I didn't realize that any American car company was inspecting for small dirt nibs. Heck, my 2012 Ram had 79 nibs in the finish...every body panel, except the tailgate. I carefully wet sanded and polished everyone of them.
Now about this factory removal of nibs. I wonder how often the finish guys get a little too aggressive with the nib removal and level the nib, but leave marring (or worse) in the finish. These guys are going to have to work darn fast to keep up with the line. If you look at the video that goes with this thread I have posted, you will see that there are quite few flaws in the sides of an F-150 that is going through the line.
The are numerous posts on a Ram forum about circles in the finish of the some trucks. Maybe the finish folks at Chrysler are a little too aggressive with their polisher or perhaps they are trying to polish out boulders. (According to Ford, they are the only company using the hi-tech detection system.)
Related to this whole "nib thing". It is my understanding that our newer vehicles are more prone to getting dust/dirt nibs in the paint booth because now car companies are using waterborne base coat and waterborne clear coat. The waterborne paint has a longer drying time and thus there is more of a chance for dust to get to the surface of the paint
Any comments?
