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Weak paint...

27K views 55 replies 21 participants last post by  Boroboy 
#1 ·
Hi

My astra is one year old. It has 26,000 kilometers on speedo. Good car. No problems with electronics, engine...

But i have one problem with color. Stone chips everywhere. Hood is covered with stone chips.
Also bumper and above wheels. Even above windscreen and doors.
Paint is very soft. Is this normal for one year old car and one winter??? Hood needs paint job. I dont think this is normal.
We have "heavy" winter with lot of snow and dirt, stones on road.
I dont drive on motorway. Mostly "country" roads. Top speed is 100km/h in winter. Mostly around 50-90 km/h on snow.
Even led headlights has few stone chips...

Paint is horrible. I had astra j before k and it was not so bad...
Here are some pictures...
Is this normal for car that is one year old with only 26k km on speedo?



Pictures taken on cloudy day. On sunny day is even worse to see!
 
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#3 ·
Hi

Mine is exactly the same and as this was my first ever brand new car I am not impressed. The Astra H I traded in for the Astra K had done 110K miles and had very few marks on it.

Tried complaining and got no where.

Cheers

Paul
 
#4 ·
I had exactly the same when I had my gtc I went through Vauxhall's head office as the dealer wasn't having any off it, they sent out someone to look at the paint and still said it was perfectly fine so good luck to you and mine had only done 5000 miles and was so chipped up even around rear arch
 
#9 ·
Vauxhall paint is awful. Its so soft, like crayon. Its always been bad, remember the red Vauxhalls that go dull and pink? My parents old vectra looked like someone used it to test shotguns it had so many chips. My Astra leaves white stripes on anything it touches.

There isnt much you can do really. The best option is use film to cover the high impact areas, and maybe use one of the nano ceramic paint coating products you can get now, they help prevent minor abrasion and swirl marks . Wax isnt going to do much, but might help stop marks from anything being dragged over the surface (since it will make it slicker).
 
#10 ·
\i applied a coating on mine, G-tech or G4? It's on a thread about cleaning, another member suggested it, 2 pack product, it puts a thin nano coating, like glass, over the whole bodywork. Done nearly 1,000 since and no problems. Ok, looked it up, it was GYEON Q2M - Wet Coat. I have an account with Cleanyourcar.co.uk so ordered it from them
 
#12 ·
Nowhere near or behind gritter. If it was on the opposite side I reduced the speed.
Most of this is from oncoming traffic i believe. Hood, bumper, arch... Even on a pillar few marks on edge... And on lower side of doors too.

I had Astra J before (7-8years) and it was not so bad. Hood was never re-painted and it was in better condition than 1 year old astra k.

What now? Repaint everything and put foil on?
What about headlights? Can you put foil on allready damaged/chipped headlights?

Problem is oncoming traffic. They drive like it is summer (speeding through corners)... Dont care about other cars...

I think that paint should be more resistant to stones... I dont think this is normal.

And sorry for bad english.
 
#14 ·
BRUCE225 said:
Very good english mate..better than mine :D :D

Feel sorry for you if it's that bad never had stone chips down the side of a car and stone chipped headlights!! :eek:

Only had mine 4 months but not a mark on the paintwork...touch wood.
Hi

One of the marks on mine was from a van travelling in the opposite direction and is around 10mm long on the drivers door. The front end looks like someone has sprayed it with stones. I've also got them up the windscreen pillars and on the rear bumper.

The car was supposedly coated before I bought it but as far as I can see it hasn't made any difference.

Cheers

Paul
 
#15 ·
On the topic of weak pain, here are some pictures. Damage was done by oncoming traffic or by cars infront. All of these are stonechips. The car has barely done 2k miles. The damage shown on the 2 pictures on the left were done by a dog running/barking at the car. I stopped at a Stop sign, the dog didn't and rearended/headbutted me! (sidenote: where's the police when you need them :lol: )
View attachment 714
 

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#17 ·
I guess not every paint is the same?
Maybe i will post more pictures tomorrow... I am waiting for sun...
Really dont know what to do. Keep car or exchange it for new Astra ST or Hyundai i30 Wagon...
This time petrol.

Even headlights are chipped!
One question... Is it possible to put foil over allready chipped headlights? To protect them? Or will look bad if i dont sand them and polish them before?

But i have another problem with my one year old astra so I am thinking of selling...
But i would miss matrix lights.
 
#18 ·
Icy said:
I guess not every paint is the same?
Pretty much all paints are roughly the same - water based. Can be chipped just by looking at them. :D

Icy said:
Even headlights are chipped!
One question... Is it possible to put foil over allready chipped headlights? To protect them? Or will look bad if i dont sand them and polish them before?
Why protect something already damaged? Polish first if the damage isn't great and then apply foil. Just be careful what foil is put on - there's some heat comming from the light bulbs.
 
#19 ·
iavorid said:
Icy said:
I guess not every paint is the same?
Pretty much all paints are roughly the same - water based. Can be chipped just by looking at them. :D
Hi

A work colleague got their VW Golf at the same time as I got my Astra. There is not a single mark on their car and they do more miles than me.

Cheers

Paul
 
#20 ·
Hi all,i'm begining to think that SOME of this dodgy paint issue is down to luck or chance as my. ST is 2years old next month with 9k on the clock and not a single chip anywhere,and i do check regularly,its power red by the way.
 
#21 ·
Paulch said:
iavorid said:
Icy said:
I guess not every paint is the same?
Pretty much all paints are roughly the same - water based. Can be chipped just by looking at them. :D
Hi

A work colleague got their VW Golf at the same time as I got my Astra. There is not a single mark on their car and they do more miles than me.

Cheers

Paul
Maybe the Golf just has a thicker or better paint - should be, how else can they justify the higher cost of the car?
In any case, it will also depend on the conditions the car is driven on. Drive on gravel and see what happens. :D
 
#22 ·
iavorid said:
Icy said:
I guess not every paint is the same?
Pretty much all paints are roughly the same - water based. Can be chipped just by looking at them. :D

Icy said:
Even headlights are chipped!
One question... Is it possible to put foil over allready chipped headlights? To protect them? Or will look bad if i dont sand them and polish them before?
Why protect something already damaged? Polish first if the damage isn't great and then apply foil. Just be careful what foil is put on - there's some heat comming from the light bulbs.
Not from intellilux led matrix lights.
Protect to prevent further damage. Will see what will i do.

I looked at P308 that is one year older than my Astra and my astra is in worse condition than P308...
 
#24 ·
Icy said:
Not from intellilux led matrix lights.
Protect to prevent further damage. Will see what will i do.

I looked at P308 that is one year older than my Astra and my astra is in worse condition than P308...
Just the high beams are LEDs, the low beam is normal halogen H7 lightbulbs. They emit light as well as heat.

Granted, the paint is weaker on the astra, but not by far. ;)
 
#25 ·
Halogen H7 for low beam on matrix led healights... :lol: Then tell me how to change light bulb. :mrgreen:

And yes paint is WEAK in comparison with P308. Big difference. My car is covered in stone chips after first winter. P308 that is driving on same road is like new compared to astra.
 
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