It has been awhile since I have written about any of my own cars, and some other updates will be in order. But for today, the topic is my 2007 Honda Fit and its paint.
This was my first new car since 1985. We ordered it during the summer of $4/gallon gasoline, otherwise known as 2006. At that time, the Fit had just been introduced to the U.S. market, and other than a dealer demonstrator that we were lucky enough to test drive, there was not a car on the lot anywhere, so an order was necessary. Mrs. JPC had two requirements – an automatic transmission and interior that was not black. The second one was a problem, because in order to get a Fit Sport with the tan interior, you had to take a white car. So, white it was. Shortly before Thanksgiving of 2006, I got the call that our Fit was go, and we have been happily Fitting around ever since.
Until now. I am going to make a confession here. I do not wax my cars twice a year. There was a time when I did, and I still do in my imagination and in that thought process that is still too fluid to actually be called “planning”. Am I a horrible person? There is just too much to do. But oh well, in this modern era of clearcoat paint, finishes hold up pretty well. A quick trip through a good carwash and a little Maguires and good as new, right?
Then, two things happened. First, I bought a Miata in January, which banished the poor Fit from it’s long-occupied space in the garage. Second, starting in May, I hardly saw the car because my daughter was home from college and she became its regular driver. I noticed the finish getting a bit tired, and resolved to do something about that. Actually, a look up close shocked me. How does a clearcoat finish look like the neglected white cars of my youth?
The Scamper, about 1981
I know a little about automotive paint. At one point, I had a job at a wholesaler that handled DuPont automotive finishes and I also actually painted a car. OK, that last one was not completely DIY, as a good friend whose day job was in a body shop took the lead, but I was working right along side him the whole way. If you are curious, my Tawny Gold Metallic ’71 Scamp looked quite good when we were done. I had also spent many productive hours with Dupli-Color spray cans, and can say that I was pretty good with them. But clearcoats? They have made most of my auto paint knowledge obsolete.
Fortunately, I came across a promo for a guy who would come to my house and do a good detail for a reasonable charge. The lazy way? Well, yes. But let’s just say that certain sacrifices have to be made to find time to write things like this. After the first basic wax job, the paint was not nearly where it should have been. He recommended a polish, and I agreed. Even after the polish, the car was better but still did not look like it should. I decided that a trip to the Honda Forums was in order to see if problems with Honda’s white paint were a widespread thing. Aren’t online forums great? It is like walking into a club meeting full of owners of your model of car and listening while they tell you about your problem. And I learned something astonishing.
The tailgate. The top picture is after the detail guy was finished. The bottom picture is after I was finshed. The paint on the plastic panel under the back window seemed to hold a shine much better than the steel panels.
My Taffeta White 2007 Honda Fit was not a clearcoat finish at all, but an old-school single-stage enamel. Mystery solved – it looked like all of the deteriorated white enamel cars of my youth because it was just another car with deteriorated white enamel. I was completely knocked over that anyone was still using a single-stage paint as late as 2007, but here it was. I had understood that the crackdown on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from drying paint had virtually outlawed anything but a base/clear finish system. Suddenly, my knowledge and experience became relevant again, and how often does that happen? Xavier the detailer had gotten a good start on the oxidation, but what was needed was some good old fashioned polishing compound. I had read that the paint on these cars was none too thick, so better to go conservative than with real rubbing compound, and by hand instead of by machine.
I am happy to report that the shitloads of paint transfer onto my polishing cloth confirms what the Forums told me – regular old white car paint. By the way, that picture shows the cloth after doing only half of that small hood. And after both waxing and polishing by Xavier. The other thing that kept ringing in my ears was my old car-mentor Howard telling me “Never buy an old white car.” He believed that there was something about the white pigments that made the finish less durable. He may have been right, as white was not commonly seen on cars until the mid 1950s. I also believed him after trying to keep my white 1959 and 1966 Plymouth Furies at their shiny best. Both of those cars had a way of grabbing me by the collar and shouting “Get some cleaner-wax on me NOW, Junior!” Some things never change, apparently, although my now 56 year old shoulders are not among them. Honey, where’s the aspirin? Maybe I may be waxing this car twice a year after all.
