Best overall paint quality.

[Tuck91]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

The newer Camaros have pretty nice paint.

Paul, whats your plan of attack for the Volvo?

Looking forward to the writeup.

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

Lexus has the best Paint on the market by far.

Guess it depends how you evaluate it...



I personally have been very happy with the paint on every Ford I have owned - they are always very user friendly when I work on them - finding the perfect blend between too hard and too soft.

I can go a full year between polishing sessions on my red Focus, and then just use M205 to reach perfection - not bad!

[JoeDirt]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

I agree with Mark- of course it's preference, but I have to say of all the vehicles I've owned, Ford has had the most consistent paint quality. Abundant workable base. I vote for the blue oval, and I have an uncle that was on Team Taurus- and the engineering that went into that paint is no joke...

[3Fitty]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

Too subjective to answer (IMHO).

I own a Lexus and Honda and I would say they Lexus paint is better because it has little to no orange peel. I also prefer paint that is NOT rock hard, because I like being able to work with it with my G110.

However, I've worked on an Audi A8 that was hard as granite but I thought the paint was fantastic. This weekend, I worked on a Mercedes E55 AMG that was like trying to chisel away at a diamond (M105 + 4" LC orange needed multiple passes to see modest improvements), but I still thought the paint was great.

Often, I find myself admiring Cadillac paint, Vette Paint and Lincoln paint as well. Who knows which is best.

[3Fitty]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

Mark,

I know you are a big "Ford Guy" but that video (which I saw many months ago) isn't worth a whole lot. I mean, you've got to read between the lines a bit when watching it and take it with a grain of salt.

Tanner says some pretty ridiculous things in the video...

"Although you can't see it with the naked eye..."

Huh????

Okay, but when I'm looking at cars, aren't I using the "naked eye"?

Then he uses the lawyers proverbial CYA language...

"This damage seen under the fluorescent light *may* lead to damage in the future".

That's a pretty week case I'm presenting before a jury. The essential real life translation is this...

"Although you can't see and difference in damage when looking at it, trust us it is there and it could possibly, one day, if you keep your car long enough, potentially, maybe lead to corrosion."

Also, I think we can both agree (and you acknowledged in your post) there are many ways to determine "better".

Shine

Durability

Lack of orange peel

Hardness/Softness

Uniformity

Etc....

I think that video is a slick piece of marketting with not much substance behind it.

[Markus Kleis]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

Mark,

I know you are a big "Ford Guy" but that video (which I saw many months ago) isn't worth a whole lot. I mean, you've got to read between the lines a bit when watching it and take it with a grain of salt.

Tanner says some pretty ridiculous things in the video...

"Although you can't see it with the naked eye..."

Huh????

Okay, but when I'm looking at cars, aren't I using the "naked eye"?

Then he uses the lawyers proverbial CYA language...

"This damage seen under the fluorescent light *may* lead to damage in the future".

That's a pretty week case I'm presenting before a jury. The essential real life translation is this...

"Although you can't see and difference in damage when looking at it, trust us it is there and it could possibly, one day, if you keep your car long enough, potentially, maybe lead to corrosion."

Also, I think we can both agree (and you acknowledged in your post) there are many ways to determine "better".

Shine

Durability

Lack of orange peel

Hardness/Softness

Uniformity

Etc....

I think that video is a slick piece of marketing with not much substance behind it.

Tanner's commentary aside, the chips were visible. I think what he meant by not being visible to the naked eye was that many were just into the clearcoat, which would be difficult to grab on camera or the naked eye.

It's pretty hard to argue with the way the chips showed up in the video though... they were notably larger and more plentiful on the Lexus - regardless of lawyer-speak.

But yeah, I am a Ford guy - no doubt about that


**I just watched it again and listened to the quotes you mentioned - I think you got them a bit wrong. Watch it again, I didn't find anything he said to be evasive or misleading, it actually made sense to me. Also, before they even use the fluorescent light you can clearly see far more damage on the Lexus - which IMO, is what really matters.

[Fly Bye]

Re: Best overall paint quality.




nuff said.

