get the car buffed and see if it fixes your problem.

I would buy that except, I did some buffing. With some Scratch Out stuff I've used on other cars. Didn't work. Looking at paint at an angle shows no lines in paint. Only looking down. Got some glasses for doing closeup work and do not see scratches in top coat. Same for front under the Clear plastic bra stuff.

ok, wash,clay, polish, final polish, seal, glaze and wax should get it out




use a construction lamp...those yellow stands with a halogen bulb....you will see all the scratches and when scratches disappear, it will look 10 times better in the sun!!!

PM if you want a link

Yeah dont use scratch x, unless you know how to work the pad take it down to michael at meguires .

Are they like swirly looking scratches all over depending on what angle you look at the car?

Yes, swirly and straight also. I went to the dealership and checked the cars there. Silver car was fine. Black Z had "scratches" as well. Black has always been the worst color to produce. Since the car looks great in sunlight and the "scratches" disappear. I will go with "perception is reality" and believe they are gone. I promise not to look closely at the car in my garage with the florescent light on. If I had 10K, I'd have the car stripped down to base, apply prime, hand sand it , paint, hand sand (a few times), clear coat and buff. I think those days are gone. Did that 46 years. Won't be getting that done today. 3 feet minimum distance to look at car :-)

I told you.

Its from two things.

1. Not washing your car properly (When you dry off your car, dust particles get caught and you scratch the surface of your paint, (especially being black any car enthusiast with a black car should know its scratch ville center)

2. Straight line scratches are caused from you, improperly waxing or anything can cause that, even dust in wind can cause some, as well as using the high pressure wash can cause scratches in your paint as well.

The clear coat is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo delicate...

go get it buffed you'll feel better about yourself.

The scratches are not in the clear coat but underneath it. Viewing the paint from one angle, the paint is smooth as silk. Been using 100% cotton bath towels to dry off the car. Being an old body shop guy from years ago, these look like scratches when the grit was too low when sanding. Last part, with the saran wrap front end, the scrathes are under neath it.

You should never use cotton on your paint, as it will scratch it. Only use quality microfiber cloths. It is highly unlikely the scratches are under the clear. In all the years I've been doing this I've never seen scratches under the clear coat, unless it was a repaint. Have it professionally polished and see if that will work. I have a feeling it will. Some one mentioned using a glaze earlier, I'm not a fan of it unless the paint is old and thin so you can't polish the swirls out safely. If not why would you want to cover up the swirls with a glaze when you can polish them out? High volume shops always do this. I think it is a form of deception. Look, your car looks great. Two weeks later after a handful of washes the swirls start to come back :shakes head:. Properly polished paint should looks amazing even with out a wax or sealant on it. the wax is only a sacrificial barrier to the elements and "will" add a little to the looks. People wonder why, after using an over the counter wax, their car looks pretty good but for only a short period of time. Thats because that wax you just used has fillers and oils in it that artificially and temporarily make your paint glow and look free of swirl marks.

The scratches are not on top. They are under the clear coat. Cotton, good cotton doesn't scratch. I went to the dealership and looked at another Black car. Same thing. I'm using Mother's wax or McGuaiers(sic). One of the dealership techies saw the scratches first before I did anything to the car such as wax it. They are not visible on a sunny day. Car looks great in daylight. I also worked in a body shop for a few years and am not green behind the ears. I am not washing the car every day. The old Corvettes had the same problem but for a different reason. I think ZZSPORTZZ has the same understanding.

Are the scratches all over the your 370Z? Are they are in certain area? It sounds as if your car was painted again (and this is why I asked whether they all over the car versus an area) and someone did not sand the primer properly before spraying the color and clear coats. Cars are repainted from transport and lot damage all the time.

Until you try to properly polish a small section to see if the marring disappears , you can not rule out surface marring. "Every" new vehicle that rolls off the lot has some degree of marring from dealer prep. I'm even more certain it is surface marring after you said you saw another new car on the lot with the same marring. It doesn't matter if it's a BMW dealership or a Kia dealership, inexperienced people with time constraints only adds up to a bad result.

Hey, if you are happy using cotton rags and they give you acceptable results then thats great. I find the only cotton that performs to an acceptable level for me is Jersey knit, but it has almost no absorption properties. Soft black paint that has been jeweled to perfection will be marred by every cloth besides a quality microfiber. Close inspection under intense lighting is how I evaluate my work, and microfiber is the only one that performs to an acceptable level for me.

Please keep us up to date on your paint issue. I am very interested in the cause of this.

