While cleaning my car today I noticed something that really disturbed me.. I'll try to explain this as well as I can..

Upon cleaning the front bumper of my car I noticed a line of cracks.. the first thing that came into mind was I hit a rock, well I looked for a spot for the initial impact, but failed to find one. Then I followed the cracks and realized it about 20 hair-thin cracks going vertical, in a wavy pattern.. very odd design of a crack if a rock or something hit it.. right? Well I cleaned it up, used a wax-remover over it to make sure it was actually the paint, and indeed it was.. the paint was damaged. The paint still remains, there is no white showing.

Well I just told myself I hit a rock to calm myself into believing that there might be a problem with the paint...well again when cleaning the rear bumper, I noticed the same thing.. wasn't as large, maybe 1 inch, and about 7 cracks coming from what seemed to be a center point, so once again I looked for an initial impact area, but failed to find any ding/dent/chip.. the odd part about this is 1) it's on the rear of the car, so it couldn't be a rock hitting it.. and 2) Its at the extreme corner of where the tail light ends right where the bumper and the hatch meet... so it definatly couldn't be a rock that hit it there.

I've come to 2 conclusions..first of which I suspect it's the heat that's causing it. Recently it's been 95, and over 100 with humidity..and with a black car, that paint heats up! Or secondly, both the spider-cracks (best way I can think to put it) occur on the bumpers, and the bumper is made from rubber (I think), but definatly not metal.. so could the paint possibly not work well with this material, since no where else on the car is this problem visable.

Anyone who knows anything, or has any imput please reply. I'll try to take picture tomorrow since tonight it's too dark now. Thanks.

 

Take some pics, it'd help.

Hate it happened.

 

the bumper is lexan, the bumper is also black, so you probably wouldnt be able to tell if you could see between the cracks, as the color would blend.

 

I just posted a thread in the reparing forum...and I have noticed two "defects" in my paint as well.

First one is right in the center of the drivers-side fender. It is a spot about 3 inches by 2 inches where it appears as though the clear coat is missing. It is a discolored spot.

Second, I notice two or three hairline cracks extending from the sharpest point of the driverside tail light. All of about 1/4". But I am afraid they are going to spred. Looks alot like "aligator" cracking.

I will probably talk to nissan about repainting...not sure what to do though and how will affect the value of the car. It is build #4,2xx and just about to trun 10,000 miles.

Are you planning on talking to the dealer?

 

zpeed350:

I have a similiar vin build and numerous problems with the paint inlcuding both of those that you mentioned. I have been battling Nissan since I took delivery back in December of last year.

Your spot very well might be where your dealership took down too much of the clearcoat during the inital prep to hide the excessive orange peel. I have the same problem on the hood, hatch and roof. In fact I took it to a detailer and they refused to work on it due to the minimal clearcoat remaining on those surfaces.

After that , Nissan sent out a supposed third-party investigator to examine the paint and document the findings. Nissan said the paint wass normal, however I have not been given the results from the examiner, that I have asked for repeatedly.

What I'm saying is good luck.

I have entertained the thought of legal representation and envoking the lemon law because of the long list of problems with my car that Nissan Consumer Affairs is just not responding to.

Best of luck to you and let me know how it goes.

 

Oh jeez, thank I appreciate the info and I will definately let you know whats going on. I have to call them tomorrow with the beginning of my laundry list.

1) I just noticed the paint defects
2) Have noisy air conditioner (should be good with the TSB)
3) Cloth seat bottome is fraying. Dealer ordered replacement no questions asked
4) Developed third gear grind at 9,800 miles

Here we go...car was perfect, now all this came up in the last week.

 

zspeed350, the second part of your problem is EXACTLY what I have!!

"Second, I notice two or three hairline cracks extending from the sharpest point of the driverside tail light. All of about 1/4". But I am afraid they are going to spred. Looks alot like "aligator" cracking."

Mine is on driver side, rear tail light, at the extreme corner. It seems to be coming out from the the space between taillight and bumper... it's where the hatch and bumper meet. It's about 7-8 cracks each of which are 1/4 inch long.

Update as if today, 8/25.. I went to Sterling Nissan, the manager looked at it, told me he'll contact NNA and get back to me withen 2 weeks and let me know what is going to happen..


Anyone else who experience this, I'm thinking we get a list going, get name of owner, vin number, and picture of problem and compain to NNA as a group if all else fails..

To top if off, I also am in the #4,2XX Vin's!!

 

All my problems..

