So I have a Chrome Silver w/Orange Peel, pretty much on most of the car. First off, never noticed it on this or any other car before this forum (for once Ignorance truley was bliss). So i went around this weekend and looked at a BUNCH of cars, new, old, used, high end, low end, etc. Here is my conclusion:

New Volkswagons BAD PEEL, very bad on all the Jettas, Golfs etc.
Lexus: Lots o Peel
Benzo's: Gang of Peel
Jeeps: Worse peel I've ever seen
BMW: Some with prevelant peel (esp. the previous 3 Series) others with great paint jobs.
Plus tons of other cars. Point is most every car I saw had as bad or worse peel then the Z. My second point is WHO CARES. I never did until I see all these damn posts about it, and I don't care now. Most of us are obsessive about cars in general and esp. the Z, I think that obsessiveness can cross over in bad ways, being super concerned about Orange Peel and what not. Not one person who has seen my car, up close or far away, has commented on my orange peel, I don't notice it unless I'm looking for it, and you cert. can not see it while just driving along. Bottom line, it's way not worth being obsessed about.

 

I honestly haven't looked at Zs for orange peel (I don't have mine yet to examine) and every time I've been close to a Z the orange peel hasn't stuck out like a sore thumb so it's not too terrible IMHO. I do know that most cars from the early to mid 90s has had some type of orange peel from the factory from what I've found and I've pretty much deduced it's the norm any more (except for exotics like Ferrari's where the finish is absolutely flawless).

 

Actually Ferrari finish is NOT flawless, check on Edmunds.com for a long term review on a 550, lots of Body/Paint issues.

 

heh - I've only seen one 550 so I'm out of that one. F355s & 360 Modenas are the only current Ferrari's I'm familar with and they all seem to be gorgeous. Even still, if you've found that there's problems with 6 figure cars then that tells you something right there.

 

I have to agree, I really don't care about the orange peel... hell, I really can't even tell what it really is...

 

Totally agree, I didn't even know about orange peel until I heard it here, and at first I thought they were talking about an actual orange.

 

I'm with you La-Z, it is what it is. Nissan has been around for a while and this is the paint they provide. I can't believe one Z is better or worse than another and I doubt Nissan's is worse than another manufacturer. It's not like Nissan is sub-contracting the paint booth to Maaco. Many have complained but I've yet to hear from someone who got their car repainted.

 

ME TOO!!! I thought the paint was like peeling away and revealing orange primer or something.

then I read up and found out this is totally normal on cars, I cant find a car that doesnt have it. and if someone walks up to my car and says "oooo what a peice of ****, it has orange peel" Ill know hes a jeoulous little asswipe. if you want to bash the Z cause of orange peel, feel free, I cant see the paint from the drivers seat anyway, which is the place where they will never be.

 

I've only had one person comment on the orange peel when they first saw the job, but he paints cars as a second job, and he was looking for something to nitpick about the Z.

It doesn't really bother me either since you really have to stand at all these oddball angles to make it really standout.

 

My hot Wheels 350Z has orange peel too.


I think we are seeing the inevitable flow as more and more people get there cars.

1st, before the cars were even out, it was just giddyness at how awesome the new Z would be.

Then it was complaints about things that people though Nissan should do different with the Z.

Then, once cars started showing up, it was giddyness all over.

Now that the cars are here, people are over noticing the litttle things (and some big things for a few unluckey folks)

Once all this passes, I excpect that we will settle in like all the other boards for established cars. Just have to keep perspective for a while.

 

This is going to be the way things are for a while with the new EPA mandated water based paints. The new paint goes on semi dry and is then quickly heated in a kind of poweder coating process. so besides making them thiner and more brittle than old solvent based paint, the finish is much lass uniform. This process will definitly improve with time, but manufactures have just started doing this in the last couple years(EPA mandate was to be in effect 1/1/2000) so this will be what we get for the foreseeable future

 

The polls on this forum and observations by many of those who have seen multiple 350Z's indicate the degree of orange peel can vary significantly from one Z to another. This suggests that the quality of paint application may have been inconsistent during the initial stages of production. If this turns out to be the case, let's hope they improve the consistency during future runs and take care of the small percentage of early orders that have an excessive amount of peel.

 

Okay, I have to make a confession:

A couple of weeks ago, I stated in a post that my current car
(an MR2 Spyder) doesn't have any orange peel at all. Yesterday
I was washing it, and I actually noticed that indeed it does have
quite a bit of it. I think this is one of those things that you only
really notice when you are looking for it.

 

Just a little update:

Brand new 02 996 Vert. Carrera, PEELY. Not super bad, but the car was black and I could see light peel over most of the surface.

BMW X5, a GANG OF PEEL, in fact most BMW's I saw are very peely. BOTTOM LINE PEOPLE: Go look at other new cars if you think your peel is that bad, most cars have it.

 

This just goes to prove that it isnt just a Nissan problem. All car manufacturers are struggling to perfect a process of applying the new water based paints reliably with the same degree of finish as they did the solvent based paints. Still sucks but hey, misery loves company