Import Tuner Magazine: Ignorant article.

[240sHorTy]

Pulled this from Import Tuner (the one with the r34 skyline plastered on the front). Makes you wonder how much these 'journalists' actually know and how credible the info is. Article titled: 'Buy Your Perfect Project Car'. Contains tips for not buying a lemon. Here is one tip:

1.5 Cheap repairs are always noticeable. Most manufacturers bake the factory paint onto the vehicle, making it almost impossible for auto collision shops to replicate the same quality. "Orange peel" marks (peeling paint or clear coat) on the edges of window trims or fenders can indicate shoddy paint and body work.

Sure delamination indicates poor body work. But he said 'orange peel', which any even amatuer painter knows is not the same thing. Orange peel is simply a name given to a range of textures in the cured coating that often look similar to an orange peel. I liken it to the texture found on many refrigerators and appliances. Pic per PPG:



And this description:'ORANGE PEEL(Poor Flow, Texture)Paint film having an uneven texture that resembles the skin of an orange. '

Secondly, in regards to the alleged 'quality' of factory paint. Most cars on car lots have some degree of tight orange peel upon close examination. A decent body man or painter can apply paint with similar or superior texture. And a quick sand/ polish can remove a little orange peel anyhow, so this statement is a little questionable too.

Maybe I'm just nitpicking here, but I like to think that most of the information I read is pretty accurate. But instances like these make me wonder. That car on the cover makes me HORNY though!

[hannibal]

Umm...

I just learned something about paint.

[EazyBreazy]

i guess nissan does poor body work from the factory because my boys black 350z hasworange peel......i too read that article but it was atleast somewhat true....the september 05 issue has an article about setting up your suspension for drifting.....the first thing they say you need is tie rods for more steering angle....then they say you need coilovbers.....and last they say you need a diff....what a bunch of idiots...the diff is the only thing you need to drift,, and you dont even need that.

[fatboy]

if you look at the finish on ANY car company's paint, you ill see orange peel to some degree. you can get it sanded down and buffed out though. watch overhaulin, you will see after paint, they re-sand it with real fine grit sandpaper, the they buff it out. thats the real way to do a car. only on real highend cars will you see flawless paint

[SmithSR]

That's the difference between a hand-made paint job by a truly talented body expert and machine assembly line style mass production paint job.Only question is $.The subtle differences between mass production paint jobs and $25,000 hand made paint jobs become obvious..

[Bronze MFP]

i'd be happy if my car had it's original mass produced finish intact. now i know why new paint is so expensive to get done right.

oh yeah, import tuner sux

[k6kicker]

actually a lot parts of modern low riding cars have a bedliner like coating (i.e miata or z32 sides/door trim) to prevent rock damage and whatnot

[ddgsxr504]

Speaking of ignorant articles, do any of you guys happen to read Modified Magazine. I like their layout but I emailed them because they were either mis-informed or ignorant! In the August issue they picked up a white S14 as a project car saying that they were going to make it into a drift car. Well in the description they say that you need to get a car that has this, that, or install those items blah blah blah. Well they claim that thier project car they bought was an SE with VLSD and ABS. Ok so if you look at the pictures the car is bone stock. It has those ugly *** mesh 4 lug wheels, no spoiler, no foglights, no chin spoiler, no sunroof..nothing! They even stepped on thier own d!*& and showed a picture of the data tag on the fire wall in the engine bay so I ran the VIN number and it has no LSD, the only thing that's on there that they claim to have is ABS! I wrote them a letter politely correcting them and have gotten no response. They started their upgrades with Tein Flex Coilovers w/EDFC and a DC strut tower bar and some exhaust I have never even heard of. I am looking forward to see where this project goes even if they are ingnorant enough to believe theit own BS. Ok sorry for ranting but I have been needing to get that off my chest!

[Bronze MFP]

If the car had ABS, that option came packaged with an LSD from the factory, afaik.Seems to me there are few import mags that know what their talking about in their articles, which turns me to circle track, and other mags to get good tech info. What a shame.

[ddgsxr504]

Ok I checked the numbers again and I was wrong about the LSD. I am sure that I am not the first on this forum to put his foot in his mouth but I am man enough to own up to it so I apologize. Either way that car still isn't a damn SE model!

[fatboy]

under newer cars where you have places that might get corroded,you have "underspray". my bosses at work have tried to get me to spray it but i refuse. that **** is horrible for you. teh msds calls for full body suit and we dont have that. ive threatened to quit b/c of it. thats completely offsubject but yea....

[themadscientist]

you are complaining about an ignorant article in Import Tuner? Is this the first issue you have read? That rice rag is a joke.

[whiterps13]

just about the only magazine that has good info anymore is sport compact car. those guys really know what theyre talking about, unlike the immature editors of super street, modified, hci, import tuner, .......