Why is my Honda not a clearcoat? No idea. I have seen some opinions that the magnesium oxide pigments in white make the paint plenty hard, that environmental regs are less stringent in other countries so that cheaper single-stage paint can be used in some instances (my car was Japan-built). This theory might be true, since some other Taffeta White Hondas of those years were base/clear finishes. And in case you are curious, some Honda reds were also single stage as late as 2007, as well as possibly some Toyota finishes.
Anyhow, I have now completed the hood, roof and tailgate. The doors and fenders are going to have to wait for its owner’s second wind. It is not perfect, but it is good enough for a nine year old subcompact that will be my daily driver all winter. So, this is my sad story. Now it’s time for yours. Has there been a particular car finish that has caused you more grief and headache than the rest? And what, if anything, did you do about it?
While I was married, I hand polished my now-ex-wife’s heavily oxidized red ’89 Corolla coupe. It gleamed when I was done. I was maybe 33 when I did it. I empathize with your shoulders — it’s not just a thing of middle age.
After I finished this, I thought that I might see a lot of red car experiences here. Before the Miata, I had never owned a red car. I do, however, remember another from the above-mentioned Howard. He was the guy who found the 4 year old 74 strippo Charger that had 10K miles on it. The car had evidently never been washed, and its red paint looked awful. He hand-polished the car, and it looked so good, I thought he got it painted. I still see an occasional badly oxidized red car.
I painted my ’50 Ford 8N in Spring 2008 with Rustoleum “Sunrise Red” enamel (which was a good match for the original color). Used Valspar hardener as well. Eight seasons later, it still looks pretty good, albeit a little faded. I keep the tractor shedded as much as possible.
Oh, I’ve never waxed it, either. (c:
Most 8Ns I’ve seen that didn’t get hardener and sit outside most of the time look pretty faded and chalky within a few years. Red fades the fastest of any color, BTW.
We own a blue 2007 Fit, the first year for Canada I think. No paint problems fortunately. It’s a great car!
When you finish the Fit, I have a white 1997 Odyssey that could use your attention. I doubt it’s ever been waxed, certainly not in the 5 years I’ve had it. A good feature of white is that the haze is only apparent upon observation, much better than the shredded clearcoats I see every day.
The finish on my 2001 Audi A6 is absolutely terrible. The clearcoat is literally “burning” off. In Wyoming, that’s a common issue, though. I’ve learned to just deal with it.
None of our other vehicles have had that problem, though….
Clearcoat failure is common in the midwest as cars age. My 93 Crown Vic looked great until the last year when it was parked outdoors in the full sun, then the clearcoat began to flake off in places.
My bodyshop friend told me that clear paints do not stop UV rays, which penetrate the clear and superheat the base coat, especially the metallics with aluminum powder. This was true on a lot of older single stage paints that used a lot of clear in the formula (think silver). I would imagine that this is the same way that modern clearcoats fail.
My Audi is tan/beige, so that makes sense. We get 100 degree days out here in the summer, so I’ve seen that problem on a lot of cars.
It could be worse. We don’t have much moisture, so rusting isn’t an issue. An ugly, driveable car is fine with me!
Interesting that your car has no clearcoat, JP. I too would have imagined by the mid-2000’s that all cars were clearcoated. I have a good friend that has a white 2006 Toyota Sienna. His paint looks very much like yours – dulled out and if it has clearcoat then it is VERY thin.
As long as it’s a non-metallic color, I prefer single stage finishes. I polished and waxed lots of funeral coaches and limousines back in the 80s, and could get those things to shine like a new penny. They were all solid white, single stage. The 86 Buick LeSabre lead cars were base/clear and were never the crisp, bright white that the single-stage Cotillion white Cadillacs were. I think that clear coat yellows just a smidge over time, just enough that whites don;t look quite right. A neighbor has a late 90s Camry in white, and the parts that have been wrecked have base/clear, which is shiny but yellowed, while the original single stage portion is brighter white but chalky and dull.
