I'm in the market right now to buy my evo. I have a friend that says that their are some issues with he car. Nothing major, but like there is no clear cloat. Is this true. I'm mean I love driving a car, especially all over california. Famliy you know! if this is true can i take it and have a clear coat put on. or their some other ways to help save the paint. And what about the tranny, anyone haveing tranny issues. Will a stringer holding clutch make it worst for the tranny.

 

it all actually varies to the owner and how you take care of your evo.i got 17k on mine and i havent had any problems with except not having enough money for mods

 

people are weird, who cares about clear coat when you have so much fun!

seem like your friend is more of a rx8 or m3 guy

 

While the paint on the evo is not the best, it IS a basecoat/clearcoat system just like every other modern car in the world....

 

Well if its fit and finish your worried about then get an audi s4 for 25K more (But they have a ton of tranny issues)

But really, for the performance you will get from the evo its hard to grippe about the interior or the paint. If you mod the car and run it hard you will have clutch issues and mabey even drivtrain issues but show me another car that can be modded to run low 12s for about 3-4K. if you plan on getting 300 whp your clutch will fry.

If you leave the car stock and drive it normally you should not have any problems. Any high performance car if abused will have problems.

My other ride is a 2001 Zo6 and its falling apart at the hinges

 

As for having clear coat spreyed on, it's not feasible. I can be done but won't look good. It would be better at that point to repaint the entire car and put clear on that. There are some threads/posts about it if you search around.

The paint is pre-mixed with a clear coat from what I understand, but I could be wrong.

But, like was allready stated, I wouldn't let the paint job stop me from getting this car. It's probably the best car (for what I like) that I've ever come across. There are very few other cars (in a reasonable price range) that have the performance of this car. It's definately about the go and not the show.

Best of luck with your decision!

 

If you want to save the paint do the 3m front cover and on the lower doors and it will take care of everything you need. As for the issues with the car I have had mine for a year and several mods later still no issues.

 

I used to have a little bit of experience with automotive paints back in the 90s. Most cars painted with a solid color like those available on the Evo DO NOT have a basecoat/clearcoat application. Only a basecoat. Cars painted with METALLIC paints almost always have a clear coat applied. This is because when you spray the metallic it is a sheer coat that is applied. The sheer coat creates a nice consistant metallic effect without blushing. Because of the sheer coat application method you have to overlay with a clear coat to get any desired level of gloss. Solid base colors do not need the clear. Also, while all paint is subject to UV damage, clear coats are going to be even more susceptable to such damage. Remember all those GM cars back in the 90s with flaking and hazed metallic paint? That's because the clear coat was crap and became UV damaged. It was probably because GM was using waterbased acrylics due to EPA regulations. Additionally with a solid color base coat you can polish the paint with much less worry of burning through to the primer.

Just my two pesos...

 

no. there is clearcoat mixed with the paint and they are applied at the same time. an automotive manufacturere would not clearcoat one color and not the rest. that makes no sense. If you look at the paint closely you can tell there is some level of clearcoat. Otherwise it would be a very flat color like cars from 15 years ago when they really didn't use clearcoat. If there were no clearcoat at all, there would be no gloss. and waxing your car would be pointless.