What years did Honda start using Water based paint ?

[Robb.]

What years did Honda start using Water based paint ?

I own 3 80's Hondas and the paint is holding up nicely still.. But I hear horor stories with Modern Hondas.

 

[Boomer]

I have a buddy with a 16-17 year old Honda. Really babies it but it is parked outside. The clear coat and then the black paint just started to come off in large areas. To keep the car, they had to sand down the roof, trunk lid and hood and then prime, paint and clearcoat. Cost him the better part of $2000. I thought he should have just bought another car but he really loves this Honda. He has about 160,000 miles on it.

 

[atikovi]

What years did Honda start using Water based paint ?

I own 3 80's Hondas and the paint is holding up nicely still.. But I hear horor stories with Modern Hondas.

The sun in Canada isn't going to be as strong as in southern states.

 

[PimTac]

Pretty much everyone is using water based paint now. New regulations dictate that.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Late 90s is when the peeling started really being a problem and still is.

 

[czbrian]

The paint held up really well on my wife's 2006 Pilot. We sold it in 2019. Not sure if it was water based or not.

 

[Trav]

Pretty much everyone is using water based paint now. New regulations dictate that.

Yes, it is an environmental thing. Some places have banned solvent based paints altogether. The first time I ran into water based was around 2002 but it may have been around longer I don't know.

 

[dishdude]

I'm pretty sure the entire industry moved to waterbased in the early/mid-90s, that's when a lot of harmful chemicals like R-12 were phased out.

 

[2EHA]

Mercedes had trouble with water based paint and lack of galvanization from the early 90s to 2000s. those were some major rust buckets

 

[JTK]

I thought it's been a thing pretty much forever, like since the mid/later 1990s.

 

[Snowflake White]

What years did Honda start using Water based paint ?

I own 3 80's Hondas and the paint is holding up nicely still.. But I hear horor stories with Modern Hondas.

Most Honda models in the USA were using water based paint in the mid 90s.
The giveaway is that with metallic colors the clearcoat will peel in sheets and delaminate from the base coat.
Solid colors will chalk rapidly in as little as five or six years.

 

[Hogwash]

Toyota uses water or solvent borne primer depending on the model and/or plant. Their clear coats are still solvent borne. However their base coats (actual color) have been water borne for 20+ years

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Look at white Chevy / Ford vans and trucks. The older ones turn grey as the white peels off. 100% of our fleet has the problem.

 

[Trav]

Good article, I first saw it about 2002 which makes sense the car would be about 4 years old.

Automotive Finishes History

Waterborne is coming. Get ready for the transition to environmentally friendly coatings and learn how it can benefit your body shop.

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[brages]

Certain years seem to have issues... had a 2005 minivan in dark blue that peeled very badly. Heard of others getting their blue vans from this period repainted by Honda for free... Seen some white ones from around 2009 or 2010 with issues, too.

 

[MetalSlug]

Nissan too

 

[doublebase]

I think people have been complaining about the durability of their paint for a long time now. I owned a 2007 Lexus LS460 and it was an $80,000 dollar car. Within 2 years the nose was so paint chipped it looked like it was sparkle paint. I owned a 2018 Silverado a couple years ago...the forums and YouTube were full of paint chipping horror stories. Now I own an Avalon, thank god it’s silver because otherwise I’d see the thousands of little paint chips up and down the hood and nose.

The best paint I’ve seen is on BMW’s, it just seems “thicker” or something. It seems to last, not chip, not fade, nearly as much as others. Don’t know what they do...don’t even know if they still have good paint. But in the earlier 2000’s BMW were some of the only cars I’d see in the New England area, loaded with miles and not rusted or paint chipped. Mercedes and Audi too. I don’t know if it is a German car thing or what?

 

[Andrew1972]

What years did Honda start using Water based paint ?

I own 3 80's Hondas and the paint is holding up nicely still.. But I hear horor stories with Modern Hondas.

It’s fine move environmentally and financially because only about 2% of owners keep Honda beyond design life of paint.