Yours is the best explanation (or at least the most sensible one) I have seen yet for why some whites have stayed single stage. For the ones that have gone to clearcoats, perhaps that change has been mandated by environmental regs. I am waiting for the definitive reply from some commenter who is with the EPA who used to be a body and paint man. 🙂
I doubt it’s a mandate. Doesn’t every white plumber’s van (and such) have single-stage white? I think clear coat has become the thing because it adds depth and stays shiny, until it peels off, that is.
Commercials are wrapped now days not sign written so the original finish is mostly unimportant and is preserved under the vinyl wrap for resale.
I spoke to a guy recently who runs a business doing scratch and dent repairs on vans, and he said the white ones seem to have thinner paint and also rust more quickly.
We have white Sprinters at work and they rust like fun, one of our rivals has silver ones and they look immaculate, but are probably better cared for, too.
One reason to wrap a truck is that the wrap can peeled off when the lease is up, and plain white truck put through the aftermarket.
My ’05 xB is white, and single coat. And I’m quite thankful for it, as I’m a bit leery of clear coats for the long haul. My xB’s paint is dulling a bit, but not too badly. I waxed it once, and that helped. I’ll have to polish it on of these days.
Despite the oxidizing, I’ll take a single coat for a long-term car.
I assume all those millions of vans out there in white are single-stage. Practical, if a bit dull 🙂
I had the same revelation when I waxed my black ’00 4Runner and saw black on my rag. Evidently it was pretty common with black paints.
I do think single stage paint does shine up nicer as well, but it’s a lot more work to keep it that way.
Many modern cars when finished in white are good old single stage finishes. It is cheaper than a base/clear coat finish and many times fleets are the biggest purchasers of white vehicles and they aren’t that concerned with longevity or how shiny the car is when they turn it in after only a few years.
The economies of scale then dictate that all of their white vehicles are single stage.
The other factor as CincyDavid noted is that most clears yellow over time which makes them look odd as they age and makes matching the color on repaints and good blending near impossible.
My Brother was a painter for many years and he had a friend with a pickup that he had another friend air brush and pinstripe a scene of the truck towing his fishing boat on the tail gate. He then “buried it in clear” so that it was smooth as a babies butt, IE you couldn’t feel the raised portions of the added paint. However the clear coat turned the tail gate yellow vs the rest of the truck rather quickly since there were many layers of clear required to smooth out the finish.
What is odd is that per a 2007 Honda service bulletin, the Taffeta White on the Accord, Odyssey, Pilot and Ridgeline is a base/clear two step, while the same color on the Civic and Fit is a single stage. It almost has to be a manufacturing issue, unless they are not using clear on the two cheapest lines in order to keep costs down, which would also apply in the commercial truck market.
I would think it was driven by costs. Less potential profit in the cheaper cars so spend less on the paint for them.
My 1984 Nissan Pulsar NX was Mint White. I purchased the car used at 2 years of age, and at that time I removed the multi colored pin striping and the “50th Anniversary” emblems from the car. I was amazed at how white the unexposed paint was in comparison to the rest of the car. Also, there was a tiny decal in one of the windows that said “Viking Shield”, which I learned was some sort of protectant for the paint. Every year, for many years, I’d have to polish the white paint to get it back to the original white, otherwise you could see exactly where the pin stripes and emblems were. I think I finally wore the Viking Shield rubbish off after about 8 years or so.
That Fit looks mighty good in white.
CC effect! I just followed one home from the gym this morning, but this one was silver.
