Hi All,

I bought my black RX-8 a couple of months ago, but am a little unsure about the paint finish. When looking at myself in the paintwork it seems to have pockmarks in the finish. Has abyone else got this sort of thing on their black pain? The red Mica finish I've seen on the show cars doesn't look the same, but I've not seen another black 8 so cannot compare. Will post piccies next week when I borrow a Dig Camera

 

Clearasil may help(rimshot) but seriously black looks great when it's clean but it shows every imperfection and spiderweb especially when out in the sun. I own a black Z3 and would never buy another black vehicle it's just not the color for **** people.

 

Yeah I've just ordered a load of Zaino products (it's a bitch to ship to the UK!), so I'm hoping this will sort it out, and blend in the imperfections. I got the Z5 swirl marks & Z2 clear coat polish.

 

I have the black and it looked a little rough before I went crazy with the Zaino. After an afternoon of cleaning, the finish looked great. And it's lasted pretty well too.

 

Thats good to know. I should have the Zaino stuff next week, so hoepfully it will be gleaming come next week!

Used the Zainos on my old car, and when I sold it everyone commented on the excellent paint finish for a 5 year old Fiat Coupe. The Fiat paint is not the best, and the clear coat goes milky after 3 years. Mine stayed crystal clear despite being parked outside for the whole of it's life!

 

I've read a couple of posts earleir on how some people where not pleased with the paint, but after hours of cleaning and polishing my black 8 I found only one small blemish. Not to darn bad!

 

The paint on every RX-8 I've looked closely at is awfully orange-peely. They definitely spent more time working on a smooth ride than working on good paint and sprayers

Zaino definitely helps smooth out the look, but the orange peel will never go away completely (unless you repaint).

 

I haven't noticed anything wrong with my black 8 paint job. Looks good to me, maybe I need to look more closely

 

Black is absolutely the toughest color to keep clean. It may look great when it's clean but it won't stay that way for long. Every bit of dust, pollen, etc in the environment shows up on black.

Btw, flatso, what kind of Z3 do you have? Ever attend Homecoming?

-Eric

 

never did Homecoming but went to a few Fix it days. Did you come through NJ and pick up Ed Scuba and Than when you went? I sometime ride with those guys. Mine is just a 2.5 not the M or anything.

 

I have noticed the exact same thing if you really get down close and look at it.

 

Velocity Red is orange-peely, too. I suspect it has something to do with the amount of metallic flakes... it's way more mica'd than the Evo Orange mica on my Miata, and the Miata's paint finish is much more glass-like. I can't seem to get the slick wet Zaino shine on the 8 like I can on the Miata.

 

I went down in Fred Kern's convoy each year. We always went through Carlisle PA so we never made it down to South Jersey.

I had a '99 2.3 (same engine as the 2.5i).

-Eric

 

I've got the orange-peel effect too- annoying at first, but so unnoticable I usually forget about it.

 

Can someone explain to me what they mean by "orange-peely"?

Im gonna be getting my black 8 in a months time and i dont want to be making a wrong choice..

 

Look at an orange. See how the surface has lots of bumps and dimples? "Orange Peel" is used to describe a paint surface that has similar properties. Of course it's (hopefully!) not as rough as a real orange peel but the areal size of the imperfections is on a similar scale. Whether or not this is a problem for you depends a lot of what level of imperfection you consider acceptable. What one person may never even notice might drive another person nuts. A truly "perfect" paint job is maybe about on a par with the Holy Grail. That being said, I've got a bit of orangepeel on mine and while I can certainly live with it I'd love to have a perfectly-smooth mirror finish. Wouldn't we all?

One of the reasons that Mica and other metallic finishes are prevalent is that it helps to fool the eye and one "sees" less orange peel even when it is still there. It's more noticeable on a solid color.

One of the advantages to a non-clearcoat finish was that you could simply spend the time cutting/rubbing and polishing until you had the paint absolutely mirror flat.

 

I've only had my car for 2 months now and am not too thrilled about the paint. I've had my dealer re-seal it, wax it, buff the crap out of it, etc...(3 times now). It looks good for a week, but then all the scratches show up or it looks like a 2 year old paint job.

 

I've got the orangepeel look too (on my blue 8) - it's very subtle, but it's there. (At least the finish is consistently dimpled.) This thread got me thinking about it again, so I went out to the garage and looked closely at the white paint job on my wife's '03 Camry - it's slightly dimpled as well. So's the finish on the neighbor's Eclipse. And it turns out the paint on that Windstar across the street isn't as perfect close-up. (The paint is always slicker on the other side.)

So here I am, walking around the neighborhood of a Friday evening, and instead of enjoying the springlike weather I'm going from driveway to driveway, bending over people's cars and squinting. And then it occurred to me that maybe I'm too obsessive about my car.

 

At least you weren't inside typing!

 

You mean like I'm doing right now?

Maybe I should get out and inspect some more paint.

 

I saw a black RX-8 w/ spoiler parked on Howard and 2nd/3rd last night around 11 - was that yours? It looked pretty bad- I was in my car a good 20 feet away, so maybe it was the nighttime street lighting, or maybe it just needed a wash, or maybe I just needed my glasses.

 

no, I was in Fremont yesterday getting my car dynoed. My car is GT w/ appearance package, rotary accents, etc. It still has "Menlo Mazda" in the back since I haven't put my plates on yet.

 

I know it's off subject, but what were the dyno results? Did you start another thread discussing this - if so, can you link it here?

Thanks.

 

here you go:

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=23501

sorry for hijacking this thread

 

I was told by someone that its a result of a new electrostatic painting process or something... I don't know, mine has it too but its not too noticeable until you get up real close