weak paint?

Franco · 10-09-2005, 07:44 PM

went to the lease this weekend to get ready for deer season, only to get home and find many scratches on the paint. The paont has many serface scratches are very visable. Is there no clear coat finish on the paint?? I had an 03 ford before my titan and never had problems with the paint. I have tried to buff them out, but no good. I even scratched the front bumper washing bugs off the front. Very disappointing. Is anyone else having this problem?

aaronpaul · 10-09-2005, 07:50 PM

I just got my Titan, but the paint on my 350z was the same way. After only 8000 miles the front bumper and hood looked like it had 80k miles. It was lower to the ground obviously, but a lot of 350z owners complain about paint quality.

**HudsonValleyTitan** · 10-09-2005, 08:46 PM

Your truck does have a clearcoat but Ford probably has the best paint in the business. We had a late 90s Quest that was built, and painted, by Ford. Front end was like new after 4 years of HWY driving. Nissan hasn't learned yet that their vehicles need a little thicker paint....been that way forever.

Old Speed · 10-09-2005, 09:02 PM

yeah the nissan has never had good paint.. my friends 92 nissan pick up, he left bird poop on his truck for a 24 hour period and now it has a perment stain. i have left bird poop on my other car, a saturn, for over 1 week with no effects.

PENROSE · 10-09-2005, 11:27 PM

I have been ranting about my paint job since two weeks after I bought my Titan. HORRIBLE PAINT JOB! HORRIBLE!!! It is SOOOO easy to scratch. My truck is black and my paint looks like $hit. Swirl marks, scratches, you name it. IF THE WIND BLOWS A LEAF OFF OF A TREE AND THE LEAF HITS MY TRUCK....IT WILL SCRATCH MY PAINT. I hate really sunny days because it is especially obvious then. So much so that I almost hate to take the truck out anywhere. I have had plenty of vehicles in my life, and quite a few were black (couple Hondas and some GM's), and I have never seen paint like this. This is my first Nissan. I do take care of my truck, and I love my truck which makes this even more frustrating. Last week I was trying to spray some bugs off off my paint (front bumper) and the paint started coming off in "quarter sized" pieces. Unbelievable.

Toolslinger · 10-09-2005, 11:35 PM

I must admit that mine seems to have numerous scratches that show up too well and make it look much older. What is the cure? Any help from Nissan? Must we do some aftermarket clear coat?

miketan · 10-10-2005, 01:05 AM

Toyota is the same way. Look at thr front bumper on any used late model Camry and they look like they were sandblasted or something. Very soft paint! That's one of the tradeoffs in having them built here in the states I guess.

I had an '88 Toyota PU that still had the origial paint on the roof and bed sides and it shined like new. I probably waxed it like two times in the 5yrs I owned it and still looked great. My dad had an '85 Nissan PU (bought new back in '84) with the original dk. blue paint that looked showroom new when he sold it 4yrs ago. That old Japanese paint was pretty tough stuff.

Sure, those trucks didn't have the basecoat/clearcoat paint systems like most vehicles today. However, I bet if the Titan was built in Japan, the paint would be of a much higher quality than the crap they have to use here in the states. It's interesting to note that Toyota still builds most of their Lexus line in Japan. Hmm, I wonder why?!

I had some scratches on mine when I purchased it back in Feb. I went and bought a Porter Cable orbital polisher, got some good paint polish, a foam polishing pad and spent three whole days getting the truck like glass.

The key is using a polish that doesn't have any wax or fillers in it. You don't want to hide the scratches, you want to polish them out. I used a foam polishing pad on the buffer and set it to 4-5 max setting on the thumbwheel after initially working the polish in at a lower setting like 3-3.5. Cross hatch pattern only and then just buff away. The light scratches will come right out.

**HudsonValleyTitan** · 10-10-2005, 08:02 AM

""I bet if the Titan was built in Japan, the paint would be of a much higher quality than the crap they have to use here in the states""

I wouldn't count on it. Many of my Nissans were Japan-built and the paint was no different, at least not noticably. I do have to say though that my Titans paint has been ok. I do have the white so that tends to hide a lot. I don't do highways with er' either...that helps.

smiley · 10-10-2005, 08:47 AM

Franco I have to agree that the trucks scratch pretty easily. I've spent the last two weekends at our lease trimming roads. It makes me kinda miss my 92 Toyo 4x4, at least until I get back on the pavement in my Titan. Mine is Canteen Green and shows scratches pretty good. But after all that's why I got the 4X4 Offroad.

Franco · 10-10-2005, 08:27 PM

I know what you mean. my titan is galaxy black and every little scratch shows up. I'm gonna try to polish out the scratches cuz they are only surface scratches. I'll let you know how it turns . It's just a little disappointing,you buy a "tough" truck but the paint can't hold up against a blade of grass