My ’86 Jetta still has original paint except for hood and fender that were replaced and repainted about 10 years ago after an accident. It’s German built, and until ’97 was always parked outside, until ’08 it was garaged at night but parked outside at work during the weekdays. Now it’s mostly garaged except for when I need it for occasional around town trips. The clear had started to lift right over the engine from the heat by around ’05. So it still looks really good today, and the repainted 10 years ago hood and fender replacements still look fine as well. It’s called polar silver, actually is more of a gold color. I recently purchased an ’87 Jetta the exact same color, the paint is original and it still looks great. I’m guessing it was probably garaged a lot as the dash and interior are still crack and tear free as well. The headliner did come unglued on the ’86, as has it’s u-pull replacement. The ’87 headliner is fine. These Jetta’s are both German built. Family member had an ’87 US built Golf, also the same polar silver. It was always parked outside, and by 2002 the paint looked awful. The seat padding also fell apart quickly, although the dash and headliner held up. So I think your right about paint quality in the US. I do also have a black ’89 Jetta GL German built that my niece wrecked that has always been parked outside, and the paint on the roof (though not on the sunroof panel) is lifting off down to the primer, but the rest of the car is fine. For what it’s worth, I always pull the ’86 outside when it rains and towel dry it, it was never been waxed or soap washed since I moved to Washington state in ’97, from ’91 until I moved I would use combination wash and wax since it rarely would rain in Southern California. I never have used a automatic car wash. My 11 year old Nissan Titan is parked under a carport and washed with a wax soap combination 2 or 3 times a year and never waxed. It still looks like new, but only has 14k miles on it. I don’t use the rain method with it. I don’t like to polish as I feel it thins the paint and reduces the paint life. Did years ago have my badly faded red ’75 Rabbit (around ’81) power polished and it looked good afterwards, although there was a little burn through from the polisher on a couple of edges. Wrecked it a couple of years later so don’t know how long it would have held up. Had a light blue ’79 GMC Cabrillo and the paint peeled off the roof in less than a year under warranty, shortly after it was out of warranty the tailgate peeled and it faded badly. Terrible factory paint.
Most JDM white cars come with single-stage enamel paint (and white is one of the most popular colors in Japan, usually the only base color available without a hefty extra payment).
I don’t like this transfer of paint onto the polishing cloth. I’m currently in the middle of polishing my Volga (light gray single-stage paint), and there is no such effect on this scale, despite I’m using an electric polishing machine rather than polishing cloth and elbow grease. And when I’m using a cloth – there is no transfer of paint at all.
On the other hand, the paint on it is an old-school baked melamine alkyd enamel, which is much sturdier than modern water-based acrylic paint… If it was an alkyd enamel – I would’ve said that someone just didn’t bake it, leaving it to dry on its own at room temperature, resulting in inadequate surface hardness (I’ve experienced this with one of my former cars, sprayed dark blue without baking the enamel – it was impossible to polish because everything that touched it became dark blue in an instant). But, once again, it can be the norm for the more modern, “environment-friendly” types of paint.
He believed that there was something about the white pigments that made the finish less durable
No, he was actually wrong, in fact the white pigment – pure Titanium Dioxide – is the hardest one, and white paint is usually the most durable one. The softest, least durable pigment is Carbon Black, which is essentially soot, the residue from burning natural gas. I came to know this first-hand with my 2009 Ford Mondeo, which by the way has single-stage black enamel paint – by far not the most practical type for an everyday car, its only advantage is the ease of local repair compared to coat/clear coat paint.
White paint, however, has another downside – it is extremely difficult to make local repairs on it because there are myriads of shades of white, most of which are not compatible with each other. Also, even small amounts of rust are very clearly visible on white cars.
Yes, my 2004 Ford BA Falcon XR6. It was a gorgeous metallic purple but after a decade, the roof paint was starting to go dull. Fortunately it wasn’t fading but when you got up close you could see the difference. I saw a few other BA Falcons with the same problem and you would think Ford Australia would have figured out how durable paint needed to be in the hot Aussie sun.
