Paint Problems - Honda Paint (civic)

[amalik]

I have been driving VWs since 1998 and been in the VW/Audi scene for years and years now. I never ever see clear coat failure on these cars. Maybe one in a great while but the paint holds up. Hard clear.

Germans over-engineer; that's why they are so damn expensive to maintain, but generally higher quality.

My mom's 1994 S-class Benz is pretty ignored paint wise, but still looks pretty good if you ask me.

With that said, there are obvious exceptions to great German engineering; like the recent wave of BMW's starting on fire while parked

 

[fightnews]

Hi Mike,
I have a lot of issues going on with my cars paint. I have a '06 Honda Civic Rallye Red, and the paint is peeling and oxidizing really bad on the roof and starting to fade on the sides. I've had the car for almost 11 years, and this started last year. I've been trying to just keep it clean and waxed, hoping to slow the process down, but I feel I'm losing.

Honda cars, especially the model/year I have, are having serious paint problems. There was an extended warranty put out for the years 2006-2011, however my color and VIN# doesn't fall under their parameters, even though it's doing the exact same thing as other Civics and models.

My question is, how do I stop this from getting worse? I know the easiest way is to just repaint it by a professional, but that would cost between $700-1000. And I'm not prepared do that. I've been watching a lot of videos on YouTube on wet sanding and polishing. However I know the defect is within the primer and color that Honda used and it looks like the clear coat has failed on the roof. So I don't know if it even makes sense for me to do this.

What I was going to attempt to do was, wash, clay, wet sand, compound/polish, and use 2K clear coat. I'm just hesitant to do this process on my car, especially since I don't have much experience with wet sanding and using the spray cans.

What do you suggest? I'm realm angry with Honda, I've contacted them several times but they are unwilling to help me. There are so many complaints online about this generation and other models with the same issue.

I will enclose photos later, I just wanted to get your thoughts on this.

Thank you,

PhilView attachment 57558View attachment 57559View attachment 57560View attachment 57561

Let me ask you this, Have you kept the paint waxed over the last 11 years and this happened anyway? Or was the paint neglected? Just curious because my paint has a lot of chips and I'm wondering if waxing helps prevent clear coat failure over the life of the car. I don't know if its something one can prevent or If its going to happen no matter what you do depending on your paint.

 

[fightnews]

this is the main reason why i won't purchase another honda again, the paint quality sucks (though the engines are as solid as they come). sorry to hear about your frustration and lack of customer service from such a reputable brand. this may or may not help, here's a video i found among many on YT. i have yet to try this method so do so at your own risk...

Since this seems to be a known thing why haven't they switched to a better paint. I don't get it they are famous for clear coat failure why wouldn't they make the switch? Especially if they are still putting out recalls on 11 year old cars.

 

[Paul A.]

Yes, I agree fightnews. You would think they would certainly want to prevent future recalls by recognizing the issue. I mean, they are a smart company.

On another note, I would like to apologize to both phimag512 and Mike Phillips. In my stupidity and oversight I didn't notice until today that you addressed this to the "Ask Mike P" subforum. I didn't see that until this morning and I threw my opinions in not realizing that. Mike is extremely busy and probably either hasn't seen this or simply hasn't had the time however i would yield to whatever Mike suggests if he gets the chance to respond.

 

[amalik]

Yes, I agree fightnews. You would think they would certainly want to prevent future recalls by recognizing the issue. I mean, they are a smart company.

On another note, I would like to apologize to both phimag512 and Mike Phillips. In my stupidity and oversight I didn't notice until today that you addressed this to the "Ask Mike P" subforum. I didn't see that until this morning and I threw my opinions in not realizing that. Mike is extremely busy and probably either hasn't seen this or simply hasn't had the time however i would yield to whatever Mike suggests if he gets the chance to respond.

Paul,

Could you tell me the best and most effective product combo to protect my Civic from clearcoat fail?

My civic is same effected years as OP, but my silver paint looks fine as far as I can tell.


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[Calendyr]

Lot of talk about Honda paint. To me Mazda paint is the worst. Here in Montreal Mazdas are the only company that have cars rusting very soon after initial purchase. I have done a few of them in the past few years and not only is the paint very thin, but I think it's bad quality paint too. The worst part seems to be at the back of the car where the Mazda badge is. The paint always seems to fail to protect the panel in that area and it rusts in no time. The roof is also very vulnerable near the windshield.

As for Honda paint, I have only done a handful of them and did not notice anything out of the ordinary. I have seen detailers explaining that Honda paint is really soft and tends to fail in unusual ways. For exemple one detailer was showing paint that had failure that looked like bird feet. Basically the paint was cracking all over the panel and those patterns were forming as it did.

I read somewhere that modern paint is supposed to have a half life of 5 years. Without protection that is. So seeing paint fail within 5 years is a good indication that the quality and/or quantity of paint used on the vehicle is bellow average. Of course if the owner maintains the car with good paint protection, this should mitigate the problem.

 

[Calendyr]

Paul,

Could you tell me the best and most effective product combo to protect my Civic from clearcoat fail?

My civic is same effected years as OP, but my silver paint looks fine as far as I can tell.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The color of your paint makes it more durable. Paint damage is caused mostly by the sun, so having a silver paint makes most of the sun ray reflect off the panel instead of being absorbed like it would on a dark color.

Still, you should have a good sealant or coating on at all time. A good rule of thumb is to apply sealant at least twice a year, ideally 4 times a year. Coatings last at least 2 years.

 

[amalik]

The color of your paint makes it more durable. Paint damage is caused mostly by the sun, so having a silver paint makes most of the sun ray reflect off the panel instead of being absorbed like it would on a dark color.

Still, you should have a good sealant or coating on at all time. A good rule of thumb is to apply sealant at least twice a year, ideally 4 times a year. Coatings last at least 2 years.

So I assume you're in the camp of sealant or wax over a coating? There is debate here on that issue.


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[Calendyr]

I think both are good. It's a matter of personnal preference. Coatings are more expensive and are harder to apply. Sealants need more frequent application. So it depends what you prefer to do.