Yesterday I gave mr 2006 RL (red pearl) it's first hand wash and wax of the season. I had been going to a touchless carwash all winter but that really wasn't removing the built up New England grime anymore. I was quite dismayed to see many small paint chips on my hood. At some level this is to be expected, but it was really a pretty mild winter here and I don't recall ever driving behind a sander. Is the RL paint prone to this? This didn't seem to be quite so bad with my previous car on the same roads (a V6 Accord). Looks like I'll be buying some touch-up paint. Unfortunately I can never quite get that to look right when viewed up close and personal. I think I might be springing for new paint in a couple of years.

RickyG

 

Hey RickyG.

The RL's paint does chip pretty badly. Its the new paint laws which require the paint to be more water based which is prone to chipping. My '05 RL has plenty of chips. Regarding the hood, definitely fill in the chips with touch-up paint or get a autosharrpen pen. http://autosharppen.com/

You should search within this forum to get some tips on taking care of the paint chips.

The first 6-9 inches on my Nighthawk Black hood looks like it was sand-blasted. I'm going to live with this for another year or so and then look to get it repainted by a professional auto body shop.

I personally am not too keen on the clear bras but several people within the forum like its function. You should investigate that option also.

Good luck, hopefully the chips don't show up that much.

 

I just took a paint pen to a nasty one I had on my hood. Cleared it up rather nicely. I have a CS and it's definitely prone to chipping.

 

If you spend any time on any car forums, you'll hear this same complaint over and over. Whether it's BMW or Infiniti or Toyota or whatever, the paint these days just doesn't seem to be as resistant to chips as it used to be.

Point is, it isn't Acura or the RL ... it's all of them. But I'll say this - the paint on my RL looks more like molten glass poured over the car than most cars I see.

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ClearBra all the way when you get a new car. I've done it on the last few cars. I probably won't do it again since I change cars so often, but, it's well worth the ~$1000 if you want to protect the front of your car.