The worst part was the spoiler. I’m no fan of spoilers but all XR6s came with one. Of course, it was not sheetmetal so it faded much quicker. Ghastly white fade spots. So, I thought I’d do what a coworker with a VE Commodore did to great effect: remove the spoiler and put some little plastic grommets in to plug the hole.
Yeah. No. The spoiler holes were so much bigger than on his Commodore so it looked like my car had four freakin’ black warts on its trunklid. Not to mention, where the spoiler had been mounted, left behind were two big oval-shaped white outlines. It looked nasty, the spoiler had messed up the paint. And this is how it came from the factory! Not to mention, the brake light was in the spoiler so I would have had to re-wire the window-mounted CHMSL which I’m pretty sure was not wired in on XR6s because of the spoiler.
I put the damn spoiler back on. I hate spoilers. Wretched things.
I’ve only had one white car, and what I remember most about this colour is that it made my car a magnet for bird poop. A very strong magnet… No matter where I parked it.
Never had that problem with any other colour (black, blue, grey, red, green).
Anyone else ever notice this?
Sorry to hear about that JPC. I can’t find the motivation to keep a car waxed that sits outside. Waxing is easy and fun when the surface is slick like on a garage-kept hobby car. Waxing a rough surface is hard work and doesn’t reward. If you clayed the car once a year that might help. The clearcoat would have helped with the appearance but not the feel of the paint. Plus like others have said the clear will lift over time and then you have shot paint. It’s a must for metallics and colors that fade easily like red.
I’ve come close, a few times, to buying a Fit and have recommended it a few times to others. I was not aware that, at least in 06, you could get a Fit with a tan interior. Or that getting a tan interior meant getting only a white exterior.
I owned a red Ford Fiesta 35 years ago that was rear-ended while parked at work. The body shop did a good job fixing the car and blending the old and new paints, but from some angles it wasn’t all that hard to see the area of transition. I was told that red is THE most difficult color to get “right” when repainting only a section of the car.
07 was the first year in the Fit in the US, but they started selling in mid 2006.
Clear over base is not very durable, I see hundreds of cars especially Japanese imports with the roof paint blistering and peeling off, even worse are Australian cars which seem to moult earlier in life ironic given the climate they are designed for, The clearcoat on my Citroen is just starting to lift on the roof after 5 years of being left outside by me, one door had peeled badly but it had been reskinned while the previous owner had it as luck would have it that door got repainted a couple of years ago after my SIL backed her Sentra into it but now the factory paint is dieing.
Modern commercials use single pack paints I repaired some this year on rental trucks before they were turned in, I used acrylic laquer to tidy them up and had the paint matched by a local supplier, no complaints from the rental company so the passed muster.Isuzu Giga 400 pictured
Family member bought a ’96 Tercel from Southern California (dark green) last year, and the clear was burned and peeling quite badly on the roof, hood and trunk lid. The paint itself seems quite thin. Her son tried to polish the hood, and really made a mess out of it. It needs to visit a paint shop soon.
I wonder if Ford’s Oxford white is the same way. For the life of me, I can never get it hold its shine for more than an hour after its been washed.
I have no idea if my ’00 New Beetle TDI was single stage or clearcoat, but I never waxed the car once, and it sat outside most of the 12+ years I owned it. Mostly used touchless car washes, as well. Other than some chipping on the hood, it still looked decent from 20 feet away (pic is from the day I sold it). Up close you could see a little degradation, but it really held up well all things considered.
Okay, JPC, you’ve thrown down the gauntlet… guess I need to write up my one-year report on my 2015/third-gen “GK” Fit (Jazz). There seemed to be a rash of paint quality issues with the early build cars out of the new Honda plant in Mexico, but I’m not seeing many complaints as of late. The paint on my car (Medium Steel Metallic) seems to be holding up pretty well despite never having been waxed and only seeing touchless car washes. It sits outside maybe 50% of the time (less in the near future as my tornado-ravaged machine shed is finally about finished and fully usable).
I would expect the paint to be holding up well on a 2015 model! It’s still a baby
Nice car. My daughter has a pearl yellow ’06 Jazz VTi-S. No paint problems.
