Mercedes has even suffered paint quality. You never saw orange peel on them. But now you do. They used to be like glass.
Epidemic of bad paint on new vehicles?
- Thread starter fdcg27
- Start date
Why is the paint fine on most German cars then? They typically have even more stringent environmental regulations. I'm pretty sure paint is the highest quality it has ever been overall across the industry. You can go ahead and have your car painted with a 1991 paint system... I don't remember them looking all that hot.
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Orange peel has been pretty consistent on cars since the switch away from single stage paints. I don't really think some amount of orange peel is a sign of low quality. My buddy has an old 1998 E36 BMW that has single stage black paint. It has no orange peel, but the finish is not like a modern finish.
Mercedes still does black better than anybody. I had an 08 ML that was Redolo Red and it was like glass. It was an optional color and was said to have diamond dust in it. It was hard as glass too. Current have a 15 white ML and it has orange peel all over it.
Maybe that paint had an extra wetsanding step or something, otherwise I sort of have to doubt it. My father had a 2007 CLS550 in Desert Silver (dislike) and it was like pretty much every other modern car. In 08 MB was using the same PPG Ceramiclear or whatever they called it on all cars as far as I know. It is very hard clear.
Lasers determine the proximity of the equipment to your vehicle-so yes they do mean something. And yes we agree that some marring will take place-but it would be over several 100 car washes (as I stated) before the average owner would want to do something about it. Where I live in Utah, you have two choices. Either rust that cannot be corrected easily-if at all economically. OR-a car wash. Then at some point paint correction-that's a whole lot cheaper than replacing a rust patch somewhere.
Saying it will destroy clearcoat (as another poster suggested) is nonsensical.
By saying “destroy”, I mean it will significantly diminish the thickness of the clear coat overtime. Pair it with car sitting in Texas sun, and clear coat failure is inevitable. Tons of cars around here are exactly like that. And yes, majority of the car washes are still good old brushes
Yea, GM had issues with paint delaminating in the 1990s. It was also when lead was eliminated from OE-level paints - aftermarket paints still used lead in reds and whites until the 1990s.
Paint does add weight to a car - same reason why American Airlines had their planes “naked”, to save weight and reduce fuel consumption.
Ya I don't know what people are thinking about using automatic car washes with brushes. The amount of marring is ridiculous but not easily seen with the naked eye. Touchless aren't much better.
Besides one is also relying on the maintenance habits of the owner. No thanks.
That's probably it. It didn't chip very easily.
There probably is (or was?) a huge variety in automatic car wash technology. I remember taking my old Nova to one with spinning brushes that had nylon bristles! You know, like the kind you could scrub your sink with. But those have mostly given way to the kind with felt-like "strips". But as mentioned above, those can trap dirt and cause scratches anyway.
The "no touch" washes that just spray and have no agitating brushes of any kind don't do much for a really filthy car, like one with lots of bugs, layers of sap and pollen, bird poop, etc.
The "no touch" washes that just spray and have no agitating brushes of any kind don't do much for a really filthy car, like one with lots of bugs, layers of sap and pollen, bird poop, etc.
Then Texas must be in their own universe. Most car washes in Utah are ultra modern and use the latest technology. I wouldn't take my vehicles to any carwash that still uses (conventional) brushes. But as I said-brushes are not used here-its felt type sponge material.
I have a 2019 BMW X5 in my shop now - paint is terrible so not sure I agree with your statement based on my personal experieces.
What about it is terrible? I got my 2021 M2 without dealer prep and had zero flaws. Perfect panel matching and uniformity. Didn't need any correction. The orange peel is normal.
The problem is what preceded you in the car wash. Someone takes their muddied up Jeep through before you and despite the car wash system of cleaning the foam or whatever it is it only takes a few tiny particles to give your car that fine swirl-a-Matic finish.
As for the touchless washes they use different chemicals that attempt to clean without agitation or use of brushes or pads. Those have been shown to affect plastic trim and other exterior parts.
Anyone using these washes on occasion should be okay but running a car through one on a weekly basis is a different story and also an expensive way to keep a car clean.
There are always "what if" scenarios in life. Isn't there?
I don’t mind touchless in the winter, but there aren’t that many around me and I’m 30 minutes from NYC. If you don’t have a lot of matte or unpainted plastic it’s probably still far safer than the touch washes.
+2
A few times, I have been asked to back up to let out the vehicle in front of me, which had been rejected by an alert attendant at the car wash entrance. A pickup bed with lots of gravel in it, for example, or an SUV covered in mud.
There's no telling what kind of debris makes it into those fully-automated washes at the gas station, where there is no attendant. I don't go to those.
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