BTW I use my nice white Brazil cotton bath towels. One of the bennies of not being married. Anyway, took some photos, went to dealership. They will contact Nissan. Went to their body shop. They saw the scratches but did not have the right stuff fix it. The dealership has their own detail guy but he wasn't around. Went to a local detail guy. Evidently this is on a lot of cars. I did not have this on my 1991 Black 300ZXTT. The next set of cars were Blue and had no scratches. Detail guy said he could get them out but with the paint they use these days, he thought they would come back. I'll have to see what the dealer detail guy has to say. I know on some other threads, they had the scratches , dealer or outside detailer fixed it. Some people have done it themselves. I can see the stuff under the saran wrap up front. I know what I do isn't doing anything and it annoy the heck out of me if this is done by some clean up type prior to shipping. I'll continue this saga when I talk to the service manager and detailer.

Swirls all over your car?? I have thems too bro. Black Z as well...let me know what happens. I went back to the lot and EVERY black car on their lot has the "swirls" all over thems.

scratches aren't under the clear coat. If they were, the clear would have corrected them. I sand powdercoated parts all the time before I clear them and no scratch marks are ever visible, plus I painted my own 240Z with the help of an automotive painter, and couldn't believe all the imperfections in the base coat that didn't show up at all after clearing.

I sent this to Nissan USA
 

I have a Black 2009 370Z. The car is covered in scratches. At the 370Z forum there are numerous comments from various Black 370Z owners who all have minute scratches on their cars. Brand new Black Z's, that still have the white tape on them, at the dealerships have the scratches. I would strongly suggest that NISSAN USA address this and contact the owners of Black Zs and correct this. The scratches do not show up on other colors.

My black Z has the scratches tooo and it drives me crazy..nothing I have tried has gotten to go away..so i wll live with it...most people do not notice.

its just black, not a defect. I have 4 black cars and they all have scratches.

I went to a car show on Saturday. Paid particular attention to Black cars. I knew the other Black cars wouldn't have scratches. I was actually a bit taken back. The modern black cars had scratches. There were all kinds of cars. 1 370Z, me. Various muscle cars from 60, 70 etc. Older black cars looked good. No scratches but evidently within the past 18 years things have changed. My black 91 300ZXTT didn't have scratches. My 93 was Blue with no scratches. I liked one reply I got to get rid of scratches - park in the sun. But I live in New Hampshire, I may to import the sun. Maybe Stillen has a portable sun.

All cars get marring to a certain extent depending on how hard the clear coat is. New cars have water base, environmentally friendly paint, which usually makes them softer than older paint. Z's have a soft clear and mar easily, and black just shows this more than most colors. Blackbird, the reason most of the cars at the car show didn't have marring in the paint, is because most people who show their pride and joy usually have them polished before a show. If you want your car to look as good as the ones at the show, just have it polished. As far as parking in the the sun to rid your car of marring, not going to happen as Z's don't have the self healing paint found on some of the Infiniti's. Proper washing is the key to lessen the marring in your paint. The two bucket wash technique is essential. My previous Jetta was a nightmare. The paint was so soft that the first wash after polishing it, marred the paint again. The new Z's are not nearly as bad as my old Jetta, as I have worked on one already.

My point was that the older cars weren't painted with this water base crap. I'm not all that PC or Green. This is my first car with "soft" paint. The newer cars did have scratches or marring. I may sit this year out but when I have the redundant payout, I'll have the car painted with some decent Enamel. Re self healing may be why my Infiniti's didn't show marring.

In the on-going saga: went to dealer. Dealer contacted NISSAN. Dealer said they haven't heard of this. Dealer says he'll work with me. Has his own detailer who has been doing this for 48 years (old like me) who's wife had a Nissan quest - Black with scratches. He fixed it. He will do mine.
Big question to anyone: I just looked at the rear plastic bumper. Found small scratches, the kind you get when you drag the vacuum hose across the rear bumper. (Hey, who knew?). Anyway, got the KIT Scratch Out. Scratches gone. Cannot find other scratches in plastic parts. Could someone explain why please? Thanks.

Took car to dealer. The detailer "compounded" the car and put on a sealant. Looks outstanding. He suggested Mothers Cleaner Wax. In daylight no scratches at all. In flourescent barely see a few. Waxed car. sawa few light scratches not the gazillion as before. Added second coat. Looks great in any light. The Service Manager said he didn't hear of any other dealer having this issue. I told him to check the rest of his black cars. But he did get the car taken care of. Happy driver now. Tomorrow, Stillen headers, HFC, Gen 3 intake, Grounding kit and under pulley.