Factory paint

[oldgeek]

I've seen various comments throughout the forum on factory paint. Some have thin clearcoats, some have soft paint. Since professional detailers experience a lot of different cars first hand, which manufacturers have the best paint and which have the worst?

[builthatch]

I've seen various comments throughout the forum on factory paint. Some have thin clearcoats, some have soft paint. Since professional detailers experience a lot of different cars first hand, which manufacturers have the best paint and which have the worst?

i'm just going to put this out there that due to advances in automation, government (EPA) regs and incredible competition amongst brands, paint across the board is "thin". the bean counters made it that way because we all want everything in our cars for reasonable prices and they want to maintain profit margins.

the softer paints out there from my experience are Subaru and Honda, and both tend to have a bunch of trash in them. Mazda and Toyota somewhat harder; Mazda is definitely the cleaner of the two - Toyota will have crap in their paint but not nearly as bad as Honda or Subaru.

my favorite paints right now are Lexus, Merc, BMW and Acura (believe it or not).

i have no current experience with domestic brands.

curious what some of the pro guys say.

[swanicyouth]

I'm a hobbyist, but comparing the cars I've owned, Toyota paint was the worst, BMW the best. I think the harder the paint, the less it scratches. However, also noticed cars with hard paint get chips easier in the front end area. Nissan paint isn't bad, but it's thinner than BMW in my experience.

[oldgeek]

[octane]

from my limited experience...

out of the cars I owned/detailed, mazda and toyota are soft, and very workable.
VW and Mini are very hard, and could not work them with a DA, had to use the rotary.
Ford trucks are harder than toyota and mazda, but nothing like the vw and mini, still workable with a DA.
Acura, not too hard, not too soft