This is sooooooo disappointing.

Just over 1000 miles on an 05 TL and I find several spots where paint has CHIPPED OFF.

Have never seen a vehicle's paint handle road debris soo poorly. Given the size of the chips, it seems that the small/miniature rocks kicked up from the road on a regular basis are too much for the TL's factory paint job. The same rocks would, at most, indent the clearcoat or make a slightly visable scratch mark on the paint at the point of impact. However, on this car, wherever the rocks hit the paint around the impact area simply gives way and the whole circular "chunk" falls off!

THIS SUCKS! Acura needs to get a clue on how to spray a $35,000 car! I bet KIAs can even withstand road debris better than our so called TL sport luxury sedans.

I dont even have these many chips on my 96 TownCar with 74,000 miles on it!

 

I noticed that also. It doesn't seem to take much to chip the paint on the TL's.

 

if the majority of the TL owners have this problem, then its a factory problem, if it is only your car or the minority of the TL owners, then it would be the roads fault or your fault, wait for replys and lets find out

i dont have this problem by the way

 

Yeah! I noticed that as well, Poor quality paint or workmanship.

 

Chips are all over, especially the hood... that's why the clear-bra is so useful...


I had dozen of chips in my first 500 miles...

 

I've own several hondas and they all have crappy paint.

 

The paint quality does indeed leave much to be desired. In addition to this, I noticed my trunk lid positioned too far to the right with a large gap on the driver side and a tiny slit on the passenger side. Haven't had a chance to bring the car in and I noticed the trunk has been hitting the quarter panel when its shut. The paint has chipped on the quarter and on the edge of the trunk. This sucks! Where is the workmanship here????

 

Moral of the story....check your trunk alignment!!!

 

Honda/Acura has always been notoriously poor! Welcome to the owners circle...the circle being the chip marks on the car...of which you will find MANY!!

 

Damn....maybe I shoul have opted for the new GS300 instead. Oh welllllll

 

they're not even competitors. for 10k more it better have better paint.

 

Blame the damn environmentalists! Honda being a 'green' company uses WATER based paints, not thicker OIL based paints like the Germans.

 

yup honda is more "green" and also cheap when it comes to paint. The TL is near luxury...

so everything you get is near something but that is not perfect... The paint on the 99 tl would spray off in a touchless car wash. So what you see is an improvement.

 

Where did you hear/read about this -- I have never heard of this.

 

Maybe I'm a minority, or maybe I'm just lucky... But I have 9000 mostly highway miles (lots of trucks kicking up rocks on I-95), and have hardly any chips. I just detailed my car last weekend, and was surprised to find very few imperfections - just a few on the front bumper. I do drive very carefully, trying not to tailgate or ride too close to dump trucks, but sometimes you just have no choice.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that my luck continues.

 

Dude, let me teach you something about business, I hate it when people say that two vehicles are not competitors.

Any vehicle that a consumer (in this case me) is willing to purchase IN LIEU of your product is a competitor! In this case, I was willing to spend the extra money had I known of the crappy paint and poor trunk alignment (workmanship) on the TL. The TL's competitors include mostly what you were referring to but also vehicles that people like me are willing to purchase instead. One person on this site was considering a new TL or a Corvette, in this case YES, the two vehicles are competing for his business.

 

I have not heard about this.. but a few years back someone posted an article about the paint process that acura uses for the rl, tl , etc. it showed that the tl's paint process was much cheaper than the RL. I was hoping that the pain process would be about the same for all their models. but alas, it seemed to be cheaper on the tl than the rsx... If I find it I will post it.

 

WOW, that seems to explain it. Yes, I did notice Honda is a very environmental company (a good thing). Every one of their vehicles seems to go well beyond current emissions laws to become the least polluting vehicles possible (also a good thing). Possibly, actually almost certainly, the extra money spent to make these vehicles so green has taken a toll on other parts of the vehicle, LIKE PAINT (a bad thing)!

If Honda uses water based paints and other manufacurers use oil based, then it seems that you have discovered the reason why our paint job sucks A$$. It seems however, in this respect, the Honda guys' enviromental tendencies cause them to have poorer paint than the finger paint used to color their thumbs green!

 

Lots of chips here. I gave up giving a shit and just accept it. It is dissappointing though.

 

Believe it or not, Lexus paint is just as bad. I have 6k on my Tl and no chips whatsoever. The clear bra really works. It doesn't matter how good the paint is, water base or oil base, you will get chips from rocks and debris if not protected.

 

Chips will happen. Between the thin paint and the curve of the front end it seems like the TL is destined to get paint chips. I'm going to wait a couple of years and just have the car repainted. Once the paint cures I'll most likely get the Clearbra. Unfortunately I have chips on my hood and fenders outside of the area that the Clearbra would normally cover.

 

Bad chipping here as well. I have 32,000 miles and tons of rock chips. No I don't follow too close behind vehicles. Some chips are even on roof in front and fronts of mirrors. Paint just isn't good.

