paint quality and sheet metal thickness
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at a mere 560 miles I recieved my first paint chip, and my windshield cracked. I have 3 chips on the front left fender and 2 on my driver side door, small it seems but noticable on a white car.
I'm pretty annoyed that they would use such ****ty paint on these cars especially for the cost. I may repaint the thing as well since the paint the cars come with is cheap water-based paint or some **** like that
Lets see what other sins my car receives the more miles I put on it, I'm at 920 miles atm and no pinging from the engine, the drivetrain is solid, and wheels and breaks are good to go.
I'm pretty annoyed that they would use such ****ty paint on these cars especially for the cost. I may repaint the thing as well since the paint the cars come with is cheap water-based paint or some **** like that
Lets see what other sins my car receives the more miles I put on it, I'm at 920 miles atm and no pinging from the engine, the drivetrain is solid, and wheels and breaks are good to go.
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Yeah,
In a perfect world, thicker sheet metal (without the weight penalty) and a thicker clear coat would have been nice. But really I've been pretty lucky. Just a few small chips on by WRB '02 and one door ding.
I live in the Toronto area (fairly harsh winters). The Subaru paint is not the greatest, but I think its not as bad as it sounds. Although the "decorative" sheet metal (fenders etc.) is on the thin side, the structural sheet metal parts are much heavier, which goes a long way towards giving the car its excellent rigidity and safety. IMHO the plusses outweigh the minuses. One other thing, I have seen some really nice looking subies with stock paint, so extreme care probably helps!
Thanks,
Allan
In a perfect world, thicker sheet metal (without the weight penalty) and a thicker clear coat would have been nice. But really I've been pretty lucky. Just a few small chips on by WRB '02 and one door ding.
I live in the Toronto area (fairly harsh winters). The Subaru paint is not the greatest, but I think its not as bad as it sounds. Although the "decorative" sheet metal (fenders etc.) is on the thin side, the structural sheet metal parts are much heavier, which goes a long way towards giