Subaru's paint still sux.

[KevinSoD]

The folks like myself that wouldn't buy a car that I couldn't maintain would like to know in advance if the paint is going to fall off. If the car comes covered in plastic then we'll know that we should buy a different car.

 

There were thousands and thousands of old cars on eBay and autotrader, find one that hasn't been driven and take your pick.

 

It doesn't matter if you buy a half million dollar supercar or a Korean cheapie or something in the middle. You are 100% guaranteed to get a paint chip if you use it for its intended purpose. If you put it on a pedestal and never drive it it will probably live out its life chip free.

 

:shrugs shoulders:

[OCDetails]

This is true, but there is a difference in quality between one paint job and another. The front bumper of my Legacy looks ten times worse than the front bumper of my '99 Accord. The paint on the Legacy is substandard in my professional opinion. I didn't know that before I bought it. Its not so terrible that I can't live with it, but its definitely not what I expected on a car in this price range. Civics have better paint on them.

[bdisco]

so you are still going to take a hit when you trade/turn in the lease. Staying a couple hundred yards back will help but that isn't really practical...

 

Don't forget to sell the undercoating and Scotch-Gaurd too.

[RockBlocker]

Rock Chips just plain suck!! We here about them all the time from customers and now they want clear bras on their new cars. Some even are stepping up the coverage and doing the whole hood like we did to our project car.

 

Either live with them or do something about it, I say.

[OCDetails]

What about if the front is already chipped up? Is putting something on the bumper at this point a bad idea?

[RockBlocker]

If it is really chipped then putting the clear bra on is prolly not such a good idea. If you have some chips then you could touch them up and then clear bra it. Always better to do it at time of new, but I am sure not everyone knows about it when they first get their cars.

[GetAwayDriver]

Man I have a scratch that's 1.5 in on the bumper. Some D!ck narrowly hit me and ran off in the parking lot at my gym. I took OC Details advice and got the www.paintscratch.com kit for the Satin White LGT. Looks like they know what they are doing but I'm scared to death to do it myself cause I did such a shotty job on my last car which was silver. In my defense though, I heard silver is just a bitch. I am seriously considering talking to my dealership to see if I can somehow get compensated for the clear bra.

 

Paint that flies away this easily is rediculous. I pay a good amount of money a month and the paint should not fleck off like it does. Also, the fact that I have a white car makes it all the more worse.

 

Subie, you F-ed up on this one.

[KevinSoD]

Man I have a scratch that's 1.5 in on the bumper. Some D!ck narrowly hit me and ran off in the parking lot at my gym.

 

Paint that flies away this easily is rediculous. I pay a good amount of money a month and the paint should not fleck off like it does.

Subie, you F-ed up on this one.

 

 

????? I don't think it is Subaru's fault that the paint got damaged in a hit and run...

[OCDetails]

You should be thanking your lucky stars that you have white and you can't see all the swirls that your soft paint is getting. The rub from the parking lot isn't Subie's fault, but the scratches that go all the way to the sheet metal if your fingernails are too long and you aren't wearing mittens while washing the car is their fault. Paint should be able to take some types of contact without scratching this deep. On every car I've ever worked on I can fix the damage caused by everyday driving and ownership. On the Legacy the paint is so unforgiving that you can't make a mistake. Everything seems to go straight through the paint.

[mccorry]

This is true, but there is a difference in quality between one paint job and another. The front bumper of my Legacy looks ten times worse than the front bumper of my '99 Accord. The paint on the Legacy is substandard in my professional opinion. I didn't know that before I bought it. Its not so terrible that I can't live with it, but its definitely not what I expected on a car in this price range. Civics have better paint on them.

 

 

I hate to tell you this, but they are the same paint. Trust me... I know.

 

It is true that paint chemistries have changed quite a bit since the early 90's, when the move to water base and low VOC's coatings started, but all paint manufacturers had to deal with the new regulations. There are only so many coatings manufacturers in the game, so many of the makes you describe above have the same, or very similar coatings.

 

With your chips and scratches, you have to understand that there are many factors involved here.... on how well you paint adheres to the substrate.

Our cars are treated (phosphotized), dipped (ecoated), primed, painted, and clearcoated. If there were truly an adhesion issue, then you would see delamination, like back in the 80's where the paint would just peel off the car, literally.

 

Spray method, coating thickness (mils), cure time, bake temperature, and formulation all play a part. Oh.. and don't forget cost. ALL automakers strive to use AS LITTLE paint as possible to help control cost. It is a fact, like it or not.

 

If you shoot rocks, bugs, and other road debris at any surface, you are going to get wear and failures. Check your windshield closely next time you wash your car. I will guarantee you will have some scratches and chips, however minor.

[GetAwayDriver]

On every car I've ever worked on I can fix the damage caused by everyday driving and ownership. On the Legacy the paint is so unforgiving that you can't make a mistake. Everything seems to go straight through the paint.

 

I know the actual hit is not Subaru's fault, but as mentioned, a light brush in the parking lot should not have resulted in bare black bumper plastic. The same thing happened to me on a silver Integra and it did not penetrate nearly as deep as it did on the Subaru.

[OCDetails]

I'm not griping about the paint itself, I'm griping about how thick it is. My Subaru is not painted as well as my Accord is. I don't care if its the same paint or not, the fact is that the Subaru was painted much worse. The orange peel alone is evidence of that. Subaru really should have taken extra time to do the job right. They could have steped up the paint job without changing anything about what kind of paint they are using. They could have gone a little thicker than they did. VOC requirements don't say that the paint has to be twice as thin as any other car on the road. I don't think painting my car properly would have destroyed the enviroment.

[IwannaSportSedan]

So, when Subaru doesn't paint Legacies in the colors that some of us really want (WR Blue or Solid Red/San Remo Red), AND when they paint them cheaper with less paint materials, which causes unnecessary delicateness of the finish, we don't have much of a choice, other than to take what Subaru gives us. (same with thin, delicate glass.)

 

Also, it has been mentioned that having the car resprayed is expensive, complicated, and is not reflected in the resale value of the car, so rectifying the finish issue, or changing the color as well is not a great idea.

 

So what is the third option?

 

This is why it is so important that companies like Subaru do it right by their customers the first time. There usually isn't a truly viable second chance.

[mccorry]

You make good points. However, every paint job will chip and get dings. If you drive your vehicle, it is going to happen. A thicker clearcoat, believe it or not, can be more brittle and prone to yellowing or discoloration.

 

As far as colors, you have to understand how an assembly plant is constructed. Each color has its own dedicated recirculation system that mixes, cools, and loops the paint through the spray arm. For each color, there is a loop (which costs millions of dollors) of 316 SS Sanitary piping and equipment. So.. u can see that with 6 colors, there is quite an investment.

 

That is why you cannot go and get a WRB Legacy (although I really wanted one).

 

Your #3 option would be to put on a bra or rockblocker when the car is new.

[sgl]

Has anyone found that the hood deflector helps prevent stone chips further back on the hood? The service manager told me it would help because of the air being deflected. Sounds to me that the stones would just hit my windshield instead.

[OCDetails]

Since I put the hood defector on I haven't had a rock chip in the hood. Rocks aren't bouncing off of it and into the window or anything. The majority of the rock chips I got were in the area that the deflector covers anyway. Rocks that hit much above that line can't really be blocked anyway. Those just drop from way above where the deflector has any affect. Check out my Legacy page on www.ocdetails.com if you want to see how it looks.