I realize that this is a continuing source of irritation to a lot of folks but I went and looked at a new brickyard Z yesterday. The orange peel on the car was by far the worst that I have ever seen. It almost looked like a small army could have camped in the valleys of the orange peel. I have seen some cars where the orange peel is hardly noticeable. I looked at a brickyard about 6 weeks ago that it wasn't very noticeable at all. Darker colors seem to be the worst and it may be exacerbated by the higher reflectivity of the darker paint.

IF my car comes in with a serious orange peel in the paint, I won't take delivery. I know, I know, I'm sure that they will sell the car very quickly. I am just not going to pay $37k+ for a car with a serious orange peel problem AND a *****y Bose stereo system. The solution with the stereo is to replace this low quality speakers to start with and then just keep replacing depending on the constraints of your wallet. The paint on the other hand is literally something you can't do much about. I may just order another car except order a Chrome Silver.

 

What dealership was it at? I'm curious to see how bad it is.

 

TCL:

It's at VOB Nissan just off Rockville Pike on Democracy Boulevard. It's just north of the beltway and east of 270. It was sitting in the showroom yesterday afternoon.

The guy that I dealt with didn't even know what orange peel was or so he said. Their finance manager readily admitted to seeing a bad case of orange peel on the car.

I was tremendously underwhelmed with their sales staff and their knowledge of the Z. As it turns out, this particular car has a few hundred miles on it but I think that they are still trying to sell it at sticker although they indicated "some" possible flexibility on the price. As bad as the paint was, they couldn't pay me to take the car.

 

37000 for a touring? wow, hope that includes taxes, I paid 33 for a 6mt touring with all but nav. I got orange peel, its annoying. end of story.

 

Consider colorful paint and a stereo extra options Nissan threw in for us free. You are spending $35000 for an incredily engineered and overbuilt car...that happens to look incredible and have a good fit/finish and great reliability (based on Nissans past record). If orange peel bothers you so much, look elsehere (as in Aston Martin), or get the car re-finished. I'm sorry, but many of you wouldn't have notived this if I (and a few others) didn't point it out to you. Come on guys...

 

Brad4rdHay:

Actually I knew what orange peel was 50+ years ago. <G> AND, more importantly, the orange peel on SOME of the Zs, mostly the darker colors is SO bad anyone would notice. I, for one, didn't need anyone to point it out to me. While almost all cars, except my Mercedes and the majority of high-end cars that I have looked at, exhibit some orange peel most of the other ones that I have looked at aren't so noticeable that they overwhelm you. Most of the darker color Zs that I have seen overwhelm you. Of course, the dealers downplay it, ignore it, try not to answer you when you question them about it and anything else that they can think of. I don't blame them. What can they do?

My point is that if the orange peel is not that noticeable to me then its acceptable. Different people have different levels of acceptance. I have seen a least one brickyard that had hardly any orange peel. I don't understand why there is so much of a variance and why it seems much more noticeable on the darker colors. Maybe, as I said earlier, it's just because of the higher reflectivity of the darker colors. We just can't seem to get a straight answer from any knowledgeable paint expert who knows why this is occurring, especially someone from Nissan.

I won't buy a car that has very noticeable orange peel and I'm sure that there will be somewhere there to buy the car if I won't take delivery.

 

what the hell is orange peel? Sorry for bein so nub..

 

RedComet:

Orange peel is just that...a surface that looks like the surface of an orange that you would eat. Little valleys all over the entire surface. Unlike the orange however, you can't feel it in the surface of the car. The paint just doesn't appear to have a perfectly flat surface. The most noticeable way to see it is to look at what is being reflected on the surface of the car.

 

I have a CS touring that was delivered 12/28. I do not see any orange peel on my car. Maybe the silver does not show it. I did see a red z at the dealer and the peel was very bad. My dad has a black 2001 MB S430 and the peel on it is pretty bad in some spots. I guess all makes have some orange peel problems.

 

Mike87:

I agree. I didn't see any orange peel in the two CS Zs that I have seen. It's my second choice for color. I'm afraid that the odds are that the brickyard is going to have serious orange peel given the ones that I have seen. I've seen four of them. Three were bad to extremely bad as in yesterday. The fourth one I would have taken delivery on as it was hardly noticeable. I'll just have to wait and see. IF it's that bad I'll just reorder a CS.

I have seen one or two Mercedes and Porsches with orange peel but it's the rare exception rather than the rule.

 

THis is starting to show up on some BMW Z4's too.

I wonder if it is just some sort of nozzle clogging that is spraying out the paint uneven?

 

Everyone who looks at my Brickyard says the car looks gorgeous. No one has ever mentioned anything about orange peel. I am sure there is some on the car, but you have to look pretty hard to find it. The roof and hook look perfect. There is a bit of distortion in reflections off the rear fenders, but not anything anyone would see unless looking very closely for it. I have seen 2 other brickyards and they too looked fine. I am not sure that most people will ever notice the presence of orange peel.

 

Waxed my Super Black again yesterday - Every time I do the Orange Peel pisses me off. It's hard to believe how bad the peel is - Even from 10 feet away it looks as if the vertical surfaces were painted with a roller.

Will have to borrow a digital camera and post some photos.

 

brickyardfan, I'm certainly not implying that I am the all wise who discovered orange peel I did though, mention what orange peel was and submited pics of cars I have done that have notiveably orange peel a long time ago, and then moments later, this place went up in a fuss. I hope that part of my statement didn't sound like an insult to anyones intelegence.

Orange peel is a rseult of these fairly new high solid clear coats auto makers must use these days, its here to stay. Theres little way around it. Also, the reason chrome silver didnt look as bad is because dark paints, haiving a higher refelction contrast ratio, are clearly the most revealing paints. Also, with multiple, direct stong light sources (dealer, auto show some garages ect) the orange peel is much harder to detect.

I really want you to go out and get this car and enjoy it....don't get scared by orange peel alone.

 

ztom, Brad4rdHay, et al:

To tell you the truth I think the whole issue with the orange peel is exacerbated by our personal wishes for perfection as much as possible. ztom, I think it's one of those issues where you and I would look for it every time because we know it's there and it bothers us to the point that we would probably, deliberately look for it every time we get into the car. The best advice, and I'm a fine one to dispense advice seeing as I how I have been stirring the pot as well, is simply don't dwell on it and over time I think it will not be as serious an issue as it is now. It's a little bit like the paranoia we have until we get the first chip or slight dent in the car. After the first one, the second and subsequent ones aren't quite as bad.


After all is said and done...it is a fabulous, distinctive car and these days that's a rare commodity unless you spend $80-$100k.

Enjoy the car!

 

ughh, got the first chip, it pains me every time i look at it (should have gotten the damn bra)

 

I noticed the orange peel in July on the car Nissan sent to each dealer for a 2 hour preview. Here's that old post:

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....0199#post30199

Anyway, the conclusion seems to be that some of us have it worse than others. If your car arrives with only a small amount of it, you should probably take delivery. If it's extreme, I would agree that you should look for another since they seem to be more available now than they were when the first group of pre-order people started getting their cars.

 

yeah my touring with every option available was just over 37k. Configure one on Nissan's web site and you'll see. No orange peel on my car that i've noticed.