So if not Ferrari, who has the best QC/paint?

which is hilarious given (at least the 1st-gen) Viper's comically bad interior fit & finish.

 

Delorean, Hands down! I defy anyone to find paint coming off any of the original factory released models!!!
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The ford GT has nice flat paint. Every car is hand painted, color sanded and polished as far as I know. Can't get better than that for modern production cars. As Srt Mike says, hand finishing can't be beat.

 

The paint I like the best is from Bentley, and Aston. Out of the cars I have worked on, those are the best they look like mirrors almost

 

I saw a car on display in a local dealership (Jim Click Ford, and its his personal GT, he owns a whole bunch of dealerships in this town and the next one over). It was a stunning vehicle but everywhere I looked were holograms and circular swirls caused by incorrect polishing/buffing. I wasn't sure though if it came out of the factory that way or it was one of his detailers that did that to the car.

 

This is a little off the subject but if you think Ferrari is /was bad on paint you should have seen Corvettes in the 70's and early 80's(don't know after that, quit buyin' 'em) you could see the seams where 2 panels fit together and there was a very high % that had to repainted by dealers before delivery(ask me how I know). I don't think there was a worse car for fit and finish.. EVER. I remember asking Zora Duntov at a Corvette convention in Montana years ago about what he thought of the paint and bodies on "his" cars. He said "I engineer them I don't paint them" ( I can't duplicate his Eastern Euro accent)

 

+1
My Lexus paint is amazing.

 

I dunno... I had a GenII and the fit and finish was excellent.

The materials sucked... they didn't even have a padded textured dash until 1998, before that it was just a smooth piece of plastic like you see around the gauges on a Sebring, but everything fit very well and was accurately made. Maybe the materials quality stuff falls under the "finish" part? I dunno.

I remember when I saw inside CAAP where they make the cars, it was a very impressive operation. It reminded me alot more of what you see at McLaren or Rolls than what you would expect at Chrysler. They had a very nice automated assembly line, but all the final stuff like fitting interiors and paint work and engine builds were all done by hand.

Panoz was sort of similar, just without all the really nice equipment that CAAP had.

 

Well in my modest opinion I think some people is mixing 2 different concepts here:

-Paint.

-Laquer.

Talking obut restorations,or paint/laquer jobs aftermarket,not stock:
"Shinny"or reflexions like a mirror doesn`t necessary mean a good paint job,and often is opossite,used to hide(at middle/far view ranges) the real paint job:
Sometimes I had seen very "shinny",but under that very bad painted,cars.
Sometimes one can see a very nice "complete" paint job.Means a perfect body shape finish(that`s the most important),a good paint job and a good laquer and polished job.

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Talking about stock cars,and nowdays,come onnn all the brands use the same computerized machines,with the same computerized standards for all the paint process: some machine take and mix the paint compounds at the perfect amount and time,better than a human,another machines/robots paint the cars with an amazing preccision and "style" comparing with a human. If you take a brand new car from factory,any brand,and imgine you scratch a painted bumper,ok you send to paint area,is going to be repainted by a human,ok,you mount your bumper again after be painted,and compared with ALL THE REST,the grains place and amount(on metallic paints)are going to be different,may be the paint tone is going to be different too,and a lot of things than a normal eye(not expert)can not see because become tricky cause of the polished laquer finishes.
The machine always is going to paint the car in a much more regular way than a human,this is the reality,and the only way to can not advise the difference between machine/human,is when the human paint ALL the car,not only 1 scratched part.

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The laquer,and the polishing is other History....

 

I haven't seen much in the way of problems with MB, nor Porsche. Astins and Bentley's are also good. Yesterday was at the Ferrari dealership and they had 2 new Californias and Oh my God! I'd be ashamed to say they were done by Ferrari. It looked as if someone painted them with a paint brush. The new white 430 Champ car though was beautiful though.
Docf

 

Ferraris paint jobs are fairly poor. Every now and then a car gets delivered with the very special "tri-colore" paint job LOL


I would have to say the best mass produced paint job and it pains me to say this is lexus. I am not a fan of the japanese buick, but anyone who has ever detailed one of these car will tell you that the paint is very nice. Light orange peel... giving that glass like finish, and the paint feels thick... as if they put 20 coats of paint and clear coat on the car.

Non-mass produced... I would say Aston has a great paint job, as does rolls and highline bentleys. The Continental GTi does have a slight bit of orange peel. I had a 97 viper and the paint job was gorgeous as well. my 2006... not so much... better than many, but still shy of the continental GTi

however, as a person who owns a car dealership, I do get sick of people asking if the car has any orange pell on a sub 20k dollar car. Orange peel is a build up of clear coat that hasn't been sanded down yet. Clear coat is a layer of protection for your paint. you can make any paintjob to not have orange peel... its all about how much time you have to spend wet sanding it and how deep you dare go into the car. People want cars as smooth as glass, but then if a bird poops on there car and they leave it on there all day... they will have no way to get rid of the stain because the clear coat has been buffed and sanded away...

 

Thanks guy, both of these explanations make sense. Too bad Ferrari doesn't do anything about it.

 

Agree, they have little soul but close to total perfection at what they are trying to achieve.

 

Arent Lambo's paint also on the upper end as far as QC?

 

Well makes me feel better about my crappy paint on my ferraris. I think i will paint them myself. I've shot my Bmers and jags but was a little intimidated to shoot my F-cars, didn't want to disgrace them in anyway..........but now........i'm on it...........can't be any worse than the factory..........i'll deem it a factory correct paint job........to include all factory correct overspray........

 

This may be going to the dark side but Lambo's have a far better paint job than Ferrari. Especially the Murcies!

 

Your right! That's cause they are now German. There paint work is great, but given the choice still chose Ferrari.
Docf

 

Then explain BMW, Mercedes and Audi paint. (audi paint sucks in my opinon, looks good for about a year or two...)

Also, the murcis aren't quiet as german as some think. The gallardo on the other hand was basically an R8 test mule

 

That's cause all have switched to " Green". Basically water soluble. Both Ferrari and MB use PPG. Look at the finish not the materials used! I've not seen any Audi paint quality as you discribed. Have had 5 daily Audi driver's and all have done well. Currently have MB as daily driver in CO and looks great- Do 400 miles /week - have had it since 2004 and it has done well , though do have venture shield on bumper. Most can't believe it is a 2004. Next year come trade in time will be MB SL or Audi of some kind!
My Modena I will say has soft paint. I've worked with it and the character of the shine has improved, however the application is thin.
I think your absolutely wrong regarding the Gallado as a test mule! Murie are not a German car , just purchased by a German Company. They will however become a German car when the new one comes out as it will be designed etc. by Audi as was the Gallardo. The Gallado is an exceptional vehicle and exceptional value. Considered one in the past prior to the Modena and still may do so in the future.
docf

 

i agree with the earlier post - the Rolls wins - hands down. zero orange peel - i dont know how they do it. my new toyota has incredible orange peel from the factory - yuk.

 

Actually, I once came across a red Qvale Mangusta and of all the things that left an impression on me I found that the paint job was absolutely stellar. Slick like glass and I really looked the car over.

 

Lol the gallardo comment was more of a jab. I still wouldn't consider the murci german. the gallardo yes... the murci not nearly as much. The murci is still pretty old school italian, other than audi HVACs. just my 2 cents