My ’05 Mazda 3 in the background is another story – the paint seems to scratch very easily.
My ’04 Mazda 2 has peeling clearcoat (this is in Scotland, where the sun shines more than people think, but not exactly SoCal) and is also rusting.
From what I see out on the road, it seems most cars of that age are essentially rust-free, apart from Mazdas and Fords.
My 87 Caprice had dull white paint by 07 and you could rub it off with your hands.
I swear the hood ornament on my Poppy Red 95 Voyager channeled the air around the middle of the roof because the middle leading edge still had clear coat and paint as of 2012, but the right and left leading edge had long lost their clear coat. The clear coat peel on the roof was sporadic, but got a lot worse in just one of day in September, 2012. You see, I put some blankets over the Voyager because they were calling for Hail, but all we got was rain so when i removed the sopping wet blankets a bunch of the roof’s remain clear coat came off which ticked me off. The center of the hood had the most clear coat/paint degradation which does not surprise me. Some bodywork was done in 2008 and they blended the new paint beautifully, but in about 2 years the new paint was becoming dull while the factory paint still had some shine. About 10 months in Sacramento really put some wear and tear on the paint.
My red ’88 Toyota truck has been outside 100% of the time since I bought it new in ’88. I hand wash it every year or every other year and then apply a coat of liquid turtle wax (cheap stuff). I get compliments all the time. The paint still looks brand new.
For context, although it has experienced 30 below at times, hardly ever above 90.
Other red vehicles I have owned have chalked badly, tho.
If you have a minivan or SUV with clear coat, check the roof. My Ford minivans had no clear coat on the roof. Who cares, the buyer won’t see it anyway, right?
For those who like to keep a car looking flawless, single stage paint is great since you can polish out rub marks, scratches, etc and get it looking new with some work. Clearcoat stays shiny with little or no attention, up to a point where the clearcoat fails or it is scratched and then you have to repaint. My 1997 4Runner is white single stage as is our 2003 BMW 325i. Both can still be made to look like new with an hour or two’s work with claybar and some polishing compount. My 2006 Tacoma is silver clearcoat and it scratches very easily.
My old 240 has the “old school” paint and I found out the hard way that its white finish can actually be stained by parking it under the oak tree that partially covers my driveway. That is something I’d never experienced before.
To remedy this, I started parking it under our carport and keeping my silver ’09 Aura out in the hot Florida sun. Now the clear coat on that is beginning to flake off around the top of the driver’s side fender.
I don’t really wax my cars like I should either, but seriously, it’s 2015 and we have successfully landed several robots on Mars. Can’t GM and everyone else create a paint that actually lasts the life of the car?
BTW how is clearcoat any better than single stage anyway? My Dad’s ’67 Imperial looked amazing on its 20th birthday. Our neighbor’s blue ’03-ish Accord looks like crap.
Think of the extra cost of a vehicle if car companies created forever paint.
I had one white car -a 1985 Austin Metro. The biggest problem with the paint was stone chipping below the front bumper and like many Metros owners I resorted to covering the (steel) lower valance with black underseal gunk.
That, and as it was white, it looked clean for about a day before it didn’t .
I also had a Focus in the bright mid-blue known as Aquarius which whatever I did in terms of wash and polish never looked as blue as everyone else’s. The same colour looked very different on the smaller Fiesta
By the way, I finally broke down and bought a random orbital polisher at the local Goodwill store for $10…helluva lot easier on my aching back and shoulders than hand polishing, and less prone to swirls. it even came with multiple pad covers. I’m not sure I really save much time, but the result is nicer and I don’t feel sore for 3 days afterward like I did in the past. Foam pads for clearcoat, terry cloth or lambswool for single stage…
The clearcoat metallic paint on my 98 Civic held up well. Of course it was not only garaged, but put up in the winter so only saw metro Detroit snow and road salt the few times I did not have a beater, maybe 4 years total. It would be washed maybe half a dozen times a year and waxed with the synthetic polycoat stuff spring and fall. Pic was taken in 2013, when I listed it on Autotrader.
