Thanks azjake! Actually this is only my first black car (technically my fiance's), i just do all of the detailing. I came from a white and a blue colored as well. White has its fair share of pains too especially when dirt and grime starts to stick. But usually just on the lower parts. And I also hear you about the arizona heat! I lived in Mesa for about 2 years too.

 

I have a red 2011 SE. After having it for a week I washed it and noticed spots on the hood and roof. Took it back to the dealer and they coumpounded and buffed it but it did not remove the spots. My car is having the hood front fenders and roof repainted as we speak. Anyone else have this issue. I suspect my car sat on the lot for a long time and didn't get washed as frequent as it should have. Paint was actually eaten away in some spots.

 

If you think he paint on these are bad, wait until you make the mistake of owning a GM. They barely use paint.

The paint on our Outlander is very, very thick in comparison.

 

All newer cars have paint issues, because they use "environmentally friendly" paints. I wouldn't be surprised if the service manual recommended a respray every 50,000 km in the next few years...

 

I have a very low millage 2010 Black Outlander XLS, that has been used only in urban areas. I hate to see what this vehicle's paint job would look like after a couple of years of regular urban use, even after having maintained the paint job in the best possible manner.

The clear coat on my Outlander, and others that I have seen, is way too thin, and poor quality. I have a couple of paint chips, that were caused by simple bug hits!

All the auto manufactures are using water based paints now, however that is no excuse for the poor quality thin clear coat that is applied on these vehicles. Since the paint has now degraded in quality, you would think they would apply a better quality clear coat, based on the price point of this vehicle.

Clear coat on my side mirrors is almost non existent from the day I picked up my vehicle. The paint color between the mirror and vehicle body don't even look matched to the same black color, which is partially due to the lack of clear coat... very amateur.

After all, it's the quality of the clear coat that is more important than the paint quality, in terms of resistance to scratching. The paint is useless in its application without a clear coat on top of it. At least, a quality clear coat will protect your "cheap" paint from "bug" hits. A new quality clear coat will not get scratched down by insect impacts far enough to scratch the paint and ruin it.

These similar types of problems can be said about the poor quality, and lack of rust proofing on these vehicles. I have seen vehicles that were at half the cost, that had better rust protection. Within five months after purchasing this vehicle new, with very limited normal usage in a major Canadian city, and moderate under carriage washing, my vehicle had already developed mild surface rust almost everywhere on the under carriage. Out of all the different model new vehicles that I have owned over the past 35 years, I have never seen surface rusting occur so rapidly, or paint scratches that were caused by simple bug hits.

These quality issues are unacceptable on a relatively new vehicle, at this price point.

 

I have an 07 Red Outlander and I get what you mean. the paint is somewhat poor quality and its not a real vibrant red, maybe thats just the sun hitting it, but idk.

 

I don't think that's an excuse on new cars. I also have a 2009 toyota and a 2010 volkswagen and their paint job is way better than my 2010 outlander.

 

I hear you on all of your comments! The paint is easily scratched up, even when you just accidentally barely swiped/touched some material on it.

Also, the mirror caps, I believe are not painted on a black outlander, they simply use black colored plastic mirror caps.

I wonder if we can bring up this issue with Mitsubishi corporate since a lot of us are having the same issues with the quality of the paint on our cars?

 

are you comparing it to your saturn vue (which is also GM made)? my mom owns a 2002 saturn vue and the paint is still holding up.

and no, the outlanders paint is not "very, very thick", its very thin. atleast on the labrador black pearl.

 

I have a black 2007 Lexus and the paint is about as sensitive as the Outlander. So I can't exactly agree with you.
Although my Outlander is painted gray/metallic, so it probably holds up a bit better than regular flat paint.