[ddgsxr504]

I like Super Street well mostly their sense of humor. They put out a decent magazine, SCC is pretty much the best one. I like still like Modified though.I guess you can't really judge them because they write one stupid article every once in while. I remember seeing an S14 back last year or so that had an S14 that had a ugly body kit, $4000 paint job, the Brembo Gran Turismo Kit, some alright wheels, and a few other cosmetic upgrades. It also had an exhaust and an intake but other than that it was a bone stock car and he got a full article spread. I thought that if he got one I damn sure could get one. The worst part is that he quoted in his article that "Most people refer his car to something from the Fast and the Furious but he is quick to point out that he got the car long before the movie came out and that there were no 240sx's in the movie"! What a douche bag! One of the main cars is a 240sx, Michelle Rodriguez's car! Anyway magazines print some wack stuff sometimes but they are a good source of info and current events. End Rant!

[Darius]

^^I'm right there with you on Sport Compact Car^^

Aren't they the only magazine without the hot, trashy, coked out models hanging all over the cars?

[HashiriyaS14]

I don't think any of the mags is perfectly magically awesome all the time.

I do think that SCC is probably the most consistently good though, due in large part to Coleman and Jacquot.

[drftsil8ty]

my 04' spec-v has orange peel. nissan paint sucks!

[ddgsxr504]

Yea I love Coleman's and Jacquot's articles. Refering to what (Darius) said have you guys ever been to a HIN or Tuner Bash. Wow a lot of those girls are Fugly of have cottage cheese thighs. I mean there are a few good number of hot ones but they are by far out numbered by the skanks!Yea they are the only mag without trashy girls hanging all over the cars. Super Street has a few, Turbo not really, and as for Import Tuner that seems to be all they are about. They will have a spread of a car and then in the middle of the article you will see a full page image of the girl in the car, on the car whatever. If I wanted T/A I would buy a p0rn mag!

[turbo98_240sx]

couldn't be more off topic but yeah I hate that there is always some dumb chick putting her boobs all over the car, like stated If wanted to look at bitcez I would get a skin mag, besides I can't hang cars with chicks in my office damn sexual herassment........ anyways I have yet to see a car without the orange peel to some degree unless it was repainted and even then mostlikly not so much. Peace,Pat

[240sHorTy]

I couldn't agree more on the chicks in mags thing. I don't even like pointless nudity in movies either. If I wanted that, then I'd of bought that. Can't watch half the movies out there in certain company and be seen as a 'respectable person'. Again, another subject entirely.

And noone has to convince me that these mags suck. I don't subscribe and I rarely buy. That one was my bro's waste of money. I used to look at some of the mags for writeups on turbo's and mod's and whatnot; but quickly realized there are much more informed sources for that. I've found very few articles really worth reading. Mostly it's a bunch of car's and writeups about them. Probably half the reason alot of people tend to follow a certain prescribed upgrade and mod path. Everyone see's what a someone did in the mag and wants to do up something just like it. There are so many import mags, I couldn't tell most of them apart. I know super street did an article on a s2000 powered Miata that I was looking at buying a while back. Beyond that I don't know much.

And Fatboy, is the recommendation for a full body suit due to the isocyanates, or is there another chemical causing the skin absorbtion risk. The Home Depot carries hooded Tyvek suits for about ten bucks. They've been tested to provide a pretty high percentage blockage in a well ventilated booth/spray area. Better than losing your job. Unless you don't like it anyway.

On a side note, I just painted my Veilside front and fiberglass fenders. Fitted and mounted them yesterday, and will be finishing up today hopefully. Sprayed the clear without a suit. (Contains Iso's) Hopefully my pores didn't suck up too much of it.

[drifter_for_life06]

Umm...

I just learned something about paint.

me too!!

i guess nissan does poor body work from the factory because my boys black 350z hasworange peel......i too read that article but it was atleast somewhat true....the september 05 issue has an article about setting up your suspension for drifting.....the first thing they say you need is tie rods for more steering angle....then they say you need coilovbers.....and last they say you need a diff....what a bunch of idiots...the diff is the only thing you need to drift,, and you dont even need that.

Exactly....I'm not gonna say im a Tsuchiya(sp?) but damn it i can get my car sideways stock with an open-diff......granted its hard and takes a lot of practice it can be done.....my friend can actually hold somewhat decent slides in his stock Accord...shows that you dont need much

[fatboy]

a lot of info i read in scc is wrong though.

[kingjag88]

I was gonna go to HIN Cleveland because it looked like about 1.3747% of the cars might have been worth looking at, but I would've went with my dad and I would have felt more than a little trashy because of all the scantily clad, yet unattractive, females that would be there...plus it was like $25!!

I agree about SCC usually being reputable, but lately it seems they've been heading down the rice-paved road, Jacquot and Coleman being the exceptions, and I stopped subscribing for this reason. I think it was Jared Holstein that wrote an article in a recent issue that kept referring to a SR'd 240SX hatch (with a stock front end, even!) as a "Silvia" on the cover, table of contents, and in the article. It wasn't really anything special, either. I used to love that magazine, but now it's like seeing a good friend date some BiTC* aZZ shawty (sorry, must've had a Import Racer!, Super Street, or Import Tuner moment )...you still want to hang out with him, but because of all the crap it's not worth paying $25 a year anymore like it used to be

[themadscientist]

I don't read rice rags except to keep track of new technology. I rely on reputable performance sourcebooks and my own warped imagination when it comes to putting the new gear to use tuning my bucket.