Paul_BB_Guy

Hi everyone,

I've noticed two defects on my Brand new SuperBlack Roadster.

1) Clearcoat Damage on the Driver's side Front Fender where the fender meets the hood and the headlight. It looks like the clearcoat was stripped off by a spilled chemical or something.

2) Overspray on the front bumper and headlights (but not on the hood). Being Superblack, the camera captures the texture really well when the flash goes off. It doesn't look that bad normally, as a matter of fact you need to look closely to see it but the flash does a good job capturing it.

I've noted these two things on my "Satisfaction Survey" which I just got from Nissan (I bought the car Oct 31, 2003) so let's see if they get back to me. I have not contacted Nissan North America yet and I can't take it to the dealership because it's now stored for the winter.

Let me know what you guys think... Here comes the pics.

Paul_BB_Guy

The Front Bumper and the Headlight

Paul_BB_Guy

The Bumper and the Headlight but you can see that there is no overspray on the hood.

Paul_BB_Guy

Clearcoat Damage

Paul_BB_Guy

Ok, so I'm pretty sure I can get most of the overspray off with a claybar and I don't want the car repainted to fix that little mark where the clearcoat got messed up but I REALLY want Nissan to tell me why this car has OVERSPRAY on it?!

The Manufacture date is September 2003 and it had like 23km's on it when I picked it up so it's not like it was in an accident.

Was it?!?

Paul_BB_Guy

Here's the Clearcoat damage picture. I adjusted the levels in Photoshop to make it a little more noticeable.

meeno

just fix it and forget...this car was made to be driven

if you keep being so **** about the car, you'll never enjoy it

Paul_BB_Guy

Dude.. It's brand new! If it was in an accident or something that required repainting of the front bumper I wanna know about it!

Gigi

Trust me I would be quite upset too.

Just curious...are you sure that's not acid rain or maybe tree tap.

If it is overspray, acid rain or tree sap a claybar will take it out.

I just got my SB Roadster back from the body shop with over spray all over certain parts. It wasn't visible looking at it because I inspected the car when I picked it up. I only noticed it when I was polishing it. It felt like sandpaper. I took the advise of other members and took it off with a clay bar myself. Didn't trust the body shop. It really came off quite easily. I already had a couple of coats of Zaino on it before, so I think that helped . The rims didn't have and any Zaino on them so I had to work harder.

Good Luck

P.S. I've always had black cars and the first few pictures that you posted look like damage I've had on my cars from keeping them outside in the rain.

Paul_BB_Guy

Thanks Gigi.
I don't know if it's rain damage because it would also be on the hood and the fenders where this appears to be only on the front bumper and the headlights.

It could be that the bumper and headlights are exposed while shipping but I doubt they put one of those big sheets of plastic over the whole hood and over the fenders while completely avoiding the front bumper and lights.

Does anyone have a picture of a Z arriving fresh from the factory before the plastics are taken off?

SeanG

I would be a little upset too. How do you enjoy something, when it looks like sh**!!!

Was it like that when you bought it?

RANDY350Z

This might have happened on either delivery to the dealer or most likey at the port. I say this because when Imported cars arrive, they are inspected for damage. All the manufacturers have a body shop there or nearby the port for inspection and to repair any damage done durring shipping. My friend told me this who supplies paint to the Baltimore area shops and that was one of his main clients. Most consumers don't know this,, and most "nill" defects will slip by and let the dealer take care of the rest. This probaly occured to your car. I would try to correct it w/ the clay bar or polishing compound, if this doesn't work take it back to the dealer ASAP. Don't let time pass by, they may try to say "you" had it repainted!

theSmoothDome

Just as a bit of 411...I know that the every car dealer in San Diego FEARS that customer satisfaction survey. If you threaten to fill it out with anything other than Excellent marks all the way down, they'll bend over backwards to make you happy. Once you've already sent in the negative comments, they're in dutch with the parent company and that affects their future allotments. I always talk to the dealer about what I want done and if they're hemming and hawwing, I use the customer survey threat. It works every time.

Paul_BB_Guy

SeanG - Yep. That's how I received the car. Note that you can't notice this unless you look really closely or feel it with your fingernail. The Camera Flash does a really good job of bringing it out.

TheSmoothDome - I've already sent the survey in and I noted the paint defect on the comments section. They state "We're listening" so let's just see how closely they're listening.

Randy350Z - I have an uncle that imports cars across the ocean and when they arrive they have a pretty thick coat of salt on them. If there was a plastic protector on the hood and fenders but not on the front bumper and headlights, this might explain what caused the damage to the bumper and headlights but of course not the clearcoat stripping on the front left fender.

I'd really like to get a picture of a car arriving fresh off the boat from Japan... Does anyone have such a thing? I saw some pics of someone's trip to the plant in Japan but all the shots were of the back of the cars..

SeanG

I would take it back to the dealer. My old coupe had a problem with the clearcoat on the front quarter panel. It looked like something rubbed up against the clearcoat before it had dried.

Nissan has there own paint specialists that inspect the cars. He went out to the dealer to inspect my paint. He gave the dealer the approval to have the quarter panel fixed. It ended up looking better than the rest of the car.

ShaftEd

Did you get the "Paint Protection" add-on that they try to sell you when you purchase the car. Maybe they screwed that up.

Paul_BB_Guy

Nope. I did not get the paint protection. If they screwed it up it would be all over the car and not just the front bumper and headlights.... No paint on the headlights as far as I know.