The Liu Man

iTrader: (1)

Clearbra helps, yes, but after 14,000 miles, there are pebbles/rocks that actually BREAK THROUGH the clearbra. Then that portion looks sorta like a hangnail... ugly ugly.

Also another reason why our cars get more paint chips on the front is because IT'S got a huge VERTICAL face.

MirZa w da Z

lol
i was wondering about clear bra LIFETIME WARRANTY **** .
let's say after a few years the clear bra getting yellowish or kind like that , what would they do to us ? give us money back ? or install a new bra ? which is noway except to destroy the whole paint area that is covered by the bra .cuz the longer the bra stick in your bumper , the harder to take it off . the harder to take it off , the bigger probability that your paint will also taken off as with the clear bra .
and who's gonna pay for repaint ? them also ?

Nano

iTrader: (1)

Completely agree with the thread starter.

We have a 94 old lexus with 100K miles that has a better looking paint than my 03 350z. Our 98 porsche 996 paint is still rock chip free, and it's lowered!!! The 350z paint sucks ***. Those who think otherwise have never seen quality.

And I take the uthmost care of the car, and it's silver!

St@inless

I've had my SB Z for 3 months = daily driver ... I find if you try to stay away from trucks and tailgating others = you will not have such a problem with chips / sandblasting of the front! Just my two cents

zland

1. I hate to read this kind of post thus the reason I make the thread "read this before modding your 350Z" which is pasted on the top of the forums. In that long post you will see the 1st thing I recommend is to address protecting the front of your Z's paint job and give suggestions to do so.

2. The Z front is very low and a large surface. Any car, German made or Lexus would have these problems IMO with the same low and large surface area.

3. My suggestion is repaint the fasica, protect it, and move on. If you think there are better clear coats availible then have your painter use them. Tell him to put in the wonderful German or Lexus clear coat and you tell us if it is better. That would be a wonderful study comparing real data vs comparing apples to oranges.

Nano

iTrader: (1)

Dude, I just told you we have a 996 (30K miles) no chips. It's lower than the Z and the only scratches it has is on the extreme lower side of the bumper due to it scraping all over the place. Porsche has without a doubt one of the best quality and paint process in the automotive industry, that's one of the reasons why porsches lose value if any work is done to original paint. (as repaint is not = to original paint. Any car with original paint will be worth more than a repainted car, no matter the quality of repaint.

I don't expect the Z to be to that level, but I find the quality rediculous. I have scrathes and chips on the back and sides of the car! WTF. Should I ensphere the car in clearbra????

Wake up, tons of people are complaining about the paint. Should ring a bell.

sprmario

I did a ton of research on my Z before buying it, and I was fully aware of the crappy paint. I don't think every perspective driver realizes this is an issue though and I thought I'd point it out.

I don't think people should be required to get a clear bra to keep their paint looking nice. Lots of cars have good enough paint to not require it.

When I was looking around to buy my Z one dealer was down to just one CS Z. It was their test drive car and it had about 800 miles on it or something like that. It was totally peppered w/ chips.

One of the few perks to owning a SB Z is that the bumper underneath is black and the chips don't show that much.

M3This

iTrader: (4)

Back in the day when I use to have good old Club350.com up and running we had a 10 page thread going about the paint quality. Some people where trying to get a class action lawsuite for the lemon law against nissan reguarding the paint.

The paint is crap on the 350z I can scratch it with my finger nail. Its way too soft and I have taken it to 3 different body shops all saying that the factory dosnt use enought hardner in it.

Once I get my Top Sec kit I'm have the car repainted with some House Of Kolors Candy Red .... thats should do the trick.

zland

Lose the "dude attitude", I was trying to help. If you are so smart, my suggestions is dont bother asking others opinions. BTW, I got 12K on my Z and not one chip or blimish and that includes tracking it.

Nano

iTrader: (1)

it sounds more like denying the obvious to me. Not helping much. A car shouldn't have to put on artefacts to preserve it's paint. Clearbra does more harm than good to the paint and a standard bra is ugly as hell. They also don't cover the back and sides of the car.

It's like the complaints about the feathering... it was obvious that the car had some serious issues... yet you had these people answering with stuff like: "hey, welcome to a sportscar", "it's normal", "I don't have any issues"... no one gives a **** and it didn't help anyone. What helps is Nissan acknowledging the problem, and alteast trying to do a better job for future.

