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

Almost anyone has a better paint job than Ferrari. I think the Harley's have the best paint job coming out of the factory. You should go down to the Harley Dealer and check it out.

 

I have heard this before. Is there an explanation as to why Ferrari lacks in its paint job quality?

 

In years past it did not matter, people buy the Ferrari image and Ferrari had no need to offer top notch anything.

Times may change though?

Most Jap and Korean cars have far superior paint than Ferrari.


Russell

 

IMHO, Lexus has the best paint in the business. In fact, although I have never really had much of an interest in owning one, I can't think of a single area where they have not raised quality control to an art form.

 

Let's just say "not Ferrari" and leave it at that.

But, improvements have been made and we should be appreciative of that also.

 

Junior's House of Color.....

 

I recall reading something about Lexus' paint process, how they have some recently developed, state of the art machines and processes that supposedly make their paint first rate. Was developed in connection with the current LS sedan. Don't recall the details.

 

They don't care. Panel fit, paint and fit and finish over the entire car has never been good. It has always been known by them. If it was a priority and if they cared they would fix it.

People still seem to buy so there is no incentive to change.

 

My Ferrari paint is 31 years old, original and still looks pretty good, so they must have done some of their cars well. I am not sure any car built in the last few years will look as good 31 years from now as my 308. ;-)

 

It's all realitive. If you were to look at the paint and finish of your 308 when it was new and comparied to side by side to many of it's contemporary cars (say a honda or toyota) you would see a big difference in panel fit, paint clarity, and orangepeel.

Today's cars are much better than the 80's but so has everyone else stepped up their games.

I used to tell people that when you buy a Ferrari, you aren't paying for the paint, ease of maintenance, or the reliability. You're paying for the look, the exclusivity, the ride enjoyment, the engine, and that badge on the rear deck.

But, it's not just Ferrari. If you look at that rear wing on the back of a Countach, you'd say that the way it's made would be embarrassing if it came on a Toyota. Low production hand made cars do not necessarily mean the finest methods are used in their construction.

 

Lexus and some older Mercedes' I've seen have been really good.

 

Although I will say, from a lifetime of owning BMWs Mercedes and Porsches, the paint on my Mondial 3.2 is as just as good as any of them from the 80s.

 

They just spent a kazillion on a new paint facility a couple of years back, so it's not like they've blown it off. Still, you'll notice some orange peel on the newer cars.

 

Correct, they did but the paint is still worse than any car in the price range and not even up to the standard of cars half or less the price. There is also far too much inconsistancy. Some still come through looking like Ray Charles painted them and Stevie Wonder did the QA inspection. We had cars come to the dealer that were an embarassment to have on the showroom floor.

 

Rolls has the best paint jobs from the factory by far. No exception.

 

I'm just gonna throw out an oddball of a couple of car's I noticed that maintain there paint jobs relatively well, Nissan Z's and Honda Type R's.

Specifically the Type R's. Some guys have 250,000 km's on these cars, and the paint still looks flawless.

 

Audi /VW

 

Has the switch to eco-friendly paints hurt the quality?

 

I think that's part of it and also painting aluminum must have some additonal issues. Also, when you raise the price of a car, you tend to pay more attention to the details.

I have seen worse though.

I don't know if anyone saw some of the first production GM Hummers in metallic paint. You could see the paint spray patterns from the robots as they sprayed the bodies down the line. They looked horrible! I saw many like this. Without question, the worst job of painting I've ever seen from a factory -- and it was 50 grand!

 

Agree on Rolls, Bentley is up there on their premium cars as well.

 

We have seen that on recent Ferraris but they cost 4 times as much. Like we always said in the dealer "NO charge for the custom paint".

 

They were very good when the Brits owned them but I have not paid attention to them since they were taken over by the Fatherland.

Aston was very good too.

 

Rolls/Bentley are still very good-probably the best on the market now.

Aston is far better than Ferrari but not in the Rolls/Bentley category IMO.

someone mentioned Harley and I will agree, they have amazing paint and chrome straight out of the factory.

 

For a specific model, I will say the Dodge Viper.

Chrysler hand finished every car complete with wet sanding and polishing. You could look at one off the showroom floor and sight along the body lines and not see the slightest ripple or scratch.

But that is because they had a team of 31 people who'se job it was to make each car 100% perfect in paint before it rolled out the door.

For a whole company, Rolls and Bentley go to great lenghts. For a mass manufacturer, Lexus is very good.

The problem is that the modern "safe" paints get orange peel and there's no way around it. So quality control over the process gets you part of the way there, but there is nothing that will ever achieve the same results as hand finishing. So a hand finished car will have far superior paint.

I'm sure some others hand finish the paint, but I know that Dodge did on the Viper, and Rolls does too.