Hi All,

I just dropped my G back off at the dealer. I've had it for 3 weeks and at 450 miles it already had at least 20-30 rock chips in the front of the bumper! Am I the only one that thinks this is excessive?

Waiting to see what the dealer (Sewell Infiniti) will suggest.

Also, the seat belt design has to be the worst thing about the car. Even being careful in only 3 weeks I've already got 3 or 4 dings in the plastic on the door from the damn buckle.

Aside from that, I LOVE this car!

04 Twilight Blue / Willow AT coupe 18" wheels and spoiler
1993 300ZX Stage XIII TT 477 rwhp

 

Bite the bullet and invest in a clear bra.

It's here!!! '04 G35 Coupe DG/G/5AT/Leather/Premium

 

I already have clear bra on the hood (installed before I picked it up originally). I was planning to put the bumper bra on in a month or so.

My point is, in my mind, the factory paint shouldn't be chipping that fast. Clear bra is a great invention, but shouldn't be a crutch for shoddy paintwork.

Again, just wondering if anybody else has had chipping problems.

04 Twilight Blue / Willow AT coupe 18" wheels and spoiler
1993 300ZX Stage XIII TT 477 rwhp

 

Had mine 2 and a half months, no chips in the bumper, but one in the windshield! I live in "sandblast" NM too! Guess it depends what kind of driving you do! No problems with the seat belt either!


Brilliant Silver/Graphite '04 Sedan/5AT

 

Greg,

A lot of our members have been complaining about the paint on the Newer Infinitis and Nissans. Apparently there is a new enviromentally friendly paint process that is being used by some manufacturers.

Some seem to think that a longer drying time is needed and some just feel that the paint is too thinly applied. Either way there are a lot of unhappy owners.

Hopefully someone at corporate listens, but I would not hold my breath.[img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]


Andrew, We Miss and Love You! Peace!

 

Thanks Merlin. I also run 350zforum.com and was aware of the paint problems with the Z, which is why I posed the question on here to see if the same problem is occurring with the G.

I searched last week for 'rock chip' and 'paint chip' here and found nothing (I swear), but I just looked again and found a ton of posts regarding this issue. Sorry for bringing it up again.

I'll post with the response that the dealer gives me. Should be interesting.

04 Twilight Blue / Willow AT coupe 18" wheels and spoiler
1993 300ZX Stage XIII TT 477 rwhp

 

Greg,

No reason to apologize, if you didn't find it the first time, who knows what happened.[img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Keep us posted. Working with the dealers for Service, I have not done, but as far as the buying/leasing process.....let's just say there is a lot of room for improvement.


Andrew, We Miss and Love You! Peace!

 

Twilight Blue is a new color for the coupe.Could that have anything to do with it chipping easily? Keep us posted Greg,I also bought my car at Sewell and am curious how they handle your problem.

04 Blk.Coupe/6mt/nav/aero/sat.

 

Well, it's as much as I figured. The dealer isn't going to do anything about it. I'm going to pick it up shortly, but it's basically too bad.

04 Twilight Blue / Willow AT coupe 18" wheels and spoiler
1993 300ZX Stage XIII TT 477 rwhp

 

Excuse me, but there isn't a paint made that can resist rock chips, why does anyone expect this to exist? Point is, if you get hit by a rock, you will most likely get a chip!


Brilliant Silver/Graphite '04 Sedan/5AT

 

Sorry to hear your outcome with the dealer...but it doesn't surprise me that much....I heard the european, (German) car companies use a different clear coat on their cars...It supposedly has the VOC's that many other car manufacturers no longer use in their process...the end result is that the clear coat on those vehicles is a lot less prone to chipping because it doesn't become as hard...My coupe is only 3 months old now and I drive mainly on the Highways here in New Jersey...even without any sanding of the roads so far the front of my car already looks pretty chipped...I touched up the first few...but I would never be finished at this rate!!! I heard clearbra it the way to go...but my car is ivory pearl and i can see the pieces on my rear quarter pretty well..maybe it would be different on a darker car...anyway I'm assuming that the clearbra would show signs of pitting or chipping as well...but what do I know..someone enlighten me if I'm way off base!!20ld4this

04 cpe ivory pearl/willow/5at/prem/sport wheel pkg

<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by GR8TG35 on 01/08/04 05:42 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

I've never been impressed with the German paint, I've known several people with MB's and BMW's, the clearcoat's seemed to turn bad very early, turning white, flaking, etc! I've had my G almost three months, and so far not paint chips, just one doozy in the windshield. I have the clearbra on the hood.


Brilliant Silver/Graphite '04 Sedan/5AT

 

Please don't think I'm retarded enough to believe that paint should never chip.

What I DO have a problem with is paint that has 20 or 30 chips in less than 500 miles on simple city driving.

04 Twilight Blue / Willow AT coupe 18" wheels and spoiler
1993 300ZX Stage XIII TT 477 rwhp

 

After picking it up and speaking with the sales guy (who agreed that its bogus and has had other complaints as well) he's going to talk to the GM of Sewell tomorrow about getting the front bumper repainted gratis if I pay to put the clearbra on the bumper. Since I was planning on doing that anyway (just not right away) I'll take the deal if it does get offered.

Makes me happy with Sewell if they follow through, as I'm sure Infiniti will never fess up to it and do a recall of any sort.

04 Twilight Blue / Willow AT coupe 18" wheels and spoiler
1993 300ZX Stage XIII TT 477 rwhp

 

I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to sound that way! I guess if it's on the plastic bumper, it could have a defect in the paint, I know years ago (geez, that makes me sound old) they had a lot of trouble with paint adhering properly to plastic exterior parts. Glad to see they will repaint it!


Brilliant Silver/Graphite '04 Sedan/5AT