Soooo unhappy with the paint on our cars

[chef-beavis]

So Stig, I've been asking on this forum for three years for opinions from people that repainted with no answers; is it better or is the problem really the shape of the car? Is yours better? Did they strip it or just sand the soft stuff and go over it? Typically a paint job is only as strong as it's weakest link.

[SPARTAN sui]

^^I'm interested in this too.

[LIM3]

Originally Posted by hawk02

Opti-Coat is an after market ceramic clear coat very similar to what is applied at the factory. It chemically bonds with the factory paint and essentially becomes the car's new outer clear coat.

Because it's forms a permanent layer over the existing finish, it's important to do any paint correction prior to it's application. I just had it applied to my car by a professional detailer last week. It cost me $500 ($200 for the paint correction + $300 for the Opti-Coat). You can apply it yourself. Cost is around $70 for a 20 mL syringe.

I chose to have a professional detailer apply it because I wanted to make sure the paint was properly corrected before application. The guy told me he spent almost 7 hrs polishing my car before he applied the Opti-Coat. And this is on a car with less than a 1000 miles that I only hand wash using a foam gun and two bucket method. I suspect most of the paint problems were caused by the dealer prep.

Anyway, here are a couple photos of my car after the Opti-Coat application

What he said. OC is also stronger than our factory clear.
Beads water like a high end wax and makes washing easier.

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by TastyBake

What type of clearcoat paint won't scratch from butcher paper?
From my understanding, water and non-water based (slightly older style) would have scratched from that paper.

Would a good coat of wax stop paper from scratching it?

I'm sorry but I have to comment on this.

It's bullshit that the contact the paper made should result in the scratches that were removed. It's also nonsense that you move right on to assuming the car wasn't waxed.

I speak from many years of experience and from the fact that I saw the scratches and you didn't; also I saw what caused the scratches and how hard the contact wasn't made. You didn't see that either.

It's damn near insulting to read your flat assumptions. You seem to think I'm a kid that has just got his first cool car but doesn't understand anything about it. I'm 41 and I've put more hours of bodywork into cars than you've had meals this year. I tend to feel that I can be expected to have a valid opinion on a scratch in my paint, particularly when I don't recall you being at the scene of the damage or the repair.

[The Stig]

Originally Posted by chef-beavis

So Stig, I've been asking on this forum for three years for opinions from people that repainted with no answers; is it better or is the problem really the shape of the car? Is yours better? Did they strip it or just sand the soft stuff and go over it? Typically a paint job is only as strong as it's weakest link.

They sanded the whole car, shot three coats of the base color (phantom black metallic) wet sanding in between, and then five coats of clear again set sanding between.

My paint is gorgeous, and you literally can't even tell she's been repainted.

Start to finish it took about 4 months.

[DuskSS]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

I'm sorry but I have to comment on this.

It's bullshit that the contact the paper made should result in the scratches that were removed. It's also nonsense that you move right on to assuming the car wasn't waxed.

I speak from many years of experience and from the fact that I saw the scratches and you didn't; also I saw what caused the scratches and how hard the contact wasn't made. You didn't see that either.

It's damn near insulting to read your flat assumptions. You seem to think I'm a kid that has just got his first cool car but doesn't understand anything about it. I'm 41 and I've put more hours of bodywork into cars than you've had meals this year. I tend to feel that I can be expected to have a valid opinion on a scratch in my paint, particularly when I don't recall you being at the scene of the damage or the repair.

Wow dude I didn't get that from his post at all. maybe a pill might help.

he said he agreed that the paper would scratch it.
and then ASKED if a coat of high end wax would have helped..
he didn't attack you like you just did him..
beer man.. drink some.

[chef-beavis]

Originally Posted by The Stig

They sanded the whole car, shot three coats of the base color (phantom black metallic) wet sanding in between, and then five coats of clear again set sanding between.

My paint is gorgeous, and you literally can't even tell she's been repainted.

Start to finish it took about 4 months.

So how has it been from a chipping standpoint since the repairs?

[The Stig]

Originally Posted by chef-beavis

So how has it been from a chipping standpoint since the repairs?

Haven't noticed any.

[two_wheel_mayhem]

Gotta buy the right color. Number one reason I picked orange.

[Denis]

Here in Abut two and a half weeks I'm going to be moving from Cali to Mryland....I am terrified as to what the front of my car is going to look like. I plan ocovering the entire fron end in blue painters tape for the trip. Hopefully it'll help.

[myold88]

^^^^^ That tape will look really cool. ^^^^^

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by DuskSS

Wow dude I didn't get that from his post at all. maybe a pill might help.

he said he agreed that the paper would scratch it.
and then ASKED if a coat of high end wax would have helped..
he didn't attack you like you just did him..
beer man.. drink some.

Well dude maybe I have better reading comprehension than you dude. When somebody says ANY clear coat would be scracthed by that, it means two things: 1) after all I just said, I don't know what I'm talking about, and 2) the person knows what the scratches were like. Wrong on both counts. But he tells me anyway.

He did ask if a good wax would help. You don't understand that this suggests no wax or a bad wax was used. That is an assumption that I'm some new-to-cars-guy that needs tutoring on whyc ars have paint damage. Do I need to draw a picture for you? Do you like it when people assume you're an idiot?

And whether or not I "attacked" him or responded to something he said is not the point here- I wasn't talking to you. He decided to make those suggestions. maybe he needs to re-think how he expresses himself.
And maybe you need to have a glass of chillout instead of trying to save the world, one internet at a time. Dude.

[THUMPER20X]

I love seeing anyone trying to defend or rationalize the paint lol. It's crap. The black for example is the same used on about 1/3 of the black cars produced in North America. Car is made at one place so it's the application. They build a great car but whoever was responsible for the paint setup should be rethinking their line of work.

[ChrisBlair]

I'm glad some folks have no problems with their paint. But I ain't one of them. I've owned the same classic car since 1989, and even when I drove it in the new england winter, I never had to spend so many hours buffing out scratches- in 24 years of ownership I've had to buff out probably four scratches on that car. I did that with my Camaro before the first summer with it was done. Ugh