I got my '07 Sport AT last December, and it has 3600 miles on the clock. Zero grill chips. Zero paint chips.

 

do the 07-08s have this issue or only the 07s do?

 

JMZ, do you do any highway/high traffic driving? I live in South Florida and the roads are very congested. If you don't have anyone in front of you throwing up rocks then you wouldn't get any chips.

550 I think it is more a problem with new cars in general. I am no expert but the short explanation is that they use water based paints nowadays and they don't hold up as well. I have a clear bra on the front of my car, and that has absorbed most of the chips. However if I was going to do it again, I'd do the whole hood for sure and probably the front fenders!

 

Its not the "plastic-ness" that is the problem here, its the coat of chrome on the grill that is cheap. My 06 coupe grill is of the same type of plastic as the 07 Sedan, its just that the chrome coating is much higher quality and thicker on the older G's, my grill still looks new with no chips. The 07 Sedan is very nice inside and out, but no matter what, Nissan/Infiniti have been known to cut corners SOMEWHERE. Unfortunately, that happened to be on a very visible and noticeable part of the car. If youre gonna cut corners, atleast cut them in cosmetic places where a consumer would not see it unless really really looking for it.

 

It does seem a strange place to cut corners, that grill is such a big part of the look of the car.

If one dealer wouldn't exchange it I'd call another. Wouldn't hurt to put another call in to Infiniti Customer relations and complain specifically about that dealer and the problem.

I was please that my dealer took care of it with out issues. But I was prepared to go the distance had he not!

 

For those people who got their grill replaced by their dealer, what was the process like? did you guys call infiniti customer relation first then call the dealer? or the dealer took care of everything. I just got off the phone with infiniti of oakland, because i need to take my car for service this monday because my passenger air bag light comes on when i have someone sitting there, i explained to them that my grill is chipping like crazy, they said they have to take a look at it first before they do anything. any suggestion? thanks.

 

I complained about it when I took it for an oil change and they replaced it on the spot.

 

They wouldn't replace mine, or fix the crappy paint.

 

Hopefully my 08 doesnt get this issue.

 

559, your 08 will have this issue. If you worry about your paint at all you really should look at a clear bra! My clear bra is doing wonders for me. If I was to do it again, I'd get the whole hood done!

 

I will look into the bra...I never had a car that I had to worry that much about chips. I would think a expensive car would be better than that

 

I've only got ~3600 miles on the G in 11 months. I do about 10% highway driving, 10% on residential roads (i.e. 25 mph), and the other 80% on major roads (speed limits 40-50, I usually drive 40-65 on them).

I hang pretty far back when following other vehicles, and especially stay far away from trucks.

 

Clear bra won't protect the grille. Cheap car, expensive car, it doesn't matter, stones and sand can't tell the difference, these things happen. I'd say if the dealer replaced the grille, people have nothing to complain about. LOL, some one mentioned a metal grille, not much better, I've had new cars for many years, and the grille always would get pits after a while. The grille on my '05 still looked good after over 2 years!

 

With recent travel to LV... my grill and front bumper looks utterly ruined!

Rock chips just plain suck.... I wish I had clear for the bumper at least....

 

yea i dont mind rock chips...i had my civic for 7 years driving streets and Highways and it wasnt too bad. I do drive far back from other vehicles. hopefully everything will be good. The way I read the posts here it seems like its not the rocks faults but more like cheap paint?