And I thought subaru's paint was bad.

[Jekyll991]

VW has to use what is easily the worst paint I have ever seen. I've own my car for over 6 months with <6k miles on it. Any forward facing painted surface is ate up with very minute specs that looks someone stood back with a sand blaster from fairly far away and just had it. I also already have several gravel chips ON THE DOOR and even one on the hatch (I only way I can think of that happening is from bouncing off my hitch-mount bike rack last weekend). I do live in an area where you can get ate up with gravels if you follow the coal trucks but I make a point not to follow them.

On top of being easily chipped, everything etches itself into the paint. I already have a few permanent water spots/bug goo spots on the front end thanks to that.

I've worked in my father' body shop for almost 9 years now and I've always thought/said that OEM paint is always more resilient than any paint a body shop is capable of buying, but honestly at this point I believe the paint we use is 10 times better than this garbage. I put 30k miles on my celica which had a full custom paint job the only places in it where from me not sanding an edge well enough or from this one particular even where I was trapped behind some tow truck who was throwing gravels all over the road.

I just hope the paint doesn't fade as badly as some of the beetles we've worked on, I always assumed that the owner never waxed the vehicle but I'm starting to see the true cause.

Is anyone else seeing anything similar? Even if it is common I know it's a waste time to bring it up to a dealer, there's no way I'd let them paint it anyway.

 

[shahabdin]

Where do u live buddy? Ctry? Seems like u've described something like within the desert where u get high speed sand storms??? But sure that's bad news for a paint job. Is it the red colour yeah?

 

[sportriderseattle]

I've also noticed signs of inferior paint...which QUICKLY lead me to getting a 3M clearbra after only 6 weeks of ownership. I must say however that overall, my paint has a super high gloss shine, like BMW/Mercedes quality, it's just that it does not seem to stay on the metal as good as other manufactures.

 

[ottawaP5]

The paint on my GTI is much better than all the Mazda's I have owned by far.

 

[Jekyll991]

Where do u live buddy? Ctry? Seems like u've described something like within the desert where u get high speed sand storms??? But sure that's bad news for a paint job. Is it the red colour yeah?

I live "in the heart of the Appalachian coal fields" in Kentucky. No sandstorms here haha, but there is lots of debris in the median/shoulder so that getting blown around by coal trucks and people not paying attention are the main sources of the chips.

I've also noticed signs of inferior paint...which QUICKLY lead me to getting a 3M clearbra after only 6 weeks of ownership. I must say however that overall, my paint has a super high gloss shine, like BMW/Mercedes quality, it's just that it does not seem to stay on the metal as good as other manufactures.

Unfortunately I'm at the point where I'm too little to late on the clear bra, and the places I'm getting significant chips wouldn't be covered by the bra anyway. I do think I'll be getting some mudflaps to prevent further scarring of my doors and help keep my bicycle clean when I have it on the rack.

I do agree with the gloss so far, especially after claybar/waxing it, I just hope it holds up.

Here's some pictures of the fine chips I'm talking about.

They are very minute I know, but being raised in a body shop I am heinous about perfect paint finishes, hell the week I bought it I was thinking about sanding some of the orange peel out and buffing it up haha. It's just one of those things that bother you about your brand new car, especially while you're claying/waxing it under garage lights that show every imperfection.

 

[shahabdin]

hmm, I gotta agree on one fact and that is that today's paint jobs use a very thin layer of paint colour. The slightest chip and the white protective coating below is revealed, same on my Ford...
I guess they don't really consider ur situation of driving in an area with loads of debris about. What's ur opinion since u have the experience in a body shop?

 

[Krazy_Z]

I think it has something to do with the fact that you work in a body shop. It is kind of like me I am a Aircraft mechanic and I don't like to let other people work on my vehicles. I can fix any thing as long as I got a manual to tell me how to get the job done. Would you trust any one other than yourself or your father to paint your car?

 

[iGTI1]

Better than nissans thats for sure... I am coming close to 5k and my paint looks great.

 

[Q822]

I've got my gti since november last year...the snow and all the salt here in Québec city never did anything my paint is like brand new...

 

[Randum]

I'm in Chicago, and I must say the paint has held up very well, I have two chips, one right under the emblem, and one on the top near the antenna. But no water spots etc, thats really frustrating....I would mention that during your routine checks to see if the dealer would be willing to take care of some chip repair??

 

[MKVI_CSM]

I've also noticed signs of inferior paint...which QUICKLY lead me to getting a 3M clearbra after only 6 weeks of ownership. I must say however that overall, my paint has a super high gloss shine, like BMW/Mercedes quality, it's just that it does not seem to stay on the metal as good as other manufactures.

are you happy with the results of your clear bra? does it look clean? does it protect well? is it very noticeable?

 

[Geofux]

I have 3M on mine and I can tell you it's well worth it. Look at any old MK4 or early MK5 without it and that's what you can be expecting after a while.

 

[Artysta]

try owning a mazda

 

[ShahulX]

Better than nissans thats for sure... I am coming close to 5k and my paint looks great.

thats for sure, my $80,000 GTR has terrible paint....

 

[Jekyll991]

hmm, I gotta agree on one fact and that is that today's paint jobs use a very thin layer of paint colour. The slightest chip and the white protective coating below is revealed, same on my Ford...
I guess they don't really consider ur situation of driving in an area with loads of debris about. What's ur opinion since u have the experience in a body shop?

The large and most noticeable chips are understandable, it's those fine dots that has me concerned. And like I said I put 30k on my celica with Lesonal paint (not very good paint at all, we moved away from that line pretty quickly) and it never showed any kind of very fine chips like ths

I think it has something to do with the fact that you work in a body shop. It is kind of like me I am a Aircraft mechanic and I don't like to let other people work on my vehicles. I can fix any thing as long as I got a manual to tell me how to get the job done. Would you trust any one other than yourself or your father to paint your car?

eh I think anyone who looks at the paint as closely as you do while you're waxing it would notice it, but I definitely have a trained for paint imperfections since I mainly do the buffing and detailing.

Yeah, the only people I'd let touch my car other than my father and myself is our bodyman and the mechanic we use to do alignments and stuff, he really knows his stuff and is very particular with doing things correctly.

Better than nissans thats for sure... I am coming close to 5k and my paint looks great.

I'm kind of surprised to hear that, we working on a brand new frontier and could hardly sand with high grit sand paper for a blend. Our paint rep said Nissan's now use something in the clear to make it a lot more resistant to chips.

I'm in Chicago, and I must say the paint has held up very well, I have two chips, one right under the emblem, and one on the top near the antenna. But no water spots etc, thats really frustrating....I would mention that during your routine checks to see if the dealer would be willing to take care of some chip repair??

Funny thing is after making this thread when I went to take pictures I couldn't find any etched water spots, I guess after a couple washes they came off even though when I was claying the car I couldn't get them off with medium duty buffing compound.

are you happy with the results of your clear bra? does it look clean? does it protect well? is it very noticeable?

I don't have one on my car but my dad has done a few, he put a 3M on my mom's TT (RIP) and it looked pretty good. Worst part is it left a bit of a line of glue where it expands/contracts with the varying temperature. We put a cheaper ebay one on my brother's A3 and it looked pretty bad after a year. Developed horizontal lines in it and just looked yellowing. It did save the hood from deep gouges when a small tree fell over on the hood during an ice storm though.