My paint looks like swiss chesse and it's one of the worst OEM paint jobs I have owned. What is there to argue exactly? I didn't ask anyones opinion, I am stating facts and my experience. And as I said, am extremely carefull.

taurran

iTrader: (18)

All my swirlmarks give my Z personality. It seriously looks like someone washed my car with sandpaper.

bloodwings19

My Toyota has a lot of rock chips, only 5 years old. The Toyota stands higher, a lot higher than the Z. Nissan may use cheap paint, but what I experience is driving the freeway, don't expect a clean bumper. The Z has maybe 1 rock chip, if any, in 6 months, its because I drive only weekends. And 18 wheelers don't usually operate here on weekends on the freeway. When I see a truck, I either fly by them, or they fly by me. Paint is only part of the problem.

35TH ANY

iTrader: (5)

I'm surprised that only 1 other person mentioned orange peel. The paint quality in both orange peel and chipping is my single biggest complaint with my car.

DougJones

To those defending the Z due to its low,wide exposed face, that's not the reason. As I stated earlier, it's a known Nissan issue. My Maximas, an '02 and '04, both were horrible at resisting paint chips in the front bumpers. The '04 Z that I have is no different.

nbdyfcnsqnc

A couple years ago, this forum had several orange peel threads going around the clock.

nbdyfcnsqnc

>> To those defending the Z due to its low,wide exposed face, that's not the reason.

The wide exposed face is certainly *a* reason, as is the angle of deflection, which is close to 180 degrees on this car. I can't think of another popular car with such a surface up front. And having 33% more painted surface on the front of the car pretty much means a 33% greater risk of rock chips.

To compare accurately, you'd need to measure chips per square inch of an area with similar shape and location. And you'd have to pick this randomly without knowing how many chips it has beforehand.

Other factors include:

- thin clearcoat
- soft plastic underneath
- soft paint (which I think all cars have these days)
- higher average speed (for me at least)

I do not see the "Z" as something that can be defended, because it is just a symbol or brand. I'm only concerned with the facts.

tabrizio

iTrader: (1)

Since Z's ride low to the ground its easy for small rocks and other things to chip your bumper. Try and get a clear bra too cover it next time.

zland

Ok, lets talk facts but remember facts are relative. Fact; my car has 12k on it and not one chip or blemish yet my car is dropped 1" lower to the ground, been on tracks, thus if anything more likely to get chips but I do have a clear bra.

Fact; your cars paint is chipping all over, worse paint job you ever had so you state. So, how can both occur? Does your car have worse paint then mine, possibly. Does the clear bra protect it, possibly. What exact part am I denying that is so obvious? If you like, come on over and look at my Z and find a chip. I never denied you had a problem, I was trying to help you with YOUR problem (or is it you just want to complain?). I wont waste your time stating my opinion again on this thread so you can go ahead and complain about your paint and blast others that took the time to try to help you with something that is your problem (and certainly not mine). Good luck and try to enjoy your Z.

MirZa w da Z

i have a spyder GT with razzi kit . 2" drop all arround .
had 15k miles but only 2 rock chips...and no clear bra...

Camel

I have never had this "hang nail" thing happen on multiple cars that I've owned with clearbras, nor on my girlfriends WRX with a clearbra. I've also never had one turn yellow, or had to have one removed. If installed properly and high-quality material used, the clearbra should last a very long time. In most situations the car would be ready for a repaint by the time you wanted to replace that clearbra. I've bought a few, and I will continue to buy them. My previous daily driver, an '02 SpecV took a hit from a huge rock off the back of a truck. I saw it coming and even ducked when it hit the hood and flew over the car. It must have been about an inch in diameter and I was going at least 60mph. The noise was loud and I thought for sure damage was done. I had to search the clearbra for a minute to find evidence and all I found in the middle of the hood was a faint scuff and a tiny gouge in the material. It didnt even go all the way thru and the hood had no ding. The bra did it's job perfectly, and I buffed the scuff mark out with some cleaner wax to the point you had to have your face 6" away to see it faintly. 99.9% of things that hit the bra leave no evidence. This is what its there for. The average cost is $500-600 installed, the SpecV was actually like $425...

As far as paint, the SpecV had many complaints on the boards as well. I had the car for a week before I could schedule the clearbra install and had 2 chips on the leading edge of the hood already. I had an '03 Maxima after that which was equally as bad. I also had a clearbra put on right away and that car looked perfect. I knew the Z had similar problems so I had the bra installed less than 24 hours after I bought the car. Anyone who claims the clearbra does more harm than good is in denial of the situation at hand, or is unwilling to spend the money so they feel the need to blast the product. Just MHO.