Mark_02DX

I understand the paint comments now. Washed/waxed my car yesterday; the leading edge of the hood looks like it's been sandblasted! The car's only 9 months old, and I drive in the city, not on dirt roads or anything.

Stupid cheap-*** paint on such a nice car...It's like dressing a supermodel in Wal-Mart clothes...I'll do a search, but can anyone point me in the right direction? Does anything slow down this effect, besides resorting to a bra?

Mracer67

I got one thing that solves this problem......A Carbon Fiber hood.

AwaKeN

A carbon fiber hood .... What a Great idea ! i think that Mark_02DX want a solution not a 1000$ solution.

My 4 cents hehe

Mracer67

Yeah, but they look great, and i got my FI hood for $500. That's at wholesale.

pr5zoom

MRacer67

This worked well for me , I hope the link works.

http://www.protege5online.com/For_Sa...netic_bra.html

Mickey

fraay

I got a 3M coating (it's sort of a clear plastic?? maybe someone else can explain better) put on my headlights and on the front part of the hood to protect it and haven't regretted it for a second. Knowing the problems with our paint I did a lot of looking into the various bras available and didn't like the look and the fact that dirt could get under the bra and destroy the paint even more.

As for where to get it done or the cost, I got mine done where I got my tinting done, so ask around your area.

Anyone think there is any hope of Mazda doing something about the horrible paint before our warrenties run out?

VPower

yeah right,

I have the "bug deflector" and I have paint chip half way on my hood.

hihoslva

Nope. Mazdas have had notoriously bad paint for years. I don't know why, but it's just the way they make 'em.

My 93 Miata had to have the front bumper re-painted under warranty as the paint actually started to peel off!

Get used to it.

~HH

Mark_02DX

Carbon-fiber hood...umm...no. Not on a car bought for commuting in. I'll definitely look into the 3M coating, though. I've heard of that before. It's like a clear film that goes on like vinyl, right? That magnetic bra looks promising, too. Thanks.

I try to avoid bras because I had a bad experience with one on a red Ford Tempo once. After one summer, the paint under the bra was a shade darker than the rest of the car! It never did even out.
But a white plastic bra on a white car, you'll never notice.

You know, I had an '84 Mazda B-2000 Sundowner years ago, and the paint on it was fine. It rusted here and there, and the vinyl stripes cracked, but it was still shiny silver, even though it was 12 years old at the time. It must have been the old "environmentally-unfriendly" paint.

Thanks for the help!

Old_Man_Wiggins

Wierd.

I made it a point to stop by a few local car dealers that had used Proteges... I saw a few 2001's, a couple of 2000's and I think one 2002. I was looking for paint damage because of all the posts I've read here about crappy paint, but I didn't see any except for one of the 2000's where it looked like they washed it with a piece of sandpaper or something... eww...

Seriously, I saw a *few* very minor paint chips on those cars, but nothing even remotely like what some people here are reporting, and certainly nothing that a few dabs of touch-up paint wouldn't fix. Hell, my '98 Honda Prelude had a bunch paint chips on it too but now I'll be interested to see what my Laser Blue '03 Pro will look like by next summer...


~OMW

hihoslva

It all depends on the mileage and where the cars are driven.

For example:

I have 43,000+ miles on my P5. I'm on Long Island, and I drive to Manhattan on a regualr basis. The roads here are crappy, and there are LOTS of trucks. The trucks eat up the asphalt, which causes LOTS of debris and stones on the road, not to mention the sand/gravel trucks that spill little bits of their load as they drive down the road. There is also constant road construction, and you know how well those guys clean up after themselves.......

We've also had a rough winter which means lots of sand and salt. On windy days, you can HEAR the car being sandblasted as I drive the expressway.

My complaint is not only the paint, but also the cheapo windshield glass. It's a complaint I've had for a long time now. I have two nice stone chips, and when driving into the sun, the windshield is pitted worse than cars I've owned with 3x the mileage.

~HH

UCSBgeek

A thing about the windshield glass.. my brother has a 99 Subaru Forester, my dad has a 2003 WRX... 2 windshields down, might need another for the Forester. So maybe it's newer cars in general that have this problem?

Or not, my 93 is pitted like anything, very visible in the sunlight, but I think it's still the original glass, and it's probably gone through gravel or something, lol.

Mark_02DX

I think it has a lot to do with where you live. Up here in MN, they use a sand/salt mix on the roads in the winter, which is murder on paint. If there's any weakness to the paint at all, it will show up in a MN winter.

After 9 months (and admittedly a fairly mild winter) my windshield is OK, though.

RHAGEL

Have you waxed the car since you bought it? The car comes unwaxed when you buy it, that is why most dealers offer a full detail service when you purchase the car. Especially with lots of dirt/salt/snow etc. your car should be waxed at leat twice a year.

hihoslva

I don't know where you bought YOUR car, but I've yet to see a car that comes off the dealer lot unwaxed.

As far as I know - that's called dealer prep. My car came with a fresh coat of wax on it.

~HH