Fragile Volvo Paint?

B

blueboyr1

New member
Hi all,



First time poster here. Been a car fanatic, and a car-cleaning fanatic, for a long time now.... I have a question/comment about the paint on my 2001 Volvo V70 T5 -- Venetian Red Metallic (dark metallic red).



I love the car otherwise, but the paint is, by far, more prone to scratching/marring/pitting/staining than any other car I've ever owned. As a test, if I gently brush some light dust off the paint with my finger, it leaves a haze of small scratches. So, naturally, you can imagine what kids/dog tails/heavy wind will do. It is so bad that I've been considering bringing this up with Volvo USA as a potential defect.



Prior to recently discovering Autopia and GuruReports (i.e. prior to being enlightened), I'd been using Zymol and Griots waxes. I just received a Zaino order, which I'll be applying in the spring. I'm hoping that will help a bit. But, despite regular washing and waxing, and periodic PC polishing, it appears that quite a bit of clearcoat damage is already done....:(



Can any other Volvo owners relate? Is Volvo paint known for being particularly delicate?



Thanks for any insight.



Carmine
 
Is there a chance your car was resprayed before

you purchased it? This does not seem right.



My Dark metallic green Volvo is 4 years old and people think the paint is brand new. It's parked outside and is subjected to four harsh seasons. With the wax products you are using I have

found them to be very soft and subject to marring. So hopefully

the scratching and marring is in your polish system and not in

your paintwork.



What happens if you rub your paintwork with a nice aggressive

paint cleaner like Zymol HD Cleanse and white cotton towel? Do you some get red paint on the towel? If so, then somethings up. Do this on a small test surface.



My 2



All The Best !



rd
 
My Volvo is 7 1/2 years old, so maybe the paint is different now. People often remark on how good the paint looks on my car. It has spider swirls, but far less than on most much newer cars I see.



This car has 326,000 km (approx. 202,000 miles)!! The previous owner had the hood repainted for cosmetic reasons (rock chips I guess). There are far more spider swirls on the hood than on any of the original paint. So, I would say that I'm impressed with the durability of Volvo paint.
 
Thanks for the responses.:xyxthumbs



When the car has been newly waxed or QD'd, people also comment on how great it looks. At an "average" distance, the car looks great. It's only on close inspection that I spot all of the little scratches (that drive people like us wild!).



Also, besides scratches, if bird droppings or tree sap stay on the surface for longer than one week (hey, I'm not perfect ;)), it will permanently etch the clearcoat.



I ordered the car new from Volvo, so I don't think it was re-sprayed.



rd, thanks for the suggestion about trying some paint cleaner. I will give that a shot. Could it be that the clearcoat on my car is too thin? Shouldn't a clearcoat be more resistant to scratches than a non-clearcoated finish?



I really think the paint is at least partially to blame. However, I have a sinking feeling that, even though the car has been garaged, the wax products I've been using just haven't been providing enough protection for the paint.



Come springtime, I'll hit it will a little FI II (other suggestions?) and the PC, and then Zaino. Hopefully, that will help!
 
yeah i had a 93 850 glt (family member has it now) and its been abused by autopia standards, ie washed with a wool mit taken to car washes and other horible injustices and the paint has only slightly more swirls then my 2000 accord that has been babied for the last year
 
My 02 Coupe's paint is fantastic. It is my first car, so I don't really have anything to compare too, but it holds up extremely well through 4 seasons, and always looks spotless from 10 feet away, no matter how dirty I let it get. (not much). However, my mom used to have a 98 V70, and that was the worst paint I have ever seen. I remember a spot of bird poop was allowed to sit for about a day, and it ate all the way down to the metal. I think when Ford bought Volvo in 99, they must have changed the paint, because mine is awesome.
 
I had a 96 850 that I loved. It was a special color one year. During the 250k miles I drove it I only saw one other 'Autumn Harvest'. Looked a lot like the burnt orange 350z only more rust colored. It was parked outside most of my time I moved around with the military. The paint seemed hard as nails. It had swirling but it accumulated very slowly. The clear looked very deep even without a wax. I was impressed.



I sold it because The a/c compressor seized unexpectedly and I didn't have the patience to strip the front dash back to the firewall to replace the coils. 2,500 for a dealer fix was more than the car.



I will say that I think Volvo leather is doomed from the moment that any kind of silicon based product is added to it. During a time I was deployed a wash and go place was wiping down some good condition seats with armor-all every so often. The seats didn't last a year after that.
 
I have an '01 S60-T5 teal color and I have found the paint to be hard. Admittedly there were swirls from neglect on my part but it looks good now. It took a bit of work with the rotary to get it there using Megs #83. (I probably should have used something a bit stronger to save the time due to the hardness of the paint. It came out rather well for the most part as I am still learning to use the rotary. I sealed it with OS and I wax it with OCW because I like the look. Hope that helps...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top