370Z/Black/Swirls

Thechidz

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I <3 my car

USMCASA

there is no such thing as self healing paint. factory paint is a very thin single stage. aftermarket paint jobs are usually a sealer/color(basecoat)/clearcoat which is far superior.

kenchan

also there is no such things as UFO's....

kfscoll

There absolutely is such a thing as self-healing paint (here's a link). My 2011 Infiniti G37x has it; Nissan only discontinued it for the '10 MY as they reworked the formulation. I don't know whether the '12 Zs have it but if they do there would be a sticker under the hood that says "Scratch Shield" on it.

Also, Zs do NOT have a single stage paint...they're all a basecoat/clearcoat formulation. The easiest way to prove this is to use some mild abrasive polish on your car. If the paint were single-stage, you'd see the paint's color appear on your rag as you polish. This definitely doesn't happen with the Z.

I can say from experience that the Scratch Shield paint is a royal pain to detail. It's very hard and only responds to certain polishes designed for hard and/or ceramic clearcoats (I use Menzerna polishes with some success). Even then it requires more work than a "standard" clear to remove defects. And I've yet to notice the self-healing feature actually work.

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2009 Brilliant Silver 370Z 6MT coupe w/ Touring, Sport, and Navigation packages

MattP725

Not really true... the reason paint doesn't come off is because you are polishing your clear coat not your paint. If you were to go abrasive enough you would eventually pull paint from any finish after wearing through the clear. I am not saying that the Z is or is not single stage, I am just saying that it has nothing to do with removing paint when compounding.

kfscoll

You just said the exact same thing I did. When you polish a car that has a clearcoat (and clearcoat IS paint), you can't see it on your rag because, uh, it's clear. That doesn't mean you're not removing paint, because you are, you're just removing clear paint. Single-stage paints don't have any clear on top of the color coat so when you polish those you can actually see the paint that's coming off.

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2009 Brilliant Silver 370Z 6MT coupe w/ Touring, Sport, and Navigation packages

KaienZ34

They try and say the GT-R has the self healing paint, i've yet to see it in action.

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rebe945

I have a black 2009 and have no/minimum swirls. I always use Mcguires Ultimate Detailer after every drive. Its a pain but if your the kind that warrants perfection, then you have to work on it. I've even been complimented by a black Corvette owner that I have a great paint job. The Vette is black. ( after reading my post)

KaienZ34

Wait don't tell me after we had to put up with his crap all this time he's thinking about getting a z now. For the love of all that is good and holy please please don't get a z.

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ImportConvert

Don't worry, you're safe until the loaded Touring/Sport/NAV's hit US soil, then I do fully intend on trading into one.

KaienZ34

god help us all

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ImportConvert

I guess you missed the whole fiasco of me saying over and over I didn't have a problem with the Z, it just had a few fatal flaws for me, one was the oil-cooler (fixed), and one is power (I went to spring mountain and learned a little something about power vs. skill, and I am moving to a place with much more corners and many fewer straightaways).

KaienZ34

Out of LA.??

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christian370z

There's a reason Infiniti is stopping the use of self healing paint. When it gets a scratch or swirl, the paint will self heal the first time but one is has healed at that one place, it can never heal there again. It is also a detailer's worst nightmare to polish, ask me how I know.

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-320whp / 259wftlbs-
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m4a1mustang

Gunmetal has enough flake in it to help hide swirls.

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