The bumper is a plastic and if it is not designed and molded properly stresses will appear from normal expansion and contraction

Since most of you have been dealing with similar problems in the same area I think it is realeted to thw things. This is a high stress area due to the designa nd the expansion and contraction issue and the paint had an adhesion problem and or they did not have a good mix in the paint for the bumper. The bumper paint has an elastomer in it to help with the expansion and contraction

I definately think this needs to be pushed with nissan. Have everyone take picture with documentation of the milage , when the problem started and send it all to Nissan USA and tell them you are willing to pursue other avenues to get this resolved.

Good luck

 

My thoughts exactly. I have a date with my service manager on Tuesday...I will keep you all informed.

 

UPDATE....

Well because of the pure insanity at work, I am leaving to go to CA on Monday morning. So I was able to bring the car in today. I met my service manager and he came outside to look at the paint with me. I showed him my 2 trouble spots and he easily recognized the problem. He said he needs to have a Nissan rep come down and look at it before we can do anything about it. So he is scheduling that for me now. I will keep you posted once the Nissan rep comes down.

 

Hey guys,

I have what appear to be hairline cracks or scratches on both of my tail lights. Also, the space between the hatch and the bumper where the hatch lands when closed, again several cracks/scratches on the paint. Took it to the dealer.They said it's likely due to not enough room between the hatch and the parts of the car where the hatch lands when closed. In other words, the hatch is hitting hard both the tail lights and paint when it is being closed. They adjusted the hatch and is now better. But I am still documenting everything, and may still pursue the matter under warranty.

Not sure if my problems are the same as you guys', but thought I'd share them anyways.

Sorry, no pics.

 

I have a unique paint problem. First I had hundreds of chips in the frontend in which the dealer/Nissan claims were due to environmental conditions. (Happened in 1st few months of delivery)

Now I've noticed the back end (above the license plate area) looks as though someone did a poor bondo job. Like the pain is "rising" in streaks in that area. Trust me, this car is all original but that is what the paint looks like.

Now what????????

 

Hey doods, I have the same problem on my passenger side headlight, not on the other side though which is wierd. My car 80% of the time parked outside, I wonder if that makes a difference. When I first read this thread(when it first was started) I immediately went to inspect my car for the "hairline" cracks and found none, and just yesterday i checked again and found it. I wonder what happened between that time that made them appear?

 

The paint is ****! My front bumper on my Super Black has the sandblasted look to it. Tiny pits all over it. I thought maybe it was just road debris so I tried claying it... Useless, it's just tiny chips. My roomates 2000 black BMW has no chips whatsoever on her front bumper. I'm going to head in next week to see what they can do about this.

 

So far so good with my paint not cracking (knock on wood!), I do however, have a number of tiny pinhead size nicks in the paint from rocks and debris. The paint on my black 1998 Mitsu Eclipse has held up better than my Z so far! Very disappointed with the clearcoat job that Nissan has been appling to their cars. As far as the cracking and spiderwebbing on the bumpers, when the manufacturer applies paint to these areas, they need to mix in a flex agent with the paint. If there isn't enough flex in the paint the rapid expanding and contracting due to environmental changes will cause webbing. That would definately be a manufacturers defect and should be covered under warranty, now getting them to actually cover it is a different story, but even Maaco guarentees their paint jobs! Sheesh!!!

 

UPDATE..

I have not forgotten about this thread. But there is nothing new. I have talked to my service manager twice and still have yet to meet with the regon rep. Getting a little ansy here, I have now been waiting almost two months...WTF!! I am going to call tomorrow.

 

I have a SB and it has been here in Phoenix ALL summer long (and it was a particularly LONG and HOT one). I do park it under covered parking and I do my best to park it away from hazards and out of the sunlight. I have not had any paint problems that I can see. I do seem to attract rocks, shopping karts and car doors though

 

I have about 3 dozen chips on the hood, and front fenders...also, someone hit my car while backing out of a parking space and clipped my pass. side fender and door. My insurance is covering the repairs on that side, but since it's going in I'm having the whole front end repainted. I got a rock chip/dent on the back hatch left of the nissan badge last year and this same shop repainted and it seems like a much better paint job. Hopefully new paint will lessen the rock chips, but if you guys haven't gotten any results from Nissan, I'm not gonna try. If someone had been successful in getting it repainted than I would give it a shot. Body shop said he's never seen new paint chip so bad.