1) Noticed a small chip in space between hood and fender, beginning to rust.. very small chip, but still

2) When shifting, it feels as if my gears are slightly diagnol, doesn't feel as if I'm going stright up, right, then up again which inturn make shifting harder, and makes me grind in certine gears

3) "Hair line" cracks coming from front bumper (Manager told me there was a bump in bumper, but weird thing is it's coming out, not in), and on the rear at tail light corner




***Anyone who has these "Hair cracks" anywhere on their car, please post as much info as you can, and lets investigate this more***

 

NO WAY! You have the same chip as I if yours is in the corner of the fender/bumper, next to the headlights? Hate to be the bearer of bad news but it gets bigger. One of the many complaints about the paint and the supposed adhesion test reported no problems. Nissan claims it to be a rock chip with no dent in the center and no damage to anything nearby Yah right!

 

I have the crack in the front of my car on the bumper near the driver's side headlight in the corner. Nissan inspected it, have stated that they were gonna fix it, this was in December, I have just thought about trying to take it to get done now.. They better honor what they said seeing that its been this long.

Oh, & my car is #14 on the build list & to top that, the discontinued Brickyard...

 

If this gets bigger, I will be looking into the Lemon Law. There is no way I'm going to be driving a Z with the worry of the paint breaking and cracking over time again.

 

Here are some pics. These are the aligator cracks by the rear tail light.

 

Here's the clear coat problem over the driver's side fender.

 

Yeah I have the same cracks on my rear tail-light, exactly the same, but I don't have any clips like you do on the inside of the taillight.. but now if someone says it's my fault, I cna show Nissan your pictures and tell them it's not only me, it's a factory problem.

 

A couple of questions.

What is your "built date"?

Do you garage your cars? or park outdoors?

Did you have your car outside during the last winter? If so, how cold did it get? This summer, if you keep your car out, how hot has it gotten?

I'm just curious if you think any of this is weather related?

Finally, how long did you have your Z before this started?

Like I said, you're scaring me

Good luck

 

I highly doubt this is weather realated, because if you think it's the heat, a lot more people from So. Cal and Flordia would be complaining. This isn't a weather problem, this is something wrong with the factory paint and/or bumpers.

I find it extremely weird one more memeber and I have the SAME thing, at the SAME spot.. and that spot is nearly impossible to get a ding/dent/rock into. Somethings definatly fishy here...

If all you guys could take a moment to examine your car carefully, you have to be withen 6-8 inches from the bumpers to see the cracks. Hopefully we can get this fixed...

 

That's what I was thinkin'!! LOL! Tough to get a rock chip on my rear bumper. I try and limit speeding in reverse

Marhot...here are some answers for you, but I agree 100% with Ricky.

1) VIN - 42xx
2) Build - Sept. 02
3) My car has always been parked outdoors and meticulosly maintained.
4) Delivered on March 1, 2003. Here in CT we had a couple snow storms after that inwhich the car sat outside. It was dusted off every few hours though. The last thing I wanted was the snow freezing to my new car . Temps from March till spring maybe hit the lowest of 30*
5) I don't think it is weather related. My car is Redline, and the paint stays cool in the sun. Also where I park at work the sun hardly beats on the rear of the car. I park in a tree covered area at my apt.

I believe it is related to the weak paint Nissan has used, and has aligator cracked (typically a sign of aged or weak paint) here because it is one of the sharper angles on the car.

6) Have had the Z from March 1 till now = 5 months.

I am going to call my dealer tomorrow. Fortunately I think I have prematurely blamed my tranny for the third gear grind...oops. I am pretty sure I am just rushing into third sooner than I should at the lower RPM's. I will be holding off on that one for now.

Ironic Ricky how you and I discovered that same thing on the same weekend, with close VINs. At least that makes my laugh. Keep and eye on your cars guys and please post if you see this.

 

clips?? I think you meant chips. It's actually left over wax that I failed to get out of there. and alot of dust. Didn't have anything on had at work to clean it out either when taking the pic.

 

I have a brickyard 03, got it in May and the front bumper and hood are chipping like some is throwing tinny rocks at me while I'm driving. I just looked at it this morning and its double yesterday. There is definitely no protection put on at the factory. I have two coats of wax on it and it doesn't even help. Bugs even chip my paint. I spoke with my dealership and they are going to talk with the Nissan paint rep but the service manager could not give me any answers. I have only 7K on the car but I have more chips on it than my 95 S-10. I guess I will have to get it re-painted this winter, my cost. What a joke this is becoming!!!

 

I'm worried now that the problem seems not to be weather related.

I have my Z in a heated/cooled garage. It’s only outside when driven, as it is my “toy” car.

It is newer, built in May 2003 and delivered 07/02/03. I will definitely be keeping a look out at the areas mentioned.

Thanks guys... and good luck!