After the fit, finish, rattles and paint issues I have had with my car. I will not be getting an Acura next time around. I have never owned a car that chips as easily or rattles as much. Interestingly most of my other cars have been Honda Accords. Go figure.

I do smile while driving it though, as long as the music is up high enough to mask the raddles.

 

TL very easily scratched and body-sheet metal of course honda-thin. Previous VW Passat has much more durable paint and very difficult to dent. Still, TL superior to Passat all other aspects.

 

The G35 is no better. A lot of owners get the clear bra to protect their front. Some G35s look like they have been blasted by a shotgun

 

Screw the environment, screw future generations!!! How much is the clear bra installed? In additon, how much do mud flaps help? We will get those anyway. What about nose masks(ugly, I know)?

 

many chips ...our cheap paint job scratches easily and then right to the primer! This car has the worst paint job of any car I ever owned green is good ... but why not put a couple layers of clear coat on?!?


COME ON!!!

 

In response to the thousands of complaints regarding the paint quality on Honda autos (all of them) the marketing team was instructed to sell the RL's new paint process.

Clipped from (http://www.hondanews.com/CatID3007?m...55344&mime=asc)

The exterior paint on the 2005 Acura RL uses an environmentally conscious water-based process. The painting procedure begins with an electrodeposition (ED) primer, which is electrically charged in the paint bath. After the ED primer is applied, it is cured at high temperature to improve corrosive durability.

Next comes a primer-surfacer (PS) that is hand sanded to ensure a smooth surface for better appearance. After a waterborne color basecoat (BC) is applied, a pair of clear coats provide depth while helping to protect the base coat from air pollution, acid rain and fog.

The difference here is that the TL is NOT wet sanded, and that it only receives a SINGLE clear coat.

CHEEEEEEEAAAAAAAPPP!!!

 

With just under 300 miles on my Silver '05 TL I have a nice gravel ding on the passenger's front quarterpanel just about a cm from the hood. If I had a bra installed, it wouldn't have helped, as it's pretty high up towards to windshield.

I guess misery does love company. Damn, I looked into so much before getting this car, but never even thought about the paint!

 

I guess the best thing to do is invest your money in clear bra. BTW where can you buy clear bra and how much does it cost? Is this different from what they offer you at the dealership, so called Simoniz?

 

do you guys know if the tsx has the same problem with the paint?

 

I'm not sure if the clear bra is any good once the chips are already there, right? I've also noticed that the TL does get A LOT more chips than the german cars (Porsche, Audi). I guess we just have to live with the fact.

 

same here. my 06 TL only has 5k miles and it has alot of chips on hood.

 

my car has nearly 57K miles on it now and it has about 4-5 good chips on the hood and 5-6 good chips on the front bumper.. maybe the clear bra is a good investment when I first got it.

 

Really? I thought the paint on the TL is good... The paint on the g35 sucks!! soo many scratches and stuff.. it was so thin when out got keyed the paint just started peeling off when i ran my finger down the scratch...

 

I was nearly devistated to find three chips on the hood with only 236 miles. I've had the car 5 days now, and a quick search of the forums confirmed my worst suspicion: the paint sucks. Last night, I went to magnetbra.com. I had a magnetbra for my 2001 Maxima and it was worth its weight in gold. At $50 plus $10 shipping, it was the best investment/mod I ever made on the Maxima. Anyway.....I went to the site and was disappointed to find there wasn't one for the 3G TL. I emailed them and was overjoyed (to say the least) to get a positive response...."We recently developed a model for the 2006 TL but have not listed it on our site yet. We also don't have a photo so if you wish to purchase the bra and can email a good-quality digital photo of the bra on your car, we will refund the shipping charge."

I am going back to the dealer next week to get my underbody spoilers, body side molding, and spoiler installed. I will have them touch up these chips at the same time. By that time, the magnetbra will be in, and the front portion of the hood will be protected for the rest of it's days...

I will start a separate thread on this. I am not affilitated with them, but wish I was. These guys could be millionaires if they marketed this product correctly.

Mon TL haG

 

I have an 06 bought in May, over 16,000 miles and barely have any paint chips.

 

Ours has a few chips at 26K miles. Not extremely bad, probably because it averages 35 mph. We did drive it to VA though (2K mile round trip). On the civic we had before the TL the paint on the hood cracked all over due to the heat from the engine. I waxed that car with mothers wax every 3 months atleast since it was brand new. I e-mailed Honda about it, and never got a response. A friend of ours also had a 2000 civic, and his did the same thing. He's more anal about his car detailing than I am.

 

Do a search for clearbra or paint protection film, a whole lot threads and info on that topic. BTW, this is an old thread. To answer your question about Simoniz, I think it's just paint protection - they apply a sealant and say you don't have to wax it or some BS like that. You can do that yourself and save a some $$$. PPF on the other hand is a polyurethane film applied to the front end of a vehicle. This ensures protection against road debris and bug damage and prevents paint chipping. Here is a link to the 3M site; Paint Protection Film. You can also Google clearbra of paint protection film. Cost will vary depending across the nation. Installation costs can range from $500 and up. It's the best form of protection available for your front end and well worth the investment.