Second day of ownership...someone hit my parked FR-S!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by nikitopo

Oh ok, I thought it was the 2017 car.


Well, I've seen much better paint quality in other brands (e.g. Mercedes). Not one of the strong areas of Subaru. Even small stones from road can remove pieces of paint. Maybe it is also related with the fact that these colors are water based.

ALL car paint including Mercedes is water based now. The international requirement to reduce VOCs in 2012 hit the industry hard. The water based paints are just as good as anything in the past it is the paint systems themselves that don't work well with them. Some manufacturers have retooled their paint systems to get better coatings out of the new paints but some are lagging a bit behind. A small stone moving at highway speeds will remove paint from a tank much less a car. There is not a paint made that will give 100% protection against debris.


Paint systems aside I would bloody well hope that Mercedes has "better" paint than most of the others anyway.

[nikitopo]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Paint systems aside I would bloody well hope that Mercedes has "better" paint than most of the others anyway.

My last Mercedes (an A-class model) was back in 2006, so maybe color quality is not as good now. I remember they had a multi-layer color process. If I recall correctly, it was a three-layer. It looks that Subaru uses a single-layer

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by nikitopo

My last Mercedes (an A-class model) was back in 2006, so maybe color quality is not as good now. I remember they had a multi-layer color process. If I recall correctly, it was a three-layer. It looks that Subaru uses a single-layer

Any of the pearl coats from Subaru are a three layer. If you get a chance to look under the hood of a Lava it is pretty entertaining to see what the actual colour is without the pearl coat.
They could use a much more flexible paint back in 06 as the solvents used allowed it to dry slower with more VOC flash off.
We hear people complain all the time that the new paint is "thin" or "soft" but in reality it is the reverse. The new paints are slightly thicker and much harder than they used to be. This is why they chip so easy since even a light impact shatters the paint instead of just flexing it. Like I said this is not so much the fact that the paint is at fault but more due to the equipment used to apply it. The regulations for the reduced VOCs moved faster than the technology to apply the paint and this resulted in many manufacturers using obsolete equipment on their lines. Many plants have changed over and we will see a gradual improvement as the rest get caught up. I read a really good article about this in a tech journal (I do actually work) back in 2014 but it was real paper not electronic. If I can find it I will scan it.

[PandaSPUR]

Originally Posted by nikitopo

My last Mercedes (an A-class model) was back in 2006, so maybe color quality is not as good now. I remember they had a multi-layer color process. If I recall correctly, it was a three-layer. It looks that Subaru uses a single-layer

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Any of the pearl coats from Subaru are a three layer.

This, plus all colors have at least the clear coat as top layer. So theyre all at least 2 layers... no single layer paints on any modern production car AFAIK.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by PandaSPUR

This, plus all colors have at least the clear coat as top layer. So theyre all at least 2 layers... no single layer paints on any modern production car AFAIK.

Haven't been many with single coat for decades.

[nikitopo]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

I read a really good article about this in a tech journal (I do actually work) back in 2014 but it was real paper not electronic. If I can find it I will scan it.

Yes please

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by nikitopo

Yes please

It does mean digging through 3 years worth of tech journals but I will see what I can do. Don't expect it tomorrow though.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Haven't been many with single coat for decades.

[Clipdat]

Includes wheels!!!!!!!

[Gent]

I feel your pain. I've had more accidents with my car parked in my underground parking than I've had in the last 20 years of driving! My last car was a Scion IQ, and it was hit twice by neighbours. My new 86 was hit by another neighbour after 2 months of ownership. This is my current setup, lol:

[Diane]

Originally Posted by MuseChaser

Here's what I did..got one of those touchup paint pens from the dealership ($15?), sanded down the high spots of the previously poorly applied touchup paint (using very small pieces of 400 grit sandpaper glued to a pencil eraser.. think mini manual dremel tool), cleaned up all the spots with acetone, then dabbed on many very light coats with the pen over a period of a day or two until the paint came up to the level of the existing original paint around it. I don't notice any of them except for the back bumper scratch anymore. I did that over a year and a half ago, and there's been no adhesion issues and no rust (two of the spots were low and on the wheel well lips). Even the back bumper is much better.

Super helpful, thank you for the DIY advice. One scratch isn't a big deal, but I didn't know it would happen so quickly around here. So I assume it'll happen frequently in the future.

Originally Posted by Gent

I feel your pain. I've had more accidents with my car parked in my underground parking than I've had in the last 20 years of driving! My last car was a Scion IQ, and it was hit twice by neighbours. My new 86 was hit by another neighbour after 2 months of ownership. This is my current setup, lol:

HA! That's amazing, I might steal that setup for myself.

[DAEMANO]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

(I do actually work)

mmmhmmmmm......

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Diane

One scratch isn't a big deal, but I didn't know it would happen so quickly around here. So I assume it'll happen frequently in the future.

My personal best was 45 minutes after buying my shiny new Lancer GTS. On the way home from the dealer I stopped at Walmart to pick up some license plates frames and came out to find a cart that had rammed into the passenger door.
I went through all the stages of grief in about 30 seconds.

[Lynxis]

Originally Posted by guybo

I park way out in the boonies everywhere I go. Which not only minimizes the ding risk, but also gets me some excercise.

I did this for a few weeks but assholes in big pickup trucks always feel the need to park right next to me and slam their doors into my car. First, one asshole in a white pickup dinged my rear quarter panel with their door after about 2 weeks of ownership and then the next week, it happened again with a black pickup. I gave up after that and I haven't gotten any new dings that weren't my own fault since.

I didn't notice the dings until I got home both times so it was way too late to do anything about it. So annoyed.