Okay guys, we all know how soft our paint is. Seriously, looking at the car the wrong way can leave scratches. I know that the GTR and G37 are both assembled at the Tochigi plant. Does anyone know if the GTR's clear coat is just as easily scratched?? Thx.

 

I don't see why not. It's all Nissan paint and Nissan and Infiniti use the same colour codes indicating it's the same paint although Nissan and Infiniti give the paint different names.

 

I have backed my car into a fence, and damaged the fence, no scratches on my paint or anything Just plastic from the fence lining that I got out with compound. I have scraped the car but Rubbing Compound always did the job and made it look factory fresh. I dont understand why the paint on The G is so soft. I even scraped my car with a shovel by accident trying to dig it out, guess what? No scratches.

 

For the most part the paint quality is the same. I've read about the same defects/issues effecting the GTR paint that effect the G37 and 370Z. Just google 'GTR paint defect'. That being said, I've consistently maintained my G's paint the best I know how and I don't have any deep scratches and only very minor swirling. The only issue I have, that I share with the GTR paint, is very minor bubbling/peeling at the front bumper/fender joint due to the clear flex agent and tight clearances

 

Guys, all paint these days pretty much sucks. Bmw guys bitch about it, honda guys bitch about it, etc etc. Some are better than others, but that's mainly due to how many layers of paint and clear coat get used. A few more layers of paint and another of clear coat would make it more durable, but it would still be "soft".

The reason that paint is so soft these days is because they ban the use of lead based paints. All car paint up until I believe the mid 70's to early 80's was lead based. Made it stronger and more durable, but not very healthy to the environment.

 

paint on our cars suck!

 

They weren't lead based they were solvent based.

Basically you can make paint last a long time or look good a long time. Modern clearcoats will last a long time but will show scratches easily. The old single coats will be more durable but will oxidize easy and will get damaged by the environment easily.

 

I haven't had any problems with scratches or swirls in my paint, but I was wondering why you couldn't take a new car or a used G, with a perfect finish and have a body shop shoot another coat of a harder clear coat on it.
Is this possible or will the existing clear coat have to be removed?

 

You must have some steroid paint.

 

s2ktoEvo, was correct. You may have misunderstood. The "colors" were made with lead, and actually I believe lead was used into the 90's. Solvent was used and is still used in most of the finish materials on our vehicles, with the exception of those that are painted with waterborne materials.

 

HAHA "steroid paint". Okay, I guess I wasn't super clear. I'm not talking about the "paint" paint. I'm talking about the clear coat. Like, the other day some snow blew off my roof and hit the trunk lid and left scratches. This was fresh soft snow, you know, the kind you see in those picturesque christmas movies slowly falling on to the ground. Like seriously, wtf...... I mean, all clear coat will scratch at some point, but it just seems ours scratch so much more easily than that of even say a Geo Metro. I know there have been threads about this before, and everyone complains at some point....

What also bugs me is, have you guys noticed how the clear coat on our rims don't scratch. Like if there's dust on the car's clear, and you run your hand over it, it will scratch. The rims though, are much more durable. Why couldn't they have used the rim's clear on the car body panels???

 

Haha, I wasnt even exaggerating at all lol all that stuff is true.

 

I haven't noticed the paint on my G being less durable than other cars we have had like Honda's and Toyotas. I do have the scratch shield but I have gotten some chips on the highway. Nothing bad enough to make me feel like the paint is cheap.

That being said, I think the paint on the American cars of the 70's was a lot tougher as others have mentioned. I detailed cars when I was in college 20 years ago and it was easy to burn paint on the 90's cars with a buffer compared to the older cars. I burned a door edge on my 91 Sentra SE-R right after I got it and learned the hard way that it was not as tough as a 77 caddy.