Nissan Approved Bumper Repaint
 

Took my car into the Nissan this morning because the rear bumper on the passenger side where it meets the 1/4 Panel is peeling off. I only have about 2 weeks left on my factory warranty but I only have 16K miles on the car. There is probably about a 3 to 4 inch strip in the seam that is totally coming off. The service advisor was giving me some guff when I brought it in saying the bumper must of been repainted because of an accident or something becuase factory paint won't peel. I brought up a couple of threads on this forum to show him that there have been other Nismo's with the same problem and sure enough 2 hours later I got a calling saying they will pull the bumper and repaint it. Just really happy I squeezed in before the warranty ran out and it will be back to perfect shortly.

I just saw that on my 2012 Nismo with just 3k miles on it:bs: (only about 3mm so far). Noticed it while detailing the car over the weekend. Not sure if i should take the car in soon or wait.
Let us know how the paint job goes.

Take it in soon as you can. Don't wait. This way, you can avoid some of the headaches that other have had.

Being a new owner of a 2011 Nismo. This topic really scares me! :eekdance:
How many Nismo owners have been effected by this?

my 09 peeled where the front bumper met the fender. It has been brought up by a lot of people.

Do you guys hand wash your cars? Power wash? You dont send them into a machine do you? I hope mine does not start doing this!

Is it the actual paint that is peeling or just the clear coat?

I only hand wash my car, never been thru a machine. I looked at 3 other Nismo's before buying mine and out of the 3 that I saw there was only 1 that didn't have the paint peel on the rear bumper. It is the actual paint and not the clear coat. I orginally thought it was like some left over dealer white film they put on new cars to protect the paint but nope it was the actual paint. I hope to have the car back by the weekend but I am told the body shop is pretty busy so it might be next week sometime. I am sure they will put it all back together just fine but it drives me crazy thinking this car that I baby and only drive very sparingly will have to have the rear bumper taken off and replaced. Seems like nothing ever fits as good as factory once it has been removed.

Any paint job is going to be way better than that **** oem paint. I'd be happy, not worried

I only hand wash my cars (clay and wax twice a year), i dont have a power washer and never trusted those machines. Besides, even the owners manual says not to go through those machines because of the spoiler, maybe someone with a nismo did but we'll never know cause im sure he/she would be to embarrassed to tell.

Here is a pic of my rear bumper on the right side where it meets the quarter panel. Took it with my phone so quality is not great but you can see the black parts are where it is peeling.
Attachment 53367

All I can say about this is "good luck." This is a design defect in how the kit matches up with the body panels. I have never had my car machine washed. I only had wash my car using a 3 bucket system.

This was my thread when my paint started peeling just weeks after purchasing a brand new 2011 NISMO.

http://www.the370z.com/nismo-370z/38...n-overall.html

To date, this is what has happened to try and "fix" the problem.

Step One
The original OEM paint was peeling from the front and rear bumpers and both side skirts. Under warranty the original dealer "fixed" the defect by repainting the parts. The color match was horrible and it started peeling soon after. I spent about a month going to several body shops to determine the problem. The final determination was the dealer did not properly prep or respray the kit. The work was completely botched. Saying I was extremely upset was an understatement.

Step Two
After much discussion I got Nissan NA to send an engineer to the original dealer to evaluate the paint on my car. The final decision was for Nissan to supply a brand new NISMO kit and a repaint at the body shop of my choice under warranty. This made me happy that Nissan was going to make it right.

Step Three
I picked a highly reputable Nissan dealership body shop in DFW after much searching. Even though there are Nissan/Infinity body shops right near my home, I picked this one on recommendations from the industry. This body shop painted and fitted a brand new NISMO kit to my 370. They had the car about 3 weeks and I was confident it would be right.

The body shop manager had to consult with PPG directly to get the right color match. It took 3 different sprays, but the body shop got a very good paint match. I learned more about Nissan Pearl White QAB then I ever wanted to know. After this experience, I will never purchase a color with pearl again. It is just too hard to match.

Step Four
After several weeks, the paint start rolling up in the exact same place on the rear bumper. I drove the 40+ miles back to the body shop and they are going to repaint it again under warranty. There have been several hail storms this summer in DFW, so I have been waiting on an open time frame to take the car back. During this wait, parts of the front bumper where it meets the fenders and head lights has started the peel again. Luckily, both side skirts appears to be peel free.

I have had the car a little over a year w/17k miles and this is what I have gone thought to try and solve the defective paint problems. Like I said, I believe this is a design defect and after multiple resprays including brand new OEM parts, I still have the same damn paint peel problem.

I have to give the 2nd dealership credit because they have genuinely tried to fix the defective paint problems.

So like I said at the beginning of this long winded post, good luck.:ugh2:

Wow, truely unbelievable. How can Nissan ship 40k cars with such horrendous and cheap paint jobs. I've even seen GTR's with factory paint issues.

Well that isn't really the post I had wanted to read. I just hope that mine will hold on but sadly my paint peel was/is much worse than yours is/was Wind Zero so that makes me a bit nervous. Honestly, the main reason I did this is because I am planning on selling the car when I get it back and everything else on the car is perfect. Let's see what happens!

Damned near all of us.

I just went out and looked at my nismo, didn't really notice any kind of peeling where any of nismo/factory panels line up. Looked very closely at rear bumper, side skirts and front bumper. Mines a DD

So far, I haven't found any peeling on mine yet. Knock on wood.

Looks like mine might be doing the same thing. One small spot in where the back bumper meets the side back panel. I will let it get a little bigger before I say anything. To me, it looks like they didnt paint it well enough or banged it while putting it on. My car only has 7k miles on it, so I have time to see what it becomes. I would hate to have to leave it at the shop for a few weeks!! that is BS..

Luckily I have an FJ to drive if necessary.

After reading what you went through Wind.zero (sorry to hear about that), i think i am just gonna loosen the bumper there and clean it up really well with a q-tip and some alcohol, then dab some touch up paint for now. I have done this before on another car and it held up well.
I may just go to the dealership and have them look at it first, and note it down, therefore if it gets worst and the touch up paint does not hold up, then i have something to back up my claim.

So I have no idea how they did it as I dropped off the car on Monday morning but yesterday afternoon I got a call saying my car was ready for pick up. I really thought they must of cut some corners or something because how could it be done so quick. I went to pick it up and looked over it with a very careful eye and it looks perfect! Color match was dead on and it just looks perfect. I am really happy to have the car back and it looks great once again.

I have seen some people do awesome repair jobs. No way they painted that whole thing in one day.

I have the same problem on my 2012 Nismo on BOTH sides. I noticed it about a week after i took ownership. Its pearl white so I don't know if I want to take it in and have the whole bumper repainted. Ive been reading the horror stories about color matching QAB and I don't want to deal with that headache. Ill probably just try the touchup paint.

I agree. I really have no idea how they did it. I really don't think they painted it. Maybe airbrush or something? Really not sure.

I am not a paint expert or anything. But cant they take that area, sand it down, paint it, and clear coat it, they they are good at it?

no peeling here but i do have slight paint fade on the side of the front bumper lip. Im not sure if a good polish and wax will bring that back to life or not...

I have 2k miles on the 2012 nismo...my rear bumper has already been repainted twice and front bumper touched-up once due to factory paint defect.

I just got my 2013 it has 90 miles on it and my back bumper is peeling by the quarter panel luckily I work in a body shop so I can do it myself.

From what I understand - it is a problem with the bumpers... Nissan (if you get them too) doesn't just repaint - they replace the bumbers.

I know for sure they didn't replace the bumper on mine. I guess I can't update this in the future anymore as I sold the car on Saturday.

I have the exact same problem. My car has 3k miles on it and I have paint "flake"in a strip at both rear fender joints. Nissan approved the repaint last week.

According to the service manager, the bumper wasn't painted properly so they're going to take it completely off and repaint the entire thing. Process should take 2-3 days or so (which sounds right to me).

1600 miles on my 12 nismo and I've had this exact same issue reprinted twice. I had the same issues with my 08 350 with under 5000 miles. Love the Z cars, but unlikely to make another purchase unless paint quality improves.

Did you buy that Merc SUV that was on your FB you were looking at? You went to the dark side!! haha j/k. Now you have a backseat!

If it flakes again after they paint it, I'm going to freak out. Just saying'


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^^ If it does, make them give you new bumpers. I know I've read other threads on here about the same topic, talking about how Nissan replaced the bumpers. I also know a Nismo owner here in south Florida who had the same resolution. He had it repainted twice before a Nissan rep had the bumpers replaced - there is something in the matterial of the bumper that causes the defect.

My paint peeled just a few weeks after I purchased the car new. A respray from a Nissan dealer peeled just a few weeks after the first repair. Nissan authorized brand new OEM bumpers next and guess what, the PPG paint sprayed on those new bumpers peeled as well.

I have heard every excuse from defective paint at the Port of LA (where I was told all NISMO kits are painted), to improper prep, not enough flex additive, the bumpers flex at speed which creates tension that makes the paint peel (sounds plausible), the moon was blue, the moon was white, the big dipper reversed, Jesus returned to earth, yada, yada, etc, etc and the paint still peels. If I sound bitter, I am. This is my first Nissan and I will not be a repeat buyer.

IMO it is a design defect. I think the geometry of the edge where the bumpers meet is creating a surface where the paint will not stick correctly not matter how it is sprayed and prepped. The last dealer body shop manager just shook his head. I have been told this is an issue with the NISMO 370's and some GTR's.

I am not paint engineer nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express but I have followed every factory and warranty recommendation including new OEM parts and the damn paint will not adhere correctly. Like I said before, this will be my first and last Nissan. Some people say, hey it could be worse, but I am making payments on a car that has peeling paint. :confused:

On top of all this hassle, QAB Pearl White is extremely difficult to match. For several months my NISMO kit was Elmer's Glue White and the rest of the car was QAB Pearl White. When I would fuel the car, people would ask what happened to your paint? :eek: The last dealer had to deal with PPG directly and did a special mix (not following the exact paint forumula) that matched pretty good.

:ugh2:

^^ Wow. That is just horrible. Really I'm speachless - ******* Nissan needs to make things right!

So the saga continues: 3 months in, I start getting paint flake at the rear fender joints. I was told they had to wait for a "NISSAN APPROVED PAINT SPECIALIST" to ok the repaint which they did....2 months later. I dropped the car off monday at which point they took the entire rear bumper off and repainted it.

I got it back today and hand washed the car...
Just noticed paint flake at the front left fender joint.

I'm about to lose my mind. At what point can I just demand that they repaint the entire vehicle?

What is a lawyer!

I am not going to hire a lawyer for this. That' silly. It would cost me an arm and a leg to hire an attorney to sue a huge corporation that has an army of lawyers at their disposal and there's no guarantee I would win anyway.

I had my rear bumper debadged and it pulled the paint off my bumper too luckily the new badge covered it up but still the body shop told me he has never seen such a thinly painted bumper! We all got screwed on our paint jobs

I'm absolutely going back to the dealership on monday and they're going to be super sad to see me.

Let us know how everything goes.