Exterior Paint Fit & finish

[hotdude1]

I purchased a 2009 Altima 2.5S Dark Gray in color. It has 24,000 Miles. The car shows so many nicks & scratches that I have touched up with matching touch up paint. I have never seen so many hairline scratches in a 2 yr old car. It seems like scratches are materializing over nite. I have hand waxed this car 6 times in the 2 weeks I have owned it. I'm making a mess touching up every hairline scratch with touch up paint. I'm obsessing now over these scratches. Where do they come from? Why is this dark gray showing every little scratch? I can't afford to have a body shop buff all these scratches away. I keep waxing the car hoping they will go away. I'm waxing the wax now. What do I do about these damn scratches that keep materializing over nite? I want my car to look pristeen. The neighbors think I have become fanatical about the paint & scratches on this car. & god help me if I see a speck of rust. I'm cracking up aren't I?

[AlexM.]

I don't have many nicks but I do have a lot of "hairline scratches" and my car is less than a year old. I baby my car and tell people not to touch it but they still show up some how.
Some people recommend scratchX from Mguire's but that didn't work for me. There's also another more powerful compound but I believe it goes through or comes very close to penetrating the clear so I didn't bother looking in to it. I think it's just part of owning a dark car. I doubt wax will help so save your energy lol. I plan on painting my car eventually.

[hotdude1]

I baby my car as well. Thank you for responding. I've always been watchful for scratches & body rust

[hotdude1]

I'm going to keep hand waxing my car, as I live in a very snowy State, & therefore we use a lot of Salt mix/with dirt on the roads. Cars rust quickly here. Weekly under carriage wash is a must as well. So during Summer months I pile the wax on, so it's not really wasted energy

[hotdude1]

alex send me a private message with ur email & txt number

[solidstate]

Same problem!
09 2.5 SL in black.Scratches everywhere. I spent $170 wet sanding them all out not 2 months ago and there are just as many again. So , Nissan says there was an additional charge of $300 for a premium finish , I can only assume that means more clear coat , which obviously I don't have ( bought used).
I took it to a body shop and asked what they make of the finish - " Nissan was experimenting with water based clear coats the year your car was made so lucky you"


Worst paint finish I have had on ANY car Ive owned. Ugh! Whats a person to do?

[hotdude1]

how many miles do you have on ur altima? Is urs also an 09? I just keep waxing mine

[solidstate]

Hey there , yup 09 2.5 SL, I have 1500 kilometers ( lol, my engine threw a rod at 51,000 , Nissan warranty installed a brand spanking new engine last month)
As for waxing , of course , seems to only help a little. The scratches just keep magically appearing

[hotdude1]

threw a rod? Are you hard on ur engine like racing, or was it just from normal driving?

[Oilsink]

gotta get the car professionally detailed and becareful washing it

[Blackmobile]

i've run across the same issue, i've got a 3 year old 2.5s in black and i've got swirls, spider webbing and fine scratches all over the car. looks really butt ugly when you see any light reflection because they show so bad. i looked around for some local detailing shops but the amount they're charging is kinda steep, and i don't want to take my car to some cheapo detailing shop that will just butcher the paint job.

i looked into a product called zaino, some mixed reviews but a lot of people swear by it. i ordered a few of their products (z2,z5,z6, zfx) to see how it performs. it should be arriving in the mail in the next week or two, i'll post a review after i'm done but hopefully it helps with the massive amount of swirls/scratches on my pretty black car.

[boston824]

We don't usually respond to 3 month old posts, but this is a common topic for dark color cars. This is what do for my Altima (Super Black)

Previously posted last summer: We will see how this work for me after going through my first winter with this car..... Good Luck!

I recently bought a new (2010) Altima, Super Black. Same as others, the dealership "washed" the vehicle before delivery, and when I got home I noticed that there were a TON of swirl marks. I decided to rewash it myself. Here is what I did.

Wash car with soup and water (Mequiars Car Wash)
Clay Bar Treatment (Mothers, the store was out of Mequiars)- apply in ONLY one direction, ensuring that there is plenty of lubricant (provided)
Polish by hand (Mequiars Ultimate Polish)- Apply in a circular motion, applying in 2' x 2' sections, removing immediately working your way around the entire vehicle.
Wax by hand (Tech Wax 2.0)- Apply in an overlapping circular motion over the entire vehicle. Once you have applied the wax to the entire vehicle, allow to dry to a haze. When removing wax I use either a microfiber towel in a front to back direction (Like painting) or an orbital with microfiber bonnet. I complete this step twice, 48 hrs apart to allow the wax to set up.

Because of the color being black, I only use the following when cleaning and waxing- Microfiber wash sponge, Microfiber applicators to apply polish and wax (one for each), microfiber towels to remove polish/ wax, Shamie for drying, and additional Microfiber towel for final wipe.

[Daytona351]

I might be a bit late to this conversation - but I have an 08 Dark Slate Altima and have noticed the same thing. However, every dark colored car I have owned (2 dark green, 1 black and 1 dark grey) have had the same issue. My wife's car - no problems, but then again its solid white. Her other car same thing, no issues but it was silver. I think it has to do with the fact that the normal battle scars of driving on a daily basis show up better against a dark color than a lighter one. Some of those hairline scratches may even just be in the wax.