I have an '05 laser red coupe. Bought new last fall, only 6K miles now, garaged all winter, and never driven in snow (I live in Mass. - that's what my beater car is for). Today I noticed at least 20-30 white specks on the hood (mostly), a dozen more on the roof, a few on the trunk and tops of doors. All the upward-facing surfaces, basically. Nothing on the sides, and (amazingly) nothing in front, where you'd expect to see damage from sand and such at high speeds. I do have the autobahn film on, and it's not damaged at all. These specks are mostly pinhead size, in random places, and all have white underneath - almost like a constellation of stars. They are definitely chips, and they get bigger if you use a fingernail on them :-( What happened? This car came with the dealer-added Simoniz coating, which is lifetime guaranteed. But I mean, what's the deal? I've given it only 4 car washes so far, all touchless (admittedly that method applies water under pressure - is that the cause?).

I've read many posts here about Nissan's soft paint and all, but is this what I have to look forward to throughout my G ownership? Do I have a claim for warranty-covered repaint job? I haven't taken it back to the dealer as I just discovered this problem yesterday. Thanks for any insights or suggestions.

Gene

 

i would suggest a clear bra to solve this problem, it will def. help, a little pricey though

 

Stone chips will just start above the clear bra. I had one on my 2k2 Maxima and decided against it on the 05 G. Most of my driving is highway and I do drive my car in winter as it's a lease and I've owned enough cars in the past to know that I'm not going to keep the G forever. I just noticed a stone chip on the passenger side a-pillar, so they're pretty much inevitible.

To the original poster, you're not going to be able to get Infiniti to warranty stone chips - no one does that. I'm surprised that people call Nissan's paint "soft", I've seen Acuras, MB's, BMW's, etc with just as many stone chips on them.

 

Not very practical for the hood, roof and trunk where he said most of his chips are.
I got a clearbra installed the first week of ownership. I remember what my '97 Maxima front end looked like after 51k miles. I said I wouldn't allow that to happen again.

 

I do have the clear bra (Autobahnd brand) up front and on all forward-facing surfaces. It was installed at the dealer at 0 miles. What's amazing to me is that these white specks (chips) all showed up at once this week it seems. I would have noticed them before if they were appearing gradually. And they're almost all on upper-facing surfaces, not what you'd expect from stones you drive into. I've done all the driving in this car, and not once did I experience one of those "damn, what was that?" stone-hits-car-and-bounces-off moments -- let alone 40 or 50 such instances. So where are all these chips suddenly coming from?

 

I would think it's due to being behind trucks, etc that are dropping their dirt in front of you. I imagine that you're roads are somewhat like what we have here in Ontario - salt, sand. If potholes are appearing, the truck in the lane to the right of you, maybe 3 or 4 car lengths ahead may be hitting them and all the debris is falling off the trailer, etc, then bouncing around and finally ending up hitting your car.

Since you said it all appeared at once, I'm really thinking that you just got behind one of those nasty trucks and paid the price.

I've got stone chips on my 05 G and I'm sure I didn't hear a handful of them, let alone more.

 

Hmm.... Any major road construction going on near you (overpasses)? I have 6 small chips - 2 on hood near windshield, 3 on top of the door frame, and 1 on the top (between moonroof and door frame). I got these when driving on the freeway under a new overpass that was under construction. Also got three small pits in my windshield. I was able to do a fair job in touching them up, but I know they are ther...

sd_diver

 

What is Simoniz coating? It sounds like a dealer applied sealant, and those = huge rip off that do nothing.

FWIW, all Japanese paint is generally "soft", they use the same supplier. German paint is generally harder, Audi's being considered the hardest (aside from some GM paint jobs). Of course Mercedes ceramiclear is an entirely different league.

 

My car has about 6200miles and it has maybe 2 or 3 very minor chips found on the lower portion of both doors. I also have the clear bra installed. And I've done both highway/city driving. So basically, the my car is almost chip free. Maybe like someone said, you either were driving behind a truck or maybe there was some road work done, which could have loose gravel all over the road.

 

Same here I got chips all over the front of my car. Once I get my kits installed gonna have the whole front painted then get a clear bra for it. Definitely worth the money in my opinion.

 

I have chips on my car and was gonna try to fix it but I got over it. "Real cars have stone chips" is what someone said on here before. Just dont worry about it since Im assuming you cant see it from 5 feet away.

 

I agree with Strtsk. After many cars, I realize that night driving is sometimes more harmful than day driving b/c of the bugs that collect on your car. They stick on your paint and their nasty little guts (acid) can cause what appears to be chips.

 

I spoke to the dealer (Infiniti of Nashua) about this problem. Sympathetic of course, but based on my description he said it's not covered by warranty or the Simoniz Level 5 guarantee (which does cover bird droppings, acid rain, sap, etc). He agreed to look at it, but said in a previous case (that sounded worse) Infiniti refused to warrant the paint against anything resembling chips caused by sand or stones. It's like someone drove my car through a sandstorm where the sand was blowing up and down, rather than front to back. All the chips are on the hood, roof, and trunk lid, at least 50, that all apeared at once. I'll probably take it in for them to assess, but if this can happen so easily there's no way I'm going to repaint. Anyway, as someone said earlier, you can't really see it from more than 5 feet away, so I guess I'll just live with it.

Thanks for all the posts.

 

Be sure to at least touch up the chips, otherwise you'll have exposed metal which could be an invitation to rust or allowing more paint to flake off.

Try and find one of those shops that specialize in stone chip repairs. In Ontario, there's quite a few companies that do this type of work.

Good luck.

 

I have tons of chips on the hood of my 04 LR coupe. I think I'll just wait till I can't take it anymore... and in 5-8 years, just repaint the bumper/hood. Like others have said, can't see it 5 feet away......the car is still damm sexy! (just dont get too close) =)