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-   -   Almost at my breaking point (http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-general-discussions/17333-almost-my-breaking-point.html)

Z-WHIZ 04-07-2010 09:35 PM

Almost at my breaking point
 
I'm getting very close to just selling my 370. I love everything about the car, but the paint issue is just driving me crazy. I did a full detail about 2 months ago and it did help minimize some of the scratches, but I can't remove them fully. There are rampant water spots that won't come off, tiny annoying chips, among other things. Everyone told me I was too OCD for a black car and I should have listened. Problem is I don't know if things would be betteror worse with a different color. As Ive heard paint issue stories for all colors. What really put me over the top was when I was wiping a spot on the trunk with a brand new microfiber towel and it put several scratches in the paint that I can't buff out!

Sorry to vent guys and it breaks my heart to do it, but I think I might have to get rid of her.

Zsteve 04-07-2010 09:37 PM

have the car repainted with the stock paint color but at a good painter for a decent price and it be all good.

gumpy 04-07-2010 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z-WHIZ (Post 486096)
I'm getting very close to just selling my 370. I love everything about the car, but the paint issue is just driving me crazy. I did a full detail about 2 months ago and it did help minimize some of the scratches, but I can't remove them fully. There are rampant water spots that won't come off, tiny annoying chips, among other things. Everyone told me I was too OCD for a black car and I should have listened. Problem is I don't know if things would be betteror worse with a different color. As Ive heard paint issue stories for all colors. What really put me over the top was when I was wiping a spot on the trunk with a brand new microfiber towel and it put several scratches in the paint that I can't buff out!

Sorry to vent guys and it breaks my heart to do it, but I think I might have to get rid of her.

If you like everything about the car except the paint, get it resprayed to a nice new colour of your choosing... a custom one would be good, and get the car fully wrapped in that clear bra stuff...

mrsleepy1225 04-07-2010 09:42 PM

I suggest metallic paints for you, ahah. you rarely notice the scratches and chips

Push370zzz 04-07-2010 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z-WHIZ (Post 486096)
I'm getting very close to just selling my 370. I love everything about the car, but the paint issue is just driving me crazy. I did a full detail about 2 months ago and it did help minimize some of the scratches, but I can't remove them fully. There are rampant water spots that won't come off, tiny annoying chips, among other things. Everyone told me I was too OCD for a black car and I should have listened. Problem is I don't know if things would be betteror worse with a different color. As Ive heard paint issue stories for all colors. What really put me over the top was when I was wiping a spot on the trunk with a brand new microfiber towel and it put several scratches in the paint that I can't buff out!

Sorry to vent guys and it breaks my heart to do it, but I think I might have to get rid of her.

I hear ya, I had a 2006 G35 a few years ago that had horrible swirls but what I have found is that you have to be incredibly careful with black cars that aren't a BMW, Mercedes, etc...(I know there are exceptions). My Range Rover is black and has held up like a champ, but I know I have to treat the Nissan with a lot more care to keep it looking good.

I'm pretty OCD about that stuff as well, but if you love the car you shouldn't let something like that keep you down. Trade it for a white one if you don't want to worry about the paint. The car I traded for the Z ('08 Altima) was white and I took it through regular carwashes all the time and it looked the same 2 years later as the day I bought it.

azn370z 04-07-2010 09:52 PM

If you're so ocd why didn't you get silver? You need someone like this guy to detail your black z. This is before any waxing, takes him a couple of days to detail the car. http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ladsgtr/49.jpghttp://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ladsgtr/51.jpghttp://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...ladsgtr/52.jpg

dad 04-07-2010 09:52 PM

Find a reputable paint or repair shop and get it painted the color of your choice. If you want and have(or save up)the money, get multi layers of paint and clear coat.

ZKindaGuy 04-07-2010 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z-WHIZ (Post 486096)
I'm getting very close to just selling my 370. I love everything about the car, but the paint issue is just driving me crazy. I did a full detail about 2 months ago and it did help minimize some of the scratches, but I can't remove them fully. There are rampant water spots that won't come off, tiny annoying chips, among other things. Everyone told me I was too OCD for a black car and I should have listened. Problem is I don't know if things would be betteror worse with a different color. As Ive heard paint issue stories for all colors. What really put me over the top was when I was wiping a spot on the trunk with a brand new microfiber towel and it put several scratches in the paint that I can't buff out!