I have two friends, both now in their ’60’s, who have never bought anything except a white car. Probably 15 new cars between them. They say it’s easy to keep looking good, but both are obsessive about washing and waxing.
I had an ’84 Pontiac 6000 whose blue metallic paint faded miserably in 3 years. Ditto with an ’89 Bonneville. Both were repainted free by the dealer after I complained, but the repaints also started to fade after two years or so. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me regarding GM products. Since 2001 have had Honda’s and Acuras, whose paint always looks great with a yearly good waxing.
I don’t necessarily think GM, or any other manufacturer has much to do with the paint finishes…different plants use different brands of paint, and the contracts are bid out periodically. I had a neighbor who was a PPG rep, he covered the Chrysler plants in Fenton MO…he had the minivan plant and another brand had the Ram truck plant next door.
I worked in a shop for several years, we shot Akzo Nobel’s Sikkens brand, and also some Standox, mainly because Sikkens just never looked right on one GM color, BronzeMist(Cadillac, circa 2000-2004). The Sikkens always looked blotchy and mottled, and the Standoz laid right down like glass for some reason.
Three-stage pearl finishes are another can of worms altogether…try getting a good color match on that stomach-acid yellow pearl that Mitsubishi put on some 3000GTs, or any white/offwhite tricoat pearl.
Non clearcoat paint is cheaper so Honda was just saving money on a lower cost car. I owned a GM with light blue paint for years and never had any issues with the paint so I agree it has nothing to do with GM but more the paint supplier at the time. And I have seen plenty of 8-10 year old dark paint colored Honda products with peeling clearcoat and poor paint quality, especially the plastic trim pieces.
I haven’t waxed a car in probably 17 years. My ’88 Nissan truck went through clearcoat on it’s metallic gray paint; the 2001 silver/gold Trooper’s paint was still looking great before the accident last year…we’ll see how the repaint holds up. There was some clear coat issues on the roof though…
The Outback is diamond white and is holding up well with touchless washes…..after silver or gray cars for many years, I really like the white on the Outback. None of these cars are garaged, and Houston is notorious for it’s acid rain thanks to the chemical plants on the east side of town.
The garage queen is the black SAAB; I hand wash it…looks great but damn the dust settles quickly.
Yah, I just bought an ’03 CR-V a couple of months ago – a white one – and, other than the paint, we really like the vehicle. Also, thank you for your timely article – I most likely won’t be buying another white vehicle again, ever.
My ’97 Crown Vic is white, I imagine single stage, and it’s held up like a champ. The car has been parked outside the entire time it’s been in our family’s possession (since 2003), I confess to never having waxed it in the 4 years it’s been mine and I can’t imagine Dad waxed it more than 3 or 4 times in his 9 years of ownership. Until about a month ago I couldn’t even remember the last time I washed it. And yet, after a thorough wash with a lot of elbow grease to remove all the worn-in dirt, it went from grayish to gleaming white again. Not sure how they put down that paint, Fords aren’t usually the best, but that one is solid.
Except for the side mirrors. The paint is peeling off them in strips. Not sure if it’s a different type of paint or if it just doesn’t adhere well to the plastic housings, but the mirrors look like crap while the rest of the paint looks great for 19 years old.
The inverse of this was my wife’s Alero. It was red, and a 2000, which was in the depths of GM’s clearcoat doldrums. By the time I first encountered the car in late ’07, the clearcoat had already started to bubble and peel on the top of the driver’s side fender. By the end of its time with us in 2013, there was essentially no clearcoat left on that fender, the A-pillar, or the driver’s side of the hood, and it was bubbling and cracking on the roof and the remainder of the driver’s side panels. Just awful paint quality, and once it started to go, it came off in flakes and sheets, leaving behind the familiar chalky hue of oxidized red.