Nissan has the worst clearcoat and thin paint!
 

I bought my 2011 370z 16 month ago with currently 22k miles. I put up with dozens of rock chips, ease of paint being scratched....but i found this today:mad:

its to the point the paint is flaking off bc the clearcoat is gone.

i took it to a small dealership, and they blamed me, or the enviroment, for eating through the paint.

I have owned 1 american and 3 different japanese makes of cars and motorcycles, this has never happened!

I do park my car outside, but I highly doubt the sun could do this in 16 month.

Anyone experienced this with their Z? Any suggestions about how i should deal with this with the dealership?

thanks in advance

That looks like etching from a bird bomb, because the acid in the bird bomb has started to eat through your clear coat. Have you ever clayed, polished and waxed or sealed (or possibly both, i like to do both when i do a full paint correction :happydance:) your 370Z before? Car manufacturers are using water based paints now, and thinner clear coats because of environmental concerns.

i have waxed the car twice since I took ownership

I say try contacting corporate, and go to some detailing sites, better yet start in the detailing section here at this site. There's a lot to learn on car care, not just going to auto zone buying meguiar's (which i don't recommend), there's a whole different world out there with benefits when you get into high end detailing products and techniques to car care. :tiphat:

Good luck.

I've used an acrylic and garaged my car.

Garage's were invented to protect vehicles from the elements too, not for a storage space,lol. I garage mine too.:tup:

bought my Z almost the same time as you, but in monterey blue and have had zero issues with the paint besides the well known minor chipping here and there which i just use the touch up paint on. my Z was part of the June production run if that means anything.

If i had a garage it would be in there. But not everyone has that luxury.

Either way, parking outside should definately NOT cause the paint to do this. This is a $35k car, and the paint quality is trash. I owned much cheaper and older cars before and it never did this

I dont need detailing tips.

My motive for posting is to see if any other members in the general forum has this issue such as mine.

Please move it back to the general forum

Try a different dealership that's crap.

you already got my answer, as for moving it back you have to talk to the admins about that...oh and my Z is parked outside all the time as i dont have a garage either

Damn man I hate to see that and all the other threads on Nissan paint issues. I myself had a serious paint issue in which led to the replacement of my car, but that's a long story. I've learned my lesson with Nissan paint, it needs full protection and if there's ever any bird crap or a dead bug or whatever it may be and you don't wipe it off soon, it will stain or ruin the paint. The Z is a great car, the paint really kills the experience cause you have to be paranoid about it and watch it.

That etching is pretty severe. I don't know if claying and polishing that area will do much.

That's paint flake - no amount of clay bar in the world will fix that

I had my 350z parked in an apartment complex parking lot for 3+ years. We get everything here from almost daily rain to pollution to giant bird crap on our cars. When I traded in my 350, the paint was actually in better shape than when I bought it.

My point is, knowing how to take care of your paint can save you a lot of stress and keep your Z looking great for years to come.

Is the paint kind of crappy? Yeah, it is. But, unless you plan to trade it in or sell it because of that, you're better off learning how to deal with it. If you don't baby it, your car is probably going to look like sh!t in two or three years.

Bought a Clear Bra to protect my Z from day #1. The paint is thin. MY other cars shine and resist chipping even after many years. ClearBra and waxing is best you can do.

I also park in a apartment complex. I Aldo wax my car every 6 month. Wash it every 2 weeks. It is only 16 month old.
You tell me what I am doing wrong to cause this on my hood?

My paint is so badly chipped its not even funny. I bought the car last December and after a couple of raods trips I was amazed how bad it looked. I had the same thing happen to my 2011 G. It was so bad I had to repaint the front. I just couldn't stand it. Clear bras on Nissan cars is madatory. You will see these same threads on MYG37 as well. This is a very well know issue, even at the dealerships they know about it and recommended I get my Z repainted else where...............lol Which I will do in the near future.


Oh and my cars are garaged and my G is babied beyong babing.

I wish it was only my front bumper being chipped, I can deal with that.
But the paint flaking off on the top of my hood is an eye sore that's only getting bigger, it seems.

I know it's a total PIA but I seriously wiped mine down almost every day. When I got home from work each day I walked around the car looking for bird crap or other things on the paint. I also carried a micro fiber towel with me at all times. If I saw anything on the car, I wiped it off right away. I wasn't as much worried about it looking good all the time as I was making sure no foreign materials were on the paint any longer than necessary.

My normal daily process was to dust the whole care with the California Duster, then use a high quality, CLEAN microfiber towel and Meguiars Quick Detailer to spot clean the whole car.

Some times, after a dirty rain, I'd rinse the car off with some plain water, wash it with No Rinse Car Wash and then dry it completely.

I know it's a lot of work but it's all comes down to how important is it to you to keep your investment looking it's best. I never regretted it. Especially when the dealer offered me $2000 more for the car on a trade in than I paid for it 3 years before.

I agree with the other posts. The Nissan clear is horrible. Anytime you see bird crap or contaminants you must wipe it down immediately. For some reason the clear scratches and etches far too easily.

No issues here.:tup: Chips about as easy as my Honda's do.

Owned 16 months and only two waxings being outside? Mine is inside and I do a full wax every two months plus apply liquid spray detailer in between as well. Had mine a year now. All cars today use water based paint and are thin, even Audi and BMW's chip easily now. Get a car cover and if you see bird poo on the car, take it off as soon as you get home. That being said, bad paint can happen regardless of what you do but its pretty rare.

I garage keep my car as well. But at just 400 miles on my car I already had three rock chips. It is sickening . But its gonna happen. I might start saving for a clear bra myself

Paint is definitely the worst. If you breathe directly on my black Z, it will chip.

To the OP, i and others here are trying to help, but if you think that just waxing alone with a couple washes a month will take care of everything your going to be let down by every car manufacturer due to the environment (without a garage you will have to maintenance the exterior more, quick detailer or spray wash and a nice ultra soft microfiber towel). I went off topic as you say, because i was incorporating what i know as a professional car detailer to help remedy your problem. I and other people who care about the aesthetics of the vehicle as well as keeping them in the best condition possible know there's work involved to keep vehicles in pristine condition. All paint jobs from a car manufacturer will have some orange peel and minor defects. I ordered my 370Z and she still had a couple light scratches ( i am the only one who's ever touched her), but out of all the cars i've detailed she had the least amount of defects, including a Lexus LFA with the paper still on it. It is well known that every brand new car should have a clearbra done within the first week, after of course receiving full paint correction and protection, nothing worse than putting a clearbra over chips or pits, good luck.:tiphat:

Your right, i remember when european cars and american, exotics too, were guaranteed to have a hard clear coat. Not anymore due to what you said, water based paints and thin clear coats. And all detailing products used now are supposed to be VOC compliant due to environmental concerns.

Your right it won't, but that was something i thought the OP had done at least once within 16 months of ownership. All we can do is wish him luck with Nissan corporate at this point.

Bird poop will eat through wax too (but keep waxing because it does help).

Nissan paint is one of the worst that I have seen. Oh well.

I never had paint issues with my '09 silver Z. My '12 black nismo though - the paint chips if you look at it crosseyed.

The metallic paints seem to do better than the solid colors.

:iagree: about the same time of ownership as the OP on mine and its stored outside, it's a PIA but i full detail and wax my Z every 2 to 3 months and have yet to see any defects besides tiny chips here and there since i dont have a clearbra. of course i went in already knowing about the paint quality on our Z's and what i would have to do to keep the paint looking good, just goes to show you a little beforehand research goes a long way before deciding to purchase a $35,000 car as OP says.

:iagree:

I know exactly how you feel I owned a 350z and two 370z and all of them had crappy paint and clear coats. Three months after I got my 2012 Z i got a chip it is crazy. The dealer is not going to do anything about your paint job they will tel you to stop tailgating or what not. My car was garaged just recently moved out of my home so now my car is outside.

The paints is terrible and swirls so damn easily. It's even more noticeable on my car because its black. Kind of sad how my Civic seems to have better paint than my Z.

Agreed the paint is horrible... So many rock chips, I would have clear bra'd had I known.

Yeah paint it terrible, I don't know when car makers changed to worse paints and clear coats but I had an '05 Hyundai outside for almost 6 years and no paint issues. And a 97 Camaro pretty as well outside for 8 years with no issues either and never did anything but the occasional automatic car wash and wax. Yes there were swirls and the unavoidable chips too. But this car after only 6k miles has almost as many chips as my hyundai did in 6 years and 60k miles.
I would have gotten a clear bra too but in the NYC area everyone assumes you have money and wants 5-6k or so to do the full clear bra and 2-3k to do the bar minimum. Id rather get a full paint job in 5 years for those prices.

Yep, you would have to be an idiot to pay extra for a specific paint color for this cheap, thin paint.



<----------- just :owned: myself

I do not think it is Nissan paint in general that sucks -- it is the Z's paint. The nose of my 370 looks like the lunar surface up close and at sunrise.

Meanwhile, my 2012 Juke, which now has 10,000 miles -- is flawless; not one chip on the entire vehicle.

Go figure.

Worst paint in the business, worst pearl white ever. How can Nissan even think this pearl white is close to Acura or Lexus...

+1
I have a white VW R32 that I use for a daily driver and I don't have any chips on the hood.
My Z is half as old with half as many miles and the hood is peppered with rock chips :thumbsdown: