tobiash

Hi,

driving my brandnew TSX (black, MT, Nav) for 300 miles/1 week now, and I am very pleased with the car. I have been driving VW before- my previous car was a Jetta GLX.

I've just been reading through the problems forum, and one thing that concerned me is that several members complained about the quality of the paint and sheet metal. Dumb question: can it be that the sheet metal is thinner than on my previous car? It just feels like it. For example the gas-lid-- it feels so fragile. And, especially the trunk seems so light when you close it, and it doesn't sound too solid either (by the way, the number plates only attach with the top 2 screws-- this sounds and looks ugly).
Also, one user claimed that the car dings very easily... so is there any reason for concern, or it this just non-sense? It might just be a false impression that the body of my Jetta felt more rigid. If this concern is eliminated, I think I would feel 100% satisfied with my decision for the TSX. By the way, is this metallic paint on the TSX? My sales-person said yes.

TSXnT-dot

I think many of us early buyers have found that the paint is softer than before. This is not exclusive to the TSX or to Acura, but rather due to EPA etc. agencies and their constraints that carmakers must abide by.
I don't know the exact technical details of this however.

DEVO

I have to say that in my civic hybrid the paint is laid on so thin that you have to watch out if you machine buff the car. i know this because i had to remove a key job and almost did more harm because of how thin the layer of paint was where I was working.

maybe they were trying to save weight for this car but it just seems that they could of done better.

fdl

The sheet metal on hondas is definately thinner than on most german cars.(or at least it feels that way). Thats one thing I have always disliked about hondas (and most japanese cars I guess). They "Feel" cheap. You close the door on an A4 and it feels so solid...and gives a deep thud. Like closing the door of a tank.

rb1

As a fellow Jetta owner, I can attest to the sheet metal on the Jetta being quite substantial. After all, a MKIV Jetta weighs as much as (and in some cases more) than a 1999 Maxima -- a boat in comparison by size, and it weighs only 300 lbs less than a TSX despite being a smaller car with fewer amenities. I think the Jetta GLX weighs only 80 lbs less than a TSX.

Regarding paint, I accidentally backed into someone at a hair under 5 mph -- our bumpers lined up perfectly thank goodness -- and didn't scratch either of our bumpers. Seriously -- not a trace.

A truck kicked up what appeared to be a flat piece of terra cotta in front of me a few months ago on the interstate at 70 mph, and it hit my front bumper cover dead square on -- fragments exploded everywhere. I was cringing as I walked around the front to survey the damage. Thing was, there wasn't any.

And, I "dinged" my own car with a friends passenger door the other day -- even heard the sound of the sheet metal flexing. Looked over and there was some dirt but no trace of scratch in the paint or dimple in the sheet metal.

I'm thinking about renaming her Christine...

(Flame shields up )

fdl

I slammed my door open against a medal barier twice very hard (dont ask!) and was sure there was damage. To my surprise there wasnt a scratch or dent. Paint was perfect.

I also dont have any stone chips yet so the paint seems to be OK from what i can tell so far.

tsxster

My first concern and question to the sales guy before I purchased my TSX was that there were no door guards. Would that subject the doors to more dings from the careless door flinging neighbor who parks beside you? He said that the doors were made of galvanized steel. (I assume that makes the door stiffer) This absorbs the energy of a small impact, such as a door ding, and make the door less likely to dent. But how this plays in improving scratch prevention, I am not sure. Not sure if this is true and I am not willing to test his theory. Anybody else here this galvanized steel theory??

fdl

As far as I know galvanized steel is used to prevent rusting. So you doors wont rust, but they will probably still dent.

bob shiftright

The sheetmetal in my Volvo always seemed pretty resistant to dings (the paint is another story). Volvo uses "Boron steel" which it claims is "four times stronger" than conventional steel. Does it make any difference? If you look at the crashtests of the full-size Honda Accord, the Volvo S60 and the "old" Volvo 850-S70 at http://www.carsafety.org/ the S60 doesn't seem to fare any better than the Accord or the old 850 Volvo. So I can't say it makes any difference that I can see.

Paint on most cars today is pretty awful as far as durability, and galvanized steel is no stronger than any other steel, at least until the rust worm attacks, that is....

gogozy

thickness of sheetmetal improve the paint job and look, they do not improve safety unless they reach thickness of tank..
i believe Honda, Toyota, Nissan all use a "standard" steel for sheetmetail now, i would assume it is same thickness on all 3. but a agree the paint is thiner.....

thickness does not improve safety; structure does... my 2 cent.

Spud

tobiash, did you find the paint quality on your Jetta to be good? My black 2000 GLS VR6 had a lot of cobb webbing and some light fading -- and it was mostly kept in the garage and waxed every spring. I found the Jetta paint to be below expectations.

Given that my TSX is silver, I have fewer concerns about fading...

DjElucid

I was rear ended last week getting on a highway and having to suddently brake the bastard (that left), couldn't stop in time and hit me. Before I was able to get out of my car, I thought my whole back bumper was going to be wrecked. The bumper is still in it's original shape and scratches all over it. Not going to have to replace the bumper, but will cost $500 to repaint from the dealer.