Hello,

I have an 02 CL-S, and I had a few questions. Down here in the south, they use pavement with lots of rocks in it. I guess because the don’t ever have to plow it, they can get away with it. Problem is, these rock come loose and hit your car. What types of things have ya’ll used to protect the paint on the front of the car, and where is it available?

Also, have any of you that have installed the headers, found anything to improve the mid-pipe? I.e., super flow cats, or larger mid-pipe.

Can someone provide me with the links to parts and extras that will be most useful to me.

Thanks

 

Doesn't matter where you live..... the paint on the CL is the weakest job of any car I have owned. My hood is speckled because of so many rock chips. Guess I should have bought that 3M clear bra, huh?

 

I guess a 3M clear bra is something that has been used. I did a search on that, but it takes forever to get what you really need out of that search. Is there a web site that I can check one out on?
I also did a search on Mid pipe, and got nothing that helped.

Thanks for the info on the paint. I had not noticed because every car I have had since moving here has had the same problem. Plus the bugs are so big they penetrate the paint too.

Pigs on the wings

 

Welcome to the club. The paint sucks!!! I was quoted $1,000 to have a body shop repspray the hood, bumber and front half of the fenders. I'll get it done this spring and then cover the bumper, front of hood and fenders w/ the 3M clear....Mine's only got 15K miles and looks like it spent an entire month at LeMans going 180mph

 

By mid pipe do you mean the b-pipe that comptech is supposed to be coming out with at some point?

Our paint is terrible. I have my first "bad" chip that I noticed a week or two ago. I cringe every time a sand truck goes by to sand the roads after it snows. sigh...that 3M clearbra seemed stupid at the time (and expensive if I recall) but now I know why they are pushing it...thier paint sux!

 

Well, a bra was not something I ever wanted, just not my taste. But if it's clear, and you can't see it, then maybe. Where can I see one?
Mid pipe, is everything between the end of the header down pipe, and the rear wheel back part.
Have not seen anything like that. Seems silly to open up the intake and headers, and then stuff that into the original cat and mid pipe.
But I don't know, the last car I did any mods to was a 78 Z28, and it had headers, header muffs, and straight pipe out to the rear. Made a hell of a lot of noice, but got to the end of the 1/4 mile in 13.2 with street tires and highway gears

 

I have seen the 3M clear bra and it looks pretty good. A few on the board have them and I would defintely recommend it by what I have seen. I just returned from CES and there was a white M3 with the clear bra. You really can't see it except up close.It looks like a clear layer of plastic sheeting stuck to the car with no bubbles in it. From 5' away you cannot see it.

 

I am an expert in automotive paint. It is my job. Let me clear some air here. ANY PAINT WILL CHIP! If you think for one minute that the paint on your Acura is bad, start paying very close attention to the front hood of any toyota. Disgusting. I just had a Avalon rent a car with 16,000 miles on it, and I could spend all day counting the chips on it. Paint is fragile, but if you could measure the gains made in the last ten years, you would be exstatic. Toyota does not use an "anti chip agent" in their paint, acura does. We will get chip proof paint when powder coatings replace liquid coatings on cars, this is about 5 to ten years away.

Have someone throw a 1" piece of gravel at your face at 80 mph. I bet you will get a cut, if not a broken bone.

I recently replaced a liquid coating system on Hobart food mixers with a powder coating, which is extremely tough. A complaint from Hobart was, "if I take a small diameter ball peen hammer to the mixer, and swing it as hard as I can, the paint chips." And you expected, what?

 

Yup, I in no way expected the paint not to chip, every car I've had here was chipped really bad, and had cracks in the windshield. I've had two repaired since 7/02. Ever wonder why 75% of the cars in AL have cracked windshields? It's the crappy pavement used.

dfreder370
I got hit with a 6 foot section of truck tire retread at 70 MPH. So, I have to get the front painted. Can you make a recommendation of paint brand that I should request?

Is there no answer to the mid pipe question?

 

OK, paint is making great strides? They now have paint that will withstand what we are seeing on our cars, but we won't get it for five to ten years? Sure glad the computer industry doesn't act that way, if it did we'd still have windows 3.1! Pretty sorry industry IMHO.. YMMV

 

I traded a 10 year old 4Runner for CL-S and after 150K miles, the 4Runner didn't have half the chips that the CL has. It survived 4 wheeling and nice 60mph romps on dirt roads behind a caravan of other off-roaders. From my experience, the paint on the CL-S is not of the same quality of many of other cars on the road.

 

That's because we have gone from an oil based paint to a water based paint (in the last three years, Acrua was one of the first to switch)..

 

I really wish people would stop busting Acura for this.
ALL NEW CAR PAINT SUCKS !!!

I’m sure some are better then others, but everyone I know with cars that are 1-3 years old have the same problem we do.

Blame the “Safety NAZI’s”, not Acura.
They’re the ones who took all the toxic chemicals out of the paint and made it about as safe as a glass of ice tea.
Today’s paint is WATER BASED and it doesn’t hold up for SHIT.

Maybe the European manufactures have better stuff then the USA because of lax safety over there, but I doubt it.

Shawn S

 

Don’t forget your 4Runner’s hood was MUCH higher off the road too.
Our low front end is more likely to catch flying stones. Especially if you’re a tailgater.

Shawn S

 

Good point. Does doing 100mph a couple of car lengths behind a Porsche count as tailgatting?

Seriously, I know I am at fault for some of the dings. But, it is frustrating to see your bumper/hood loosing skin faster than Michael Jackson. Maybe I'm just too picky when it comes to looking at my own car, but it seems like other new cars I see don't have the same level of paint chip problems.

Also, I am leasing so if I turn the car back in instead of buying it, I'm going to get screwed on the "damage" charges.