 

Hello, im looking at getting a Z, as of yet I dont own one, but I may be able to offer some insight to your paint problem.
The bumpers are Polyethylene, or a similar polymer, I dont think but cant verify they are Lexan. Either way it doesnt matter as the two polymers show very similar mechanical properties once in the solid molded stage.
What happens, is the polymers coefficient of thermal expansion is much higher than the paints. Basically what happens is the bumper expands faster than the paint laying on top of it, therefore, the paint literally separates causing the cracking condition you are describing.
I drive an 03 Accord EX V-6 Coupe, that used a polyethylene lower rail underneath the two side windows, same thing happened, basically the paint fell off. Honda recognized this as a problem and issued a revised part made of aluminum. This seems to have fixed the problem. I know that you cant make the bumpers out of aluminum, but it seems to me like Nissan did not use an aggressive enough paint elasticizer during the sealing process. This should be a fixable condition with a more pliable paint. (such as SKI-DOO uses on their snowmobile hoods, you can fold em in half at -20f and the paint wont crack)
Hope I helped.

 

Wow! Great Info!

No luck yet...still waiting to get an appointment scheduled with the regional rep. I will call again in a couple weeks if I do not hear anything.

 

I have a black track and have noticed several blemishes in the paint. one is on my spoiler and the others (4-5) are on my roof. They appear to be small spyder web cracks in the paint and they are getting worse. I spoke to the dealer where i bought it and they said it was road debris flying up and landing on the roof and spoiler. I didnt agree so i took it to another dealer. He said he would take a better look at it once the weather breaks and i can wash it. They said they would put a claim into nissan. I'll keep you updated

 

Just don't hold your breath.

Don't look for a satisfactory fix for this problem or any of the other significant manufacturing/design problems that are currently plaguing this very HOT automobile. Regarding the factory paint problems: If you nag the living sh*t out of them - they might cave in and offer you a repaint. Big deal.

With the long list of tranny problems, significant tire feathering issues, interior panel rattles . . . . it's just a matter of time before ALL of these improperly addressed or totally ignored problems eventually blow up in Nissan's corporate face. Just watch.

Nissan presently has a commodity that has literally brought them back from the dead. (.......and they're blowing it big time)

It's a really a shame, folks.

 

How much would it cost just to respray the car?

 

$2500 to $3000 if done right.

 

#%)(*#$_(*!!!!!!!!

you have no idea how pissed i am. i noticed about 30+ of those hairline cracks on my front bumper. smooth to the touch, but the paint underneath the clearcoat is splitting. you know this is getting to be crazy. i've been fuming for the past 2 days about this. now that i know its more common, im going to do a check of the whole car just to be sure. 35k!!! for what? what a waste.

i didnt pay 35K for this thing just so i have to worry about my tranny, noises coming from the interior panel, seats making noise, cracking noise coming form the suspension (fixed), window grease (fixed once, its back), tire feathering (fixed once, taking it back in a 2nd time), and the hatch doesnt like to open in very cold weather. not to mention all the little noises and creeks the car likes to dish out from time to time just to keep you on your toes.

nissan needs to do some major ace kissing for me or we're going to have some problems. im taking the car BACK to the dealership in a week or so.

 

To the first post the cracks you are having I have heard referred to as spider webbing, similar to windshield cracking. This usually due to the mixture of paint to flex agent. When painting plastics one applies a flex agent to the paint to make it partially bendable. Looks like they may not have put enough in that batch of paint

What that sounds like to me is that the plastic bumper was painted before the plastic cured completely. It is causing the paint to rise as you say. Either that or the bumper was not prepped correctly and still had some oil or chemical left over from the bumper mold process.

 

Hey, don't know if anyone is checking this thread anymore....but I call my dealership for service again today and the Regional Rep will be in on Thursday to look at my paint issues as noted in the pics on page 1.

For the guys, I feel you pain about the front bumper....but unfortuately that can be contributed to debri so I think we are up the creek without a paddle.

I try and limit speeding in reverse to minimum, and think the spider webbing I am having on my rear bumper is a quality concern.