Sorry to vent guys and it breaks my heart to do it, but I think I might have to get rid of her.

If you want to stop the scratches and chipping then put about 5 coats of paint and 3 to 5 coats of clear coat on it.

soCo 04-07-2010 10:08 PM

For the people saying get it repainted...it would be cheaper for him to just get a new car in a different color.

Good point jobs are a lootttt of money.

nogoodname 04-07-2010 10:12 PM

Buy a porter cable buffer and some supplies. Do the detailing on your own. The cost of one full detail is the price of a whole detailing kit including the buffer and you'll have enough supplies for many detailings. You'll enjoy doing it because the end result is amazing.

Zsteve 04-07-2010 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soCo (Post 486161)
For the people saying get it repainted...it would be cheaper for him to just get a new car in a different color.

Good point jobs are a lootttt of money.

Do the same color just find a good painter and its not near what a paint job would be if he changed the color.

cab83_750 04-07-2010 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nogoodname (Post 486168)
Buy a porter cable buffer and some supplies. Do the detailing on your own. The cost of one full detail is the price of a whole detailing kit including the buffer and you'll have enough supplies for many detailings. You'll enjoy doing it because the end result is amazing.

+1

also go to a paint shop for your chemicals. They have items not carried by auto parts store. In most cases they are very knowledgeable about detailing.

I painted 2 cars in my garage with their guidance.

cab83_750 04-07-2010 10:29 PM

Btw investigate the respray recommendation. A good respray of same color may be a little bit.

Be warned though. A good paint job can cost a lot.

gumpy 04-07-2010 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soCo (Post 486161)
For the people saying get it repainted...it would be cheaper for him to just get a new car in a different color.

Good point jobs are a lootttt of money.

how much does it cost?

cab83_750 04-07-2010 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gumpy (Post 486205)
how much does it cost?

A good paint job will consist of:

taking the mirrors/glasses off.
Taking down lights
door handles
rubber moldings
side mirrors

basically very minimal (or no) taping around parts. For reference, at least in Los Angeles, a paint job for a Porsche 911 cost between $8,000 and $12,000. At this price, it will have a mirror finish. It will have no 'orange peel' finish.

All cars that I have seen recently straight from the factory all have the orange peel finish. This includes Mercedes, porsches, BMW, etc.

dad 04-07-2010 10:47 PM

Cheap, but suitable-$2,500.00, expensive-$8,000.00

nogoodname 04-07-2010 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cab83_750 (Post 486191)
+1

also go to a paint shop for your chemicals. They have items not carried by auto parts store. In most cases they are very knowledgeable about detailing.

I painted 2 cars in my garage with their guidance.

I got all my stuff from detailed image and they have good stuff. Not the products you find at a parts store..haha

After 10 hours of detailing, all the chemical smell was fun :bowrofl:

soCo 04-07-2010 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cab83_750 (Post 486219)
A good paint job will consist of:

taking the mirrors/glasses off.
Taking down lights
door handles
rubber moldings
side mirrors

basically very minimal (or no) taping around parts. For reference, at least in Los Angeles, a paint job for a Porsche 911 cost between $8,000 and $12,000. At this price, it will have a mirror finish. It will have no 'orange peel' finish.

All cars that I have seen recently straight from the factory all have the orange peel finish. This includes Mercedes, porsches, BMW, etc.

Pretty much.

A low quality paint job will be around 2500, this may still be better than the factory paint though...i'm not sure because i don't have a nissan.

a good paint job will be around 4000-5000 depending on the shop.

an excellent paint job will be around 8000-10000 but this is usually for a complete color change say from dark-something to light-something.


Still, even if you spend 2500, i'm sure you could sell your black z, and buy a new(ish) one with what you got for yours + 2500 just to swap colors. this way you won't be out of a car for a few days either

zZSportZz 04-07-2010 10:54 PM

I have black. I obsessed for a couple months. Now I just let it go, and I'm a much happier person. If you don't let it go, you will be miserable every time you look at your car - and that defeats the purpose of owning it.

So you get it repainted, spend all that money and get a new scratch...then what?

