Hey this may not seem like a detailing issue, but I think it is. I am in the market for a new car and was wondering from a detailers point of view who has the best finish. Perhaps 2 classes best over all and best on a budget. I have detailed lots of older cars as that is what is in my aria, but I want something that will really show off my talents, that I have and will develop. So when some one sees my car in a lot they will be amazed. I am concerned with other things as well, like the way it drives and how reliable it is, but not what I want to think about at this point.
Best Factory paint?
- Thread starter Spork
- Start date
For budget paint I’ll throw a vote in for VW. Seems hard and orange peel is minimal. I got rear ended after having my GTI for 12 days, albeit it was at very low speed but all I suffered was a little scuff the size of a match head. Can’t recommend Subaru, our 2001 Forester’s paint is very soft.
Adam
Adam
SJ Sharkie said:
I don't know that VW paint is "hard", I read that is actually soft. But I agree, before I purchased my Passat, whenever I saw a new VW, whether a Jetta, GTI, Passat or Beetle, I was always impressed with the paint. It seems to glow and we know that not all VW owners are Autopians, so it must be a good paint job to begin with
V
Viking
Guest
Your question seems a bit open ended. I don't think you can compare the paint finish of a car that costs 20K and one that costs 300K. I do agree that VW has a very durable finish but as far as the best of the best I would have to side with Porsche, MB, or BMW.
My dad has a 2002 Lincoln LS and I have a 2002 Mustang GT. Both in the color True Blue (Paint code: L2). His paint however is MUCH better than that of the mustangs. We drive in the same conditions and I detail both cars and his has far less orange peel and swirl marks than my stang does.
M3 Dream's
New member
I have to say Ford..
When my dads Explorer is dirty it stays really shiny.. When I clean it, it has some serious depth. At night the car is a different color..
:up to Ford.
Oh yeah.. Metallic colored BMWs have a really nice gloss. I waxed a friends 330ci and the gloss was crazy at the end. I used Meg. #26 Paste and a orbital.
:up to Metallic colored Bimmers, Benzes and Porches..
When my dads Explorer is dirty it stays really shiny.. When I clean it, it has some serious depth. At night the car is a different color..
:up to Ford.
Oh yeah.. Metallic colored BMWs have a really nice gloss. I waxed a friends 330ci and the gloss was crazy at the end. I used Meg. #26 Paste and a orbital.
:up to Metallic colored Bimmers, Benzes and Porches..
Volkswagen paint is actually excellent these days.
VW paint is made by Glasurit. BASF owns Glasurit, and Glasurit makes paint for some of the very best Euro marques...
BMW
PORSCHE
MERCEDES-BENZ
AUDI
VW
:up
And yes, it's on the soft side from what I hear... people think that's bad? I think this is a good feature... less prone to chipping, cracking & crazing, etc.
Quote: “VW has a very durable finish but as far as the best of the best I would have to side with Porsche, MB, or BMW.�
My paint is very durable, thank you! Over 2 years old and looks like new. And the black metallic color {{{black magic}}}}?! Fuggeeeedddabbbouuuudddittt!!!!
I just wish there was a little less orange peel, but that's from the application and does not negate the paint. The quality of the paint is excellent.
VW paint is made by Glasurit. BASF owns Glasurit, and Glasurit makes paint for some of the very best Euro marques...
BMW
PORSCHE
MERCEDES-BENZ
AUDI
VW
:up
And yes, it's on the soft side from what I hear... people think that's bad? I think this is a good feature... less prone to chipping, cracking & crazing, etc.
Quote: “VW has a very durable finish but as far as the best of the best I would have to side with Porsche, MB, or BMW.�
My paint is very durable, thank you! Over 2 years old and looks like new. And the black metallic color {{{black magic}}}}?! Fuggeeeedddabbbouuuudddittt!!!!
I just wish there was a little less orange peel, but that's from the application and does not negate the paint. The quality of the paint is excellent.
imported_Intel486
New member
I like ford and all but I'm not going to vote for their paint quality.
Lots of orange peel, expecially in my truck.
I also hear a lot about people having paint runs and one guy saying half his roof's paint was soo thing he could see primer through it.
Lots of orange peel, expecially in my truck.
I also hear a lot about people having paint runs and one guy saying half his roof's paint was soo thing he could see primer through it.
Viking said:
Actually that was kind of the pont, I would like to know what cars have that "ultimate dream" paint and also the for 100,000 less you can have just as good. I think I am agreeing on what most have said is VW's look good for low bucks. I have had about 7 of them from the 80's to the 90's. The Passat is a great looker, and what I may go for as I owned the 4th one that came into the country and was used as a show car in 1990. My father just got a 2002 but I have yet to get to check it out as they live 800 miles away. My mother has a 2001 530i that looks good even though it has never seen wax. (at least she gets it hand washed)
I have never gotten the chance to work on really expensive paint so I was wondering if there was a huge difference. Newer paints seem to eliminate much of the quality differences.
imported_M3Pilot
New member
masterofreality said:
That what my car has just been sprayed with, i'm glad to hear that Glasurit isn't some cheapo crap paint
shvlhead78
New member
I don't own a BMW, but my friend does.. and I just can't believe how badly he treats his car (12 months+ with no wash, no garage), and when he does wash, he goes to a machine wash....
Still... I can't believe how few swirlies he has... I am extremely anal about my blue 2001 Honda Civic, and I still have swirlies up the crazy.
Still... I can't believe how few swirlies he has... I am extremely anal about my blue 2001 Honda Civic, and I still have swirlies up the crazy.
BumpersPlus2
New member
Bmw, mercedes, Honda paint sucks. wifes 2001 Accord EXL white, sucks. Jason
BumpersPlus2
New member
Bmw and mercedes is the best, in my professional opinion.
I think Audi has the best factory paint job.:xyxthumbs
Motor Trend quotes:
"Nobody paints cars as well as Audi. No matter how hard we looked for orange peel or any defects, they weren't anywhere to be seen."
I think Porsche is a close second, followed by Mercedes, then VW.
BMW has some orange peel on the lower body panels:nono .
I think that domestic cars and Japanese cars have the worst paint. American cars all have massive orange peel, ALL of them! This drives me crazy with the PT. 20+ coats of Z2 and still fuzzy reflections up close
! I've seen pretty bad peel on Toyotas and Hondas, too!
This is just from all the cars I've seen new. Just my opinion.
:wavey
Motor Trend quotes:
"Nobody paints cars as well as Audi. No matter how hard we looked for orange peel or any defects, they weren't anywhere to be seen."
I think Porsche is a close second, followed by Mercedes, then VW.
BMW has some orange peel on the lower body panels:nono .
I think that domestic cars and Japanese cars have the worst paint. American cars all have massive orange peel, ALL of them! This drives me crazy with the PT. 20+ coats of Z2 and still fuzzy reflections up close
! I've seen pretty bad peel on Toyotas and Hondas, too!This is just from all the cars I've seen new. Just my opinion.
:wavey
I think that most paint companies provide competitive product offerings for the different price points of vehicle class. What it really comes down to is the application of the paint regardless of product used.
I would have to agree that VAG (that's Volkwagen Audi Group which also includes Porsche) does seem to have one of the best processes for paint application. Having owned both VWs and Audis the factory paint defects seem to be non-existant however, the amount of paint or should I say layers of paint applied to the Audis seem to be greater. How do I know this? I travel in areas where the roads are sanded in the winter, in addition to copious amounts of salt, and the department of highways defintion of sand seems to include small rocks. To make a long story a short one, on the Audi the rocks will chip the paint but not the primer. The chips on the Jetta paint would sometimes remove paint down to bare metal and not as deep as on the Audi.
Cheers
I would have to agree that VAG (that's Volkwagen Audi Group which also includes Porsche) does seem to have one of the best processes for paint application. Having owned both VWs and Audis the factory paint defects seem to be non-existant however, the amount of paint or should I say layers of paint applied to the Audis seem to be greater. How do I know this? I travel in areas where the roads are sanded in the winter, in addition to copious amounts of salt, and the department of highways defintion of sand seems to include small rocks. To make a long story a short one, on the Audi the rocks will chip the paint but not the primer. The chips on the Jetta paint would sometimes remove paint down to bare metal and not as deep as on the Audi.
Cheers
Bill in Atlanta
New member
Please note that Porsche is NOT part of VAG. Porsche is , and has always been, an independent company ( unlike Ferrari which is owned by Fiat Group).
I would also add that Porsche paint, IMHO, is not the greatest. Both of my 911's have defects and they scratch/swirl very easily. My wife's Passat seems to have much better paint.
Bill
I would also add that Porsche paint, IMHO, is not the greatest. Both of my 911's have defects and they scratch/swirl very easily. My wife's Passat seems to have much better paint.
Bill
I had a white E320, 1997, nice color but plenty of orange peel. Good thing about white is you can't see many problems!
Currently have a Dark Blue E430. No orange peel, but gets swirl marks quicker than I believe.
Until a few months ago, I worked in Miami. I was in an office building next to a very large Mercedes dealer (Coral Gables). They used our parking lot as overflow parking for new cars, 20-40 cars parked there. So I saw many new MB's before they were sold to customers.
ALL were loaded with swirl marks
I was amazed. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
On the showroom floor, you will rarely find swirl marks. I found out that they use glaze, which fills the swirls on a temporary basis.
I guess we need to have a few criteria for what is good paint. Maybe orage peel, swirl resitance, color, depth, ....
Anyway, on new MBs I rarely see orage peel. But swirl marks are rampant.
Lou:bounce
Currently have a Dark Blue E430. No orange peel, but gets swirl marks quicker than I believe.
Until a few months ago, I worked in Miami. I was in an office building next to a very large Mercedes dealer (Coral Gables). They used our parking lot as overflow parking for new cars, 20-40 cars parked there. So I saw many new MB's before they were sold to customers.
ALL were loaded with swirl marks
I was amazed. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
On the showroom floor, you will rarely find swirl marks. I found out that they use glaze, which fills the swirls on a temporary basis.
I guess we need to have a few criteria for what is good paint. Maybe orage peel, swirl resitance, color, depth, ....
Anyway, on new MBs I rarely see orage peel. But swirl marks are rampant.
Lou:bounce
rockymountaindetail
New member
Another vote for Audi...
Most overrated goes to Porsche. Porsche owners just take better care of them or can afford to have someone else care for it.
<quote>"I like ford and all but I'm not going to vote for their paint quality."</quote>
Ford is the best of the domestics though that isn't much of a compliment.
Most overrated goes to Porsche. Porsche owners just take better care of them or can afford to have someone else care for it.
<quote>"I like ford and all but I'm not going to vote for their paint quality."</quote>
Ford is the best of the domestics though that isn't much of a compliment.
Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Lamborghini have the best paint that I have worked on. No orange peel (hand rubbing between each coat will do that), outstanding depth and gloss...but for what they cost, the paint had better be as close to perfect as possible.
Lexus gets my vote for mass produced automobiles. Very glossy, holds up very well (I have pics of a 1995 and 1996 Lexus in the gallery), is pretty scratch and chip resistant and I have seen very few with swirls-no doubt the fault of whoever detailed it.
Mercedes has excellent shine and depth, but the orange peel is getting real bad. Look at some mid to late 80's Benz's and you will see how flat their paint used to lay. Not anymore, especially the ML class. BMW does a good job, less orange peel than Mercedes. Domestic paint done best by Ford. Sure the orange peel is a problem, but the paint stays very slick.
Lexus gets my vote for mass produced automobiles. Very glossy, holds up very well (I have pics of a 1995 and 1996 Lexus in the gallery), is pretty scratch and chip resistant and I have seen very few with swirls-no doubt the fault of whoever detailed it.
Mercedes has excellent shine and depth, but the orange peel is getting real bad. Look at some mid to late 80's Benz's and you will see how flat their paint used to lay. Not anymore, especially the ML class. BMW does a good job, less orange peel than Mercedes. Domestic paint done best by Ford. Sure the orange peel is a problem, but the paint stays very slick.