[paulcr39]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

The newer Camaros have pretty nice paint.

Paul, whats your plan of attack for the Volvo?

Looking forward to the writeup.

For starters on Friday night I plan to do interior detail first w/APC, QID and Meg's Glass cleaner from the X-mas box. I really like that stuff, plus it smells great! Then clay bar and Rain-X windows followed by GC wash. Saturday AM I will clay bar and polish. I'll be bringing the entire arsenal: GG DA, all pads, M105/205, Poor Boys polish samples, UC, #7, NXT 2.0 and Gold Class paste wax. I'm thinking I'll do a couple small test spots w/UC/105/Poor Boy's 2 or 2.5 and see which makes me happier first. Then either 205 or right to #7 if it looks good. M40 on black trim, Hyper Dressing in wheel wells, and Mom already said don't do anything under the hood. Most likely going to finish w/ Gold Class paste wax for that deep yummy finish.
My personal goal is 80-85% correction. I plan to be tired Saturday night!

[3Fitty]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

Also, before they even use the fluorescent light you can clearly see far more damage on the Lexus - which IMO, is what really matters.

The Ford is silver, the Lexus is white. Do you think that was an accident?

If I showed you a picture of my superior detailing skills vs. John Doe, comparing my white "swirl free" car to his swirled black car, would you be a bit skeptical?

Also, I think the jump between less damage and better paint is a big one and not necessarily a fair one. Who knows, it might be, but I think I would want to test out a lot of other variables first before I made my conclusion (like orange peel, shine/gloss etc).

[paulcr39]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

Guess it depends how you evaluate it...

I personally have been very happy with the paint on every Ford I have owned - they are always very user friendly when I work on them - finding the perfect blend between too hard and too soft.

I can go a full year between polishing sessions on my red Focus, and then just use M205 to reach perfection - not bad!

I agree with you on the Ford paint. My 2002 F150 was easy to work with, even though it had hail dents in it, there were no swirls or scratches!

[Boba]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

I have a Nissan 350z and the paint is pretty thin, and gets chipped easily. I heard the new 370z has some kind of self healing paint or something? I'm not even sure what that is but it sounds too good to be true.

I really like BMW's paint. The car just looks so tough and bulky and the paint seems like it can withstand any type of beating!

[Garage Troll]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

Mark, glad to hear that about Ford since they are my favorite. I would love to find a used Edge with an Ecoboost engine in a few years. I have owned 3 Mustangs and a Taurus. Never had a problem with any of them.

[Cole Ziegler]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

The Lexus LS430 is reported to be wetsanded twice before leaving the factory. Every time I see one around town they look flawless....but then again for $70K, I'd expect some might fine paint.

I've seen a lot of older Volvo's (late 90's - early 00's) that have nice factory paint.

Our LS430 does seem to have no orange peel... interesting. Of the lexus' ive detailed, very few are badly swirled.

My Mercedes has outstanding paint quality with little to no orange peel, granted it was a designo paint color. However, it does swirl easy.

The ford and chrysler take a beating but their paint holds up. The chrysler however seems to have harder paint. Thats probably because its 5 years newer than the F150.

I've seen some VWs that swirl easily, mostly the black VWs, gray/charcoal ones dont seem to swirl as much. Not much orange peel though.

So.... Paint Quality?

Mercedes > Lexus > VW > Ford = Chrysler

Paint Hardness?

Anything with Ceramic Clear > Lexus > Chrysler > Ford > Mercedes > VW

Note that the ceramic clear coats make a HUGE difference.

[AndrewR/T]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

Chrylser has horrible clear coat. I've only seen one dodge truck that had perfect paint stock with pretty much 0 orange peel. Worst orange peel I've seen is mainly chevys. Hondas pretty much have 1 layer of clear and looks like ****. It all depends on the day the car is sprayed I guess. I've seen brand new caddys with horrible paint. Ones that should have been resprayed before they left the factory.

[Larry A]

Re: Best overall paint quality.

I was impressed with the finish on a new Hyundai Sonota.