Why do so many cars have such a naff factory finish on the paintwork?

Iamzod

Iamzod

Iamzod

Soldato
Joined
7 Dec 2002
Posts
4,073
Location
UK
Was sat in a car park bored yesterday waiting for someone & was just looking at some of the cars around me & realised that even on some new cars the finish on the paintwork is awful, not even close to being smooth.

The car next to me was a Black Renault Clio & whilst it was shiny the finish in the paintwork was that rough the reflection was really distorted.

It's the same on parts of the Pug 406 i bought a couple of months back, it's especially bad on the boot lid. Was stood in the dealership thursday afternoon at the parts desk right next to a brand new Pug 207 & the finish on some parts of that was quite frankly naff too.

I'm not talking scratches or swirl marks here, i'm talking a finish that doesnt look smooth & distorts reflections.

On the other hand there was a black Mark 2 MR2 in that carpark too & the finish there you could have held up a newspaper to the bodywork & read it in the reflection :D

Just thought i'd have a random rant.
 
The one that gets me on modern cars is just how poorly finished "unseen" areas like boot shuts and door shuts are. On many modern cars the paint is obviously very thin and often not even approaching glossy.
 
I was sat behind a Volvo thinking the same thing yesterday. The paint was a nice glossy burnt orange colour... just a shame the finish resembled the skin of an orange too.

I think its something to do with the speed that the paint is applied and baked on, could be wrong though.
 
Paint isnt as good as it was now tbh.

My current car is my 1st brand new car I actually chose, and i must say i was disappointed,I ran some clay over the paint work and it was shocking how much crap came of it, it had only been built 4 weeks prior to me getting it:eek:
 
Mark A said:
Yea Ive noticed this as well, isn't it something to do with a new water based paint they're using?
Click to expand...

Can't see why it would be, i've done some colour coding on the 406 with rattle cans & managed to get a better finish than the rest of the car's paintwork.
 
Rattle cans do a good job actually, Ive recently resprayed the inside of my door at the bottom and it looks great. But rattle cans aren't water based ;), i just remember reading on here something about a new paint that looks crap. Think it was something to do with it being more environmentally friendly or something.
 
Maybe it's just because it's a lot more competitive today in the industry and more corners have to be cut in the process to get the cars out?

Clutching at straws there but it's a possibility?

I've noticed this as well the finish on my Focus isn't perfect.
 
Taking shortcuts saves money (I imagine it's very labour intensive getting the perfect finish).

As most people aren't overly fussed about this and as so few people would reject a car due to a poor finish, manufacturers can get away with a poorer quality of work.
 
Most of the British public are so blind they dont notice swirlmarks on brand new cars so paint finish is something they'll never notice either.
 
You need to check out the quality of finish on a new Mercedes Benz, absolutely tremendous.

They use thicker paint and laquers.
 
[TW]Fox;11761118 said:
Most of the British public are so blind they dont notice swirlmarks on brand new cars so paint finish is something they'll never notice either.
Click to expand...

True. I also imagine some dealers might give a car a quick wash before delivering it and make a mess of it. I wonder if you could demand a new car to be detailed before delivery or have the right to reject it if the paint's not perfect.
 
I'd agree with that - the best paint finish I've seen on a volume car in the last few years is a mates 08 C180K Sport.

The finish on my Octavia VRS is very smooth but the paint is too soft. Apparently the paint shop in the Cezh factory was built as a test bed for a new paint process to be used throughout VAG.
 
Maz said:
You need to check out the quality of finish on a new Mercedes Benz, absolutely tremendous.

They use thicker paint and laquers.
Click to expand...

So they sorted the awful problem they had with the paint around the turn of the millenium years with panel rust everywhere? Anybody know when they upped the whatever-it-is count? Was looking at a 04 CL on PH t'other day, wondering if that would still suffer.
 
Griffo said:
So they sorted the awful problem they had with the paint around the turn of the millenium years with panel rust everywhere? Anybody know when they upped the whatever-it-is count? Was looking at a 04 CL on PH t'other day, wondering if that would still suffer.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's all sorted, You'd be safe with anything younger than 53ish.
 
Problem with the orange peel is the clear's mixture. The coat's should land on the surface and flow together. However this will not happen if:

The environment is too hot, it will dry before it has chance.
Paint is too thick.
Not enough paint allowed through the gun (the air out the nozzle helps evaporate the solvent).

Personally I think that the following two factors are the cause. The paint mixture is not thinned down enough. Unless you are buying an Aston your car gets one heavy coat of clear and that's it! The other is that I'll bet a very fast hardener and thinner are used because the production schedule has not got time for each car to spend 48 hours curing.

So the paint doesn't get given chance to level out properly then it's baked hard as it passes through an oven. Lovely rippled reflections. Your lucky Aston owner for example will have had his paint lovingly flattened back after the first coat has cured, then sprayed again and flattened back - several times over. Then when polished properly by an expert it looks like the car is covered in a permanent film of water.

Water-based paints are not the problem because the lacquer is still 2 pack. No lacquer is water-based as there is nothing that is strong enough yet! Imagine every stone chip chipping right through the paint layers and having a rust spot on every one. Nice :O
 
[TW]Fox;11761118 said:
Most of the British public are so blind they dont notice swirlmarks on brand new cars so paint finish is something they'll never notice either.
Click to expand...

when i was browsing in fords there was a focus ST500 just come off the lorry, it looked fantastic....

a week later i returned to see it at the front of fords on a stand..... but now it looked like it had been washed with sandpaper!!!! :mad::(
 
[TW]Fox;11761118 said:
Most of the British public are so blind they dont notice swirlmarks on brand new cars so paint finish is something they'll never notice either.
Click to expand...

maybe, most british public are too busy with important things in life to worry about swirl marks on a tin box made purely to get from one place to another..

I can hand on heart say I've never noticed a 'swirl mark' and the day I do, is the day I have too much time on my hands ;)

edit: I do appreciate that some people have a interest in paintwork / extreme detail on their cars, and fair play whatever floats your boat, majority of people dont though and I guess why the manufacturers don't care
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom