ThebigJ

Ok It has been almost 3 years since I got my g37. It is a vibrant red 2008 model, one owner and no accidents on Carfax.

Well fist of all let me say a couple of good things about the car.
- It rides really nice, handles well.
- The electrical goodies all work flawlessly (navigation old but still useful, sound system, card readers etc.)
- Except a gasket leak it is mostly trouble free.

Now the Bad things.
First and foremost the CLEAR COAT on the ENTIRE CAR is failing and peeling off. Before talking about accidents let me put some facts:
1. The failure of the CC is on all of the panels which get sunshine. It is symmetric on both sides of the car.
2. At the time of the purchase I checked every panel with a paint gauge and the Paint was around 4.5 EVERY panel, even the neighboring panels had the same thickness. Now this is very thin (as reference a nissan altima is around 5.5-6 range) but the consistency suggests that it is the original paint.

If this was a wreck which was repainted I don't think the 2 thins I wrote above would have been true.

I will post pictures but it is so bad that even taking pictures is annoying as hell. The plastic trims on are of different colors (because of the failing paint the metal panels become faded, the plastics such as window frames , bumpers, mirrors (again both sides not just one side) seem to have a richer color at least where there is still CC)


Another problem is the dashboard. The front side is shiny and obviously it is degrading. Although it does not look good it is there. Now Lexus had a similar issue with the dashboards and they changed all of the effected dashboards even after the factory warranty expired. I don;t think it will be the case for infiniti.
I was ok with the way dashboard until last week. I got into my car , reached for my hat on the dash , my finger nail slightly touched the dashboard (I mean really slightly , I barely felt it and I have short nails ). I realized that tip of my nail was black then when I looked at the dash there was a nick on the dashboard. Mind you I was using a Sun shade and vinyl protector so the dash was not that hot. The top front side of the dash is like a frigging brownie now and I am afraid to even touch it.

The classic peeling on the steering wheel, door handles look even cute to me now after thinking about the horrible condition the paint is in and the dashboard.

It is not the way I park the vehicle because there are lots of vehicles parked the same way, older vehicles and none of them has this kind of failure. My landlord had his Nissan Murano parked the same spot for 14 years and the vehicle (although mechanically it was falling apart) still had perfect paint.

A f..g Nissan does not have a problem but the so called luxury Infiniti has this failing paint ?

BTW The paint is Vibrant red and I have seen a 350z with the same paint failing the same way. Some other colors may be fine but not this one.

I will be keeping the car because in this paint condition no matter how mechanically sound it is I won't be getting anything for it. But this is so annoying...

Infin88

Got any pictures of the problem areas?

Also, my interior trim was peeling as well. I had it all hydrodipped.

ILM-NC G37S

iTrader: (3)

Keep in mind you may have had the car for only 3 years, but the car itself is over 10 years old. I am not dismissing your problems or opinions, I am just stating that fact. Many of the problems you mention: dashboard, steering wheel trim, interior trim, are common problems for this early generation of the G37. I can not speak for the paint. I have a '08 Coupe in K57 gray and have no issues.

The steering wheel trim is a easy replacement. Took me roughly 45 minutes, if that. Same for the interior trim (except I upgraded to the 2014/2015 style (including center conole)). The melting dashboard is a rather complex, and costly, issue. I agree that Nissan should accept this responsibility and replace the defective dashboard like they did for the Altima, but at this point that is wishful thinking.

mathnerd88

iTrader: (1)

I had a 10 year old G35x, never had problems with the clearcoat and had never gone into an accident in those areas.

KidJai06

Infiniti/Nissan has struggled for years with A54 Vibrant Red paint fading. Ive seen plenty of them over the years (I can't remember the last time I saw red G35 that wasn't heavily faded). I worry about mine too since its Vibrant Red. Red by nature is apt to fade more quickly as it reflects long wavelengths of light and is absorbing the shorter (more intense) wavelengths of light allowing it to break down more quickly.

I also had heard or read somewhere that A54 is/was single stage but I haven't really looked into it too closely (yet). If it is single stage that too would help explain the faster degradation (although you mentioned clear coat peeling). I know there were also guys who would preemptively have their cars clear coated for added protection.

I have been contemplating having my car professionally paint corrected and have a UV protectant of some sort put on to help protect better. My paint is holding up well for now so thats further down the list of things to do.

ThebigJ

Ok I uploaded the pictures. And some of these are after clay. 105,205 so there is no hope of saving the paint.

@kidjai: Are you sure it is single stage? I mean it gets cloudy like one and since fading occurs just like the 350z so now I am confused.

Also skirts are entirely without any CC as if they never had and CC to begin with. They buffed it so many times that you can see the white patches. Btw these are all symmetric, so if one side fails the other side also fails.

The paint underneath the clear is mostly quite thick but without clear your buffer gets a litte paint transfer.

Idk , is it possible that the previous owner realized that this was single stage and decided to put a CC on it ?

Rollo

Did you regularly apply any wax or sealants? Not saying you should have to do that but I am curious if it would have changed your outcome. I detail my cars as a hobby and always have a sealant or paint coating on mine. I don't have a red car at the moment but it is my favorite car color. I had a red 07 G35S sedan that was a beautiful color but I sold it in 2012. I would shop around for a good paint job.

KidJai06

I don't know for sure, I've seen things about it being single stage in passing but have never seen/heard definitively. I've always been really gentle with wash and wax out of concern for that reason.

ThebigJ

I am not going to lie, since some of the parts were hazy I did not regularly wax it because I didn't want to polish in the first place. The paint checker already showed that the paint is extremely thin which made me believe that it will only get thinner the more I polish I. Infiniti simply did a horrible job at painting the vehicle in the first place. again 4.5 mils is very thin and it seems the thin part is the clear coat. Again the skirts don't have any clear coat to begin with and it seems previous owner polished it too much.

I was at first planning to use opti-coat on it but then I wanted to fix the few small dents on it first. I applied opticoat after polish/ clay cleaning on a small test area but then that area also got hazy and peeled. I don't know maybe it can be prevented if the paint is protected by coating or film but it should be done before any delamination imo.
It seems that California sun just delaminates the damn thing.

There is also serious fading. The plastic pieces stay true to the original color (bumper, window frames) and all of the metallic panels fade and need polishing and with a CC this thin you can not polish it at will.

Here is my observation. Most of the older cars that have metallic paint does not seem to be suffering from CC failure. They don't have fading either. So I don't think it is a problem with "red" paint, the problem seems to be the paint being nonmetallic and coated with a very thin clear. As a side note, metallic finishes are also much better against chips and scratches. However I am not so certain on my observation since sometimes I can't be sure if a car has metallic paint at a glance and maybe metallic paints have better CC because companies usually charge a premium for metallic paint.

wind dance

That's the problem, you or the previous owner didn't protect it. Red and black cars need protection especially if it's thin to begin with. Wax and polish is not the same thing.

ThebigJ

It has been another "eventful" 3 years so I wanted to give an update.

While I love this car, the factory paint is utter crap. No it is not me or previous owner's maintenance routine, it is simply the factory clear coat being whether defective or too thin. It is ridiculous that infiniti used this crappy paint while nissan use much better paintjobs in their $20k vehicles...

I myself had 2 other red cars previously, one of them is still in the family and 3 years older than this one, always kept outside, not abused but not babied. The paint is in great shape. The other one was also in great shape until I sold it.
2 of my friends also keep their cars in the open, no waxing, just wash it every now and then. The 2003 mazda 3's paint is in such a great shape, it barely has swirl marks, a few mars that can be buffed out, although it was always washed in a regular car wash and parked outside under the sun. The other is a Nissan murano, oldest model, again paint shows now clear coat failure whatsoever.

My car atm looks like a homeless vehicle from outside while it is in great shape otherwise. The leather is in fantastic shape, everything works perfect, no mechanical issues, drives great but man the paint, it is so bad. The edge of the dashboard was a bit sticky when hot(when it is left under the sun the board gets soft and dents easily), using 303 and it is holding up ok.

For the past year I have been parking it in a covered parking spot and since then there has been no progression in the clear coat failure. However the damage is done.
Also the skirts don't have any clear on them !!! Ridiculous, the skirt trims are single stage paint and buffing takes the paint off. The plastic trims/bumper is a darker red and it is because these materials fade less than the body panels.

The paint layer itself is pretty strong. The parts where clear coat is completely gone is still just fine. The damn clear coat is far less durable than the paint coat itself. If it was possible to get rid of the clear coat without touching the paint itself, I would have polished and put on paint protection film on it (on a small spot tried to re clear, the result was not very durable, another spot tried to install 3m ppe and that not only brings back the color but also is strong)

At the moment I don't want to sell and buy a new car, probably that is for next year or the following one. I am planning to cover the panels where CC has peeled or gone hazy with Vinyl Wrap.

Does anybody know a vinyl that matches the vibrant red ?

stealthee

Even if you plan on wrapping you're going to have to address the peeling clear coat. The entire car would need sanded to give a smooth finish with no "chunks" of clear being able to be felt when you run your hand across it. I'd you don't your wrap will look terrible. You also might end up with adhesion issues in some of the spots the clear is lifting.

Also your complaint of the single stage paint on the skirts is kind of ironic. If the entire car was single stage you wouldn't be having clear coat issues. It reminds me of the early 3000gt/Stealths in red. They were single stage and I've seen some well maintained beauties with the original paint. Later cars they started using a base/clear and multiple people ended up with peeling clear issues. Yes your pad may be turning red when buffing a single stage, but the reason you don't see anything buffing clear coat, is because it's clear. You're removing it too.

ThebigJ

Thank you, agreed with both.

I spent a lot of time to peel the hazy clear with a razor blade. It comes off easy but haziness is all over the parts of the panels that see direct sunlight. So if the haziness is not on the edge it is not possible to use a razor to peel it. That being said, with sanding and lightly buffing even hazy parts can be made very smooth. I did an additional light pass with a 3000 grid to feather the edges so that they don't show under vinyl. I tried some vinyl on a small section after these steps and it looks fine (not perfect but not bad) so far.

I also completely agree that it would have been FAR better if this paint was single stage. I would have just buffed it and put a paint protection film on it and it would have been fantastic,

I really don't understand using CC if it is a crappy thin layer like this one. It is supposed to be the main source of UV protection yet it becomes the main source of failure moreover it makes the paint unrepairable other than a repaint.

Also for those who will say "waxing would have been a solution", I don't know. For most of the waxes that has been around I don't see any evidence of significant uv protection. I recently switched to sealant sprays that claim to have uv protection so we will see.

iCrap

iTrader: (8)

Are you sure that car hasn't been repainted? I've never seen a G peel that bad. That's horrible. Or maybe its a red thing?

My car is an 07, and the paint is in better condition still than some newer cars...

ThebigJ

%99 certain it is not repainted. When I was buying it I checked every panel , all were 3.9-4.5 mils with a paint checker. Even between panels the thickness was matching perfectly, that thickness uniformity(and paint being that thin) can only be possible from factory.

I have seen a 350z with the same red (A54 vibrant red ) which was also failing very similarly. May be a red thing. Again no other older vehicle I knew had this crap happening.

The sad thing is I still like the car. Hopefully vinyl will be a long term solution and a good improvement.