Yea, the first time I ever washed it I noticed a chip. I was so pissed like the dealer knew it was on there. Then I realized after every wash there was a new chip. It is like small meteor's come down during the night and pelt it. I never notice rocks hitting it or debris flying up. In fact I always pull out the touch up pen with the chamois .

 

My car is horrible, i swear it not only gets them like everyone else, but it attracts WAY more then usual. God it pisses me off so bad, the car would be immaculate if it weren't for the dam chips. Not to mention i find a new one everytime i wash my car, even in real odd places; like the fender and doors and stuff. (ps not door dings, i have only parked my car next to 4 cars i didn't know since i have owned the car and i check it everytime i have to do so.)

And the thing is, i generaly drive like a grandma and stay as far back as possible without pissing people off.

I am going to go with carbon fiber hood, and then when that cracks around the hood vent i will repaint my stocker and put clear bra on there.

 

My evo did not chip as bad as my Z3 did. Honstly the paint is not super but it's really not that bad. The car is low and everyone drives them fast so chip are bound to happen.

 

My hood is terrible, it has more chips than a poker tournament. It looks like someone started to sand blast it. The sides of the car are the same. Time for a new paint job.

 

Its not just Mitsu paint. Its the fact our cars are low to the ground. My moms Mercedes, my EVO, my 03 Accord, my sisters VW, all have paint chips on the front bumpers and hoods. however all my friends with SUVs who drive just as much have a quarter of them...

 

FWIW, thicker paint film is not necessarily better- you will have really deep chips then. If you look at paint warranties from paint companies (the people that make the paint), they only want .006-.008" of paint on a car. That's total of primer, base coat and clear. That is a total of ~3 human hairs and what the average new car has on it. Maybe try a better paint like Glasurit which is what a lot of european cars use. I am not sure if it is the best but believe it is the most expensive. Paint is very expensive and Mitsu is probably using the cheapest thing they can get that will not fade in 6 yrs.

 

I've had my rally red IX for about 3 months and the hood looks terrible. There's probably 50 chips in it or more.

My '03 was apex silver, and the paint held up much, much better on that car. I wonder if the rally red is just the worst as far as chipping is concerned.

I guess the upside is the chips on the hood, fenders and even the one on the roof are on parts that are aluminum, so corrosion shouldn't be a problem.

If Mitsubishi really wants to make a comeback, they need to address their paint quality yesterday. Most people don't tolerate the problems with paint we Evo drivers endure, and it's the sort of problem that keeps people from becoming repeat buyers.

 

I'm not sure what paint company you're referring too, but I've seen otherwise. I used to co-op at a Toyota plant in their plastics department painting bumpers. The standards for both PPG and Dupont were 7-12 thousandths for primer, 10-15 of base, and 10-15 of clear. Except for black, which got two coats of base and no clear. Still, it's really thin.

 

My 05 WW the paint sucks on it , but i guess its hard to compare to mercedes paint

 

Doing track days really aggravates the problem: something about driving 30' behind a 'Vette w/sticky tires @ 130 mph.

 

is the paint on the STi any better?

 

Yes! Probably 4 or 5 little spots on the front of the hood. I think most of them are from the highway. I was going through a construction area, cars in front kicked up some stuff. I think that is were most of them came from. My plan is to get a carbon fiber hood and install the 3m clear bra to it before it ever sees the road.

 

My friends got a 2005 STI and his hood is pretty beat up also. He's got 30k miles which is almost 3 times as much miles as I have. I'm not sure if it's because he drives alot more of if the paint sucks.

 

2 months old with 8 thousand miles WTF??

 

We travel, a lot XD

Most of those miles are weekly trips down to San Diego/L.A. from northern Cali