I was wondering if anyone else has noticed that GM's paint especially has a rough look to it because they have tons of peel? It looks like theirs has more than any of the other company's cars do. I know the overall quality is better today than years ago and it lasts longer, but concerning the peel alone, todays GM cars have more than Third Gens I know of with original paint, even the new Corvettes. I don't even think 4th Gens had as much as now. When you get up close to these new cars it's just terrible, as if they were done by an amateur. Why can't they produce smoother looking paint jobs? I don't expect it to look as if it was a high dollar job redone by a professional, but I find the stock stuff to be almost unacceptable in overall appearance. An example:

Looks OK now: http://www.corvettesbyrickdaniel.com...hed-wheels.jpg

But when you get up close: http://www.corvettesbyrickdaniel.com/small-gm-logo.jpg

This color helps it to look less lousy, but it's way more apparent with others and you can still see it some in the supposed smoother picture. Opinions/comments?

 

At least Orange Peel can be buffed out...
What's even worse is the 6+year old GM vehicles on the road with paint coming OFF in HUGE pieces...The cars you see with primer showing everywhere, like they drove through a car wash that used steel wire brushes.
When people see almost 50% or more GM cars doing this, IT WON'T HELP DRAW NEW CUSTOMERS OR REPEAT ONES EITHER...
It's bad to see really good cars in really good condition, with half a paint job left, and embarrassed looking people driving them..

 

I have noticed that also on new GM cars. Terrible orange peel. My wifes 98 GP has a nicer paint job. My 04 GTO has what I consider an excellent paint job.

Notice the reflection of my 67 in the fender of my 04 GTO.
http://images9.fotki.com/v167/photos...SC00043-vi.jpg

 

With the Colorados it really sucks because it chips so easily. All over the trucks you'll see small white spots cus its chipped down to the primer.

 

The only thing I noticed was your hand was in the left side of the picture, is is that the head of a small monkey?

 

On the lower quarter panels, like the pic. of the C6, I think they spray the clear coat thicker in those areas to resist chipping from gravels and other debris that might be thrown from the tires. I have noticed it like that on a lot of cars.

As far as bad paint I haven't really seen anything really bad from GM since the early 90s. B-Bodies had really bad paint in '91 and '92, it looked good new, but it didn't hold up.

 

They do spray a "stone chip Guard" on the lower sections of some models, I agree.
I've noticed that it takes about 6-7 years to begin peeling, as most of the peeling cars are that old, the paint is still very shiny, just bubbling up, and popping off...adhesion, maybe the primer was too dry before color coat???

 

The paint is MUCH better now than it was on the older GM's. My red GP looks the way it did when we bought it 5 years ago, and has a very deep shine to it. In contrast, we had an '89 Bonneville on which the paint all peeled off the trunk. Our '93 Bonneville literally had tear drops in the paint from where it had globbed up and dried. Also, my dad had a third gen that was recalled and repainted for peeling paint - and it still peeled.

 

Yes, the GTO's have nice paint, but anything made here, forget about it. I've seen Maaco paint jobs that were better looking LOL.

 

We have a lot of trucks at work that are from the late 80's........all of them have no friggin paint on the hoods anymore.....

Those were bad times for paint.

 

Up till recently I detailed cars on the side , mainly off lease 1-3 yr olds , paint quality is about equally as crappy for all manufactures as far as orange peel goes . From my expiriences metallic colored dodge and chryslers are the biggest offenders of orange peel . My personal favorite being a 2004 Honda Accord coupe with dark grey metallic paint that looked the paint was applied so thin there were actually darker and lighter spots , like a splotchy tiger stripe effect throughout the entire car . Possibly the worst paint job Ive seen in long time on a new(er) car .

 

I don't know that you can generalize.

I know of a fellow on Long Island that had to sue to get Bentley to buy his back ....because of a terrible paint job.

I was shocked to see a Black Viper in an autoshow not too long ago with acid rain all over it.

-- a neighbor has a Silver PT cruiser that looks like a leopard from 50 feet....

that said, I removed a car from our show floor a few weeks back due to a bad hood.....bird droppings and shaded paint......

 

I haven't seen a GM car made since the 80's and maybe a couple made in the early 90's that had its paint peeling off. I doubt that there are even .5% of 6 year old gm cars with peeling paint.

I think that was an 80's problem because of new paint used that was formulated to be more environmentally friendly due to laws but it didn't stick right. Foreign automakers didn't have that law so their paint didn't peel.

There's nothing wrong with GM paint. Do you people that complain think that it's supposed to look glass smooth?

 

actually, it was the fault of the primer in the mid to late 80s that caused the paint to flake off..........

and guess what???

GM doesn't make paint!!

 

I looked at a C6 in that color. When looking on the web, I thought that was the coolest color ever. Then I saw it in person and just about barfed at the amount of orange peel. The silver Vette parked next to it wasn't much better IMO in terms of orange peel. I've detailed plenty of C5's, and all of them had a much superior paint job than than the new C6's. Even my old 1999 Navy Blue Metallic Z28 has a much nicer paint job(if you take away the fiberglass cracks ). Other new GM cars I haven't noticed orange peel being a real big problem.
I had a 1991 Regal, and all the clear coat peeled off the bumpers, then the roof.