Micromarring?! Black G35 Coupe

[Cassman]

My G35 is driving me insane. I have what I can best describe as thousands of tiny, uniform in size (pin head) and quantity, "dots" in my clear coat. I have tried #83, #80, #9 to remove them, but they haven't even made a mild impression. I recently wetsanded a small area of my hood to fix a paint chip. The area immediately surrounding the chip is "dot" free. This leads me to believe that this is some kind of micromarring which CAN be removed. I just can't do it with the stuff that I have. I think the dots were created when I used 3M Perfect-It II Rubbing Compound with my PC and the 8006 pad last fall. I know, I know... shouldn't have used anything but Meg's. Lesson learned. Any suggestions on how to remove? FYI I did about 4 passes with #83 last night on various 12" x 12" sections of the hood on speeds 4-6, moving slowly with good pressure and without, followed by one pass of #80. NOTHING. The dots don't show well on camera.

[Erik Mejia]

Give Joe Fernandez a call

[Cassman]

Not to show my ignorance, but: Huh?

[bcgreen]

Sorry I can't comment on your problem, but I will say that I don't believe its due to the 3M product. I have that product in my arsenal and works well for me. A while back I was complaining of the problems I was having with my black G35 and I struck me as odd that nobody else who had a G35 would chime in to help me with my problem. I just thought everybody who had a G35 had it figured out except me. Now I am seeing more and more people posting problems with their G35. Maybe I was just an early bird, a pioneer with G35 problems. Well thanks to Mike and Mequiar's and their close proximity, we were able to sort out my frustrations. There might even be a picture from Wednesday's Open Garage still up.
If you do a search under G35 you might see what people had to say.

[Cassman]

bcgreen,
I found a couple of your old posts. It sounds like you had similar problems. Your above post indicates that you had some resolution with Mike Phillips. If so, what was the outcome? It sure seems like this is a G35 issue. The more I read about it, the more it seems like Black G35s get almost a metallic look to them in certain light. Most people wouldn't notice or care, but it drives those of us who are mentally challenged (ill) regarding our cars crazy.

[mdr g35c]

Same problem with my G35 as well. I have taken it to body shops and all have said I would need to wet sand the paint.

Not impressed with Infiniti Paint

[zr123]

Have you gone through the prep process correctly?

ie: washing, claying, drying and then moving to the cleaning/polishing?

Claying is probably something you want to look at a little closer...

[Cassman]

I did clay. Trust me, that is not the issue. I must agree that the wetsanding will work. I just don't feel like wetsanding my whole hood. I actually like having clearcoat on my car.

Not impressed is an understatement. This is the most difficult paint I have worked on in my very young, amateur detailing career. Oh well, I will have it for a few more years and get a different color.

[zr123]

Take a look at this thread by Joe:

How much paint you are removing.

[bcgreen]

Originally posted by Cassman
bcgreen,
I found a couple of your old posts. It sounds like you had similar problems. Your above post indicates that you had some resolution with Mike Phillips. If so, what was the outcome? It sure seems like this is a G35 issue. The more I read about it, the more it seems like Black G35s get almost a metallic look to them in certain light. Most people wouldn't notice or care, but it drives those of us who are mentally challenged (ill) regarding our cars crazy.

One of my problems, I had gone to Joe Fernandez, and I think he gave up on me, because the last recommendation didn't work. He is a busy guy, so I didn't bother him any more. Yes I did resolve the problem.

[Cassman]

Now I know who Joe Fernandez is. Ha. So, you are either trying to tell me not to wetsand or you are saying it is ok to lightly wetsand the hood. Since my car is a daily driver, I will just live with the problems, rather than wetsand. I may call a friend of mine who knows how to use a rotary and see what he can do to it. Thanks for everyone's insight. It just ticks me off to see the dots when I do take care of the car. I have fixed cars for people that have no idea that car wash brushes leave swirls, but I can't remove this from my own car. Uugh.

[Teak]

I do not think this the problem on your hood is micromarring, but rather many tiny paint chips or "sand blasting" from driving the G daily. This caused by driving on dirty roads, older roads, snow/ice/sand/salt covered roads during the winter, through areas of constructions or dirt roads. When you sanded the spot on the your hood, you removed and leveled the paint down to the lowest level of the pitting, thus doing away with the problem in that spot. In my opinion the solution is to have the hood and other parts repainted by a quality shop and then have a clear bra installed. Wet sanding will solve the problem for now, but will weaken the factory paint system and then you will have the need to respray the hood. TIn my opinion the same goes for using an agressive combination of pad and compound with a rotary buffer.

What year G35? How many miles in the G35? Type of driving you do with the g35? Has the car had any paint or body work? As this maybe also be a cause of the defect. Do the spots look white or filled in after using a polish or wax?

[Cassman]

Teak,

Thanks for the help. I do have sandblasting due to the 38,000 miles on my 2004 (original paint). Those spots do fill with wax, etc. I know that I have to live with those (although I don't like it) or get a repaint. What I am talking about is a little different. These spots cannot be felt using the fingernail approach. However, I am not ruling out that these may be sandblasting effect. I'll check it again tonight and see if I have any of this on non-front facing parts of the car. I'll let you know. Thanks again.