Front Bumper Paint Quality?

[M4T5]

Yesterday I cleaned my car. I was noticing how the front bumpers paint was already so pitted and speckled. There seems to be quite a few little chips in the paint, some are very small indentions that go to the plastic.I just can not imagine at 20K mi (it just rolled it today) that the front bumper would already be in that bad of shape. I mean don't get me wrong, you are not going to notice it unless you get right on top of the bumper. Either way, it is still there. You would think Infiniti would use a better paint type for the front bumper or have the front bumpers coated with a protection agent to resist this from happening so easily.It looks like I will be having the front bumper sanded down and repainting within a year. Kind of rediculous for such low miles.....

Anyone else care to comment on this?

J

[mmm..good]

At least it's plastic and won't rust. I keep a bottle of touch up paint for any chips in the hood or other metal parts. I found one chip on the side edge of my trunk lid - looked like the prior owner must have banged their golf clubs or something on the way into the trunk. I'm a perfectionist and really notice those things.

[tigerclaws1318]

I realized the same thing on my front bumper. From far away it looks fine until you get up close to it. You find all kinds of tiny rock chips and it goes in deep into the paint. It doesn't brother me that much but its nice to have touch up paint to fix it up.

[NightWatch]

This is the 3rd Infiniti I've owned over the past 6 years. Infiniti's paint tends to be very soft. In fact out of any car I've ever owned it is the worst with respect to durability. When I first got my G35 Coupe I did a lot of highway driving. After 12,000 miles it looked like someone spattered the bumper and front of the hood with white paint (car was red). I complained to the dealer I bought the car from and the service guy just shrugged his shoulders and said "yeah we hear that a lot". I complained to the regional serivce rep and he offered to have the car repainted for me. I declined at that point and traded the car in shortly after that. Now when I go on a trip involving a lot of high speed driving I put a bra on the car and take it off when I get there. Not pretty, but it does protect the front. I looked into the "clear bra" product but it isn't as "invisible" as they claim and I didn't like the look.

[300freekzx]

Bumper paint is crap. I know I will have to get mine repainted or buy a bug guard soon.

[M4T5]

At least I know I'm not the only one.............. That's a lack of quality control! BRING BACK THE LEAD PAINT!!!!!! It lasts long and is very durable! That's too bad the good bad stuff has to always be banned. They should at least come back with a close to equal alternative............Infiniti must use the bottom of the barrel paint! I bet you Maaco's $200 paint job has better paint than what Infiniti uses.........

J

[ken in az]

On this car they have to use a paining process to adhere to both steel and aluminum...that coupled with how low these cars sit right out of the box they will be more prone to hit road debris - aka F.O.D.

[M4T5]

On this car they have to use a paining process to adhere to both steel and aluminum...that coupled with how low these cars sit right out of the box they will be more prone to hit road debris - aka F.O.D.

What body panel on these cars is aluminum?? Did you mean steel & plastic?

J

[NightWatch]

On the 2006 and newer models most of the exterior panels are aluminum.

[M4T5]

Wow, what I didn't know.........figures... On the flip side....now I know!

J

[New2Import]

Those chips come from riding too close. Back off the drivers up front lol...I found a few chips on mine too. They have that plastic film you can buy and apply to the bumper. But I just dont tailgate is my cure for the chips. I keep about 5 car lenghts at all times and really dont drive the toys in rush hr. Get you a beater to drive to work.

[NightWatch]

I keep about 5 car lenghts at all times and really dont drive the toys in rush hr. Get you a beater to drive to work.

I was going to say you've never driven in commuter traffic in Atlanta, leaving more than 1 or 2 car spaces in front of you is just inviting people to merge in front of you thus closing the gap again. You might as well just pull over to the shoulder

[M4T5]

I was going to say you've never driven in commuter traffic in Atlanta, leaving more than 1 or 2 car spaces in front of you is just inviting people to merge in front of you thus closing the gap again. You might as well just pull over to the shoulder

He has never been to Houston either....put 5 car lengths between you and the next car, see what happens.....

Plus this is my wifes car. Majority of her driving is on back streets going to work, no highway involved. I have a truck and a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee that is our go and get whatever and park it anywhere vehicle. So I'm not worried about that too much.

J

[zozoka1212]

Clear bra helps a lot.

Hope they put the shelf healing paint on the M's also. That should improve on the paint issues. All new G's and the EX I think the FX50 too comes with it.

I know it doesn't help on your situation but good to know People over at Infiniti are not just sitting on their arse and laugh.

[M4T5]

Clear bra helps a lot.

Hope they put the shelf healing paint on the M's also. That should improve on the paint issues. All new G's and the EX I think the FX50 too comes with it.

I know it doesn't help on your situation but good to know People over at Infiniti are not just sitting on their arse and laugh.

Would be even better to know if the Infiniti body shops use this new paint type on cars that need to be repainted. Or is it only done at the Infiniti manufacturing plants?Would be nice to know we could later get this new paint type applied to our M's.

J

[NightWatch]

Hope they put the shelf healing paint on the M's also. That should improve on the paint issues. All new G's and the EX I think the FX50 too comes with it.

I thought the 2009 M has the self-healing paint? Its really just the clear coat, so if you damage it into the pigment layer even the "self-healing" isn't going to help. I would imagine you could just put the new self healing clear-coat over top of a repainted bumper.... I'm not sure what it gets you though. I've seen a few EX 35's that have pitted bumpers as well. Self-healing only goes so far and it takes weeks even in the heat of summer to heal.