Z-WHIZ 04-07-2010 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zZSportZz (Post 486235)
I have black. I obsessed for a couple months. Now I just let it go, and I'm a much happier person. If you don't let it go, you will be miserable every time you look at your car - and that defeats the purpose of owning it.

So you get it repainted, spend all that money and get a new scratch...then what?

Yeah, I hear you. It's just SO frustrating - I mean a brand new towel putting scratches into the finish? It's almost laughable. What's even worse is my friend brought his depth gauge over and took readings from the trunk lid and the hood - the readings were anywhere from 60-70 microns, which is ridiculously thin. So, I'm not even sure that it's feasible to repair what damage there is. Otherwise I would just repair it and throw a clear bra on.

Is it really like this for all colors, or is black just especially bad?

cab83_750 04-07-2010 11:51 PM

Oh you can detail our cars to death. But much like physics, if the paint is too thin, then chipping will occur again. Catch 22!

efuseakay 04-07-2010 11:54 PM

Invest in some yoga sessions to calm yourself and your OCD. It's car... and a black one at that. It's going to show just about everything. It's just how the cookie crumbles.

Enjoy the car!

gumpy 04-07-2010 11:55 PM

what is this orange peel effect people speak of?

cab83_750 04-08-2010 12:18 AM

Look at the skin of an orange fruit. Then look at the finish of your car. There should be some similarities (ie orange peel)

a professional hand-made paint would be almost like mirror (glass-like) in smoothness/finish.

I feel sad when people who just spent big bucks on their bimmers and mbs with orange peel finish.

cab83_750 04-08-2010 12:21 AM

Btw don't be fooled by the clear coat finish. On robot-sprayed cars try to look at base coat; that would the paint underneath the clear coat.

cab83_750 04-08-2010 12:45 AM

Disclaimer:

I am by no means a professional painter. Yes, I painted 2 cars in my garage without blowing up the house and the cars turned out great. I made $$ out of them.

What I would like to share is what I remembered when reading a painter's book: "The paint actually does not dry.....and it should not. If it dries, it becomes dull. Thus, the other purpose of 'waxing cars' is to supplement to oil that the paint needs to remain wet. Keeping the paint 'oiled/wet' makes it shine."

This info/theory blows me away up to today. It is similar to welding: Do you guys know that metal actually evaporates? :)

gumpy 04-08-2010 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cab83_750 (Post 486290)
Look at the skin of an orange fruit. Then look at the finish of your car. There should be some similarities (ie orange peel)

a professional hand-made paint would be almost like mirror (glass-like) in smoothness/finish.

I feel sad when people who just spent big bucks on their bimmers and mbs with orange peel finish.

yeah my car's got this effect on the doors and stuff if you look at it from an angle... =( dang it... my dad's audi doesn't however ...

Correction: audi does have this effect and due to the dark colour looks worse than my Nissan

nuTinmuch 04-08-2010 02:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z-WHIZ (Post 486096)
I'm getting very close to just selling my 370. I love everything about the car, but the paint issue is just driving me crazy. I did a full detail about 2 months ago and it did help minimize some of the scratches, but I can't remove them fully. There are rampant water spots that won't come off, tiny annoying chips, among other things. Everyone told me I was too OCD for a black car and I should have listened. Problem is I don't know if things would be betteror worse with a different color. As Ive heard paint issue stories for all colors. What really put me over the top was when I was wiping a spot on the trunk with a brand new microfiber towel and it put several scratches in the paint that I can't buff out!

Sorry to vent guys and it breaks my heart to do it, but I think I might have to get rid of her.

I bet you're driving on the PA TP, lol.

In all seriousness, you aren't going to find a "new" car these days that doesn't have paint issues somewhere. It's just the way the industry has gone with new regulations and what have you. I know it is annoying and it sucks to see it happen to your car, but it happens.

Vegitto-kun 04-08-2010 06:10 AM

guy I went to for my rims and advise on mods said it would be cheaper to get my car color stickered which is something like clear bra but colored. He said you can hardly see the difference and if your tired of the color you can just take it off. supposed to be alot cheaper

SiXK 04-08-2010 07:27 AM

How much research did you do before buying a black car and cleaning it?

I have a black 370Z that I bought 15 months ago. I don't have any waterspots and no scratches (well, you'll probably find a few tiny scratches if you look real hard but not many at all). I have a couple of rock chips and a scratch where a mini cooper bumped me in a parking lot, thats it.

I am NOT ocd about my car either, but I regularly wash and wax it.

Strip all the wax from your car with dawn. Use P21S paint cleaner to get the waterspots off (don't know how successful that will be, I haven't had to remove any, but P21S is real good stuff).

Once you get the surface clean, use Zaino Z6 for black cars. It will keep the waterspots away. Apply 3 coats initially. Wax it every 4-6 weeks with a couple of coats. It last and last and you never have to strip it.

Do not use microfiber, some are good most are cheap. Use 100% cotton terry cloth towels MADE IN THE USA. 100% cotton terry cloth will NOT scratch your car. Its all I use. 100% terry cloth towels from other countries are usually NOT 100% terry cloth. Get towels from detailed image or some other reputable vendor.

My car gets filthy, and then cleans up beautifully with no scratches or watermarks. If you are so OCD you should be able to keep your clean with the right products.

370Zsteve 04-08-2010 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z-WHIZ (Post 486096)
What really put me over the top was when I was wiping a spot on the trunk with a brand new microfiber towel and it put several scratches in the paint that I can't buff out!

The towel was brand new but so what, wiping dirt with a towel is going to scratch your paint. :shakes head:

WICKED_GRIN 04-08-2010 08:08 AM

^^ I agree

WICKED_GRIN 04-08-2010 08:10 AM

One grain of sand on the sponge or fancy towel is going to snatch the ego!

texmedic 04-08-2010 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z-WHIZ (Post 486248)
Yeah, I hear you. It's just SO frustrating - I mean a brand new towel putting scratches into the finish? It's almost laughable. What's even worse is my friend brought his depth gauge over and took readings from the trunk lid and the hood - the readings were anywhere from 60-70 microns, which is ridiculously thin. So, I'm not even sure that it's feasible to repair what damage there is. Otherwise I would just repair it and throw a clear bra on.

Is it really like this for all colors, or is black just especially bad?

am i the only one who is freaked out that you're using a depth guage to measure the paint? Brother you gotta not worry so much and let that go.

SiXK 04-08-2010 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WICKED_GRIN (Post 486420)
One grain of sand on the sponge or fancy towel is going to snatch the ego!

True, but if you're just a little careful with your towels that doesn't happen. Has never happened to me.

The best way to avoid that is small towels. I don't use any big towels, just have a stack of small ones.

WICKED_GRIN 04-08-2010 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texmedic (Post 486425)
am i the only one who is freaked out that you're using a depth guage to measure the paint? Brother you gotta not worry so much and let that go.




I agree……it’s just a car, eventually you will have another new and better one and hopefully you will learn not to stress on that one!!

370Zsteve 04-08-2010 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texmedic (Post 486425)
am i the only one who is freaked out that you're using a depth guage to measure the paint? Brother you gotta not worry so much and let that go.

If you check this guy's posts over the past year, you will see that he is OCD to the max. He puts towels on his seats so they "won't get scratched". Replaced his front bumper due to chips. Freaked out because he scratched his grille with his fingernail. Has a scrape underneath his car that is freaking him out. Has eight pinhole marks on his wheels that are freaking him out. Washes his wheel-wells.

He bought a black Z after his friends warned him not to 'cause of his OCD-ness. His friends know him well. :icon14:

WICKED_GRIN 04-08-2010 08:41 AM

^^ He has friends!

texmedic 04-08-2010 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 370Zsteve (Post 486445)
If you check this guy's posts over the past year, you will see that he is OCD to the max. He puts towels on his seats so they "won't get scratched". Replaced his front bumper due to chips. Freaked out because he scratched his grille with his fingernail. Has a scrape underneath his car that is freaking him out. Has eight pinhole marks on his wheels that are freaking him out. Washes his wheel-wells.

He bought a black Z after his friends warned him not to 'cause of his OCD-ness. His friends know him well. :icon14:

sweet lord! i wish i had that kind of time to obsess! i think my girl scratched my hood with her ummm.... well she was bent over the... well never mind about that but anyway the point is you cant stress over the small stuff!

Lug 04-08-2010 10:21 AM

I looked up some prices for you.


http://wvcoupons.com/images/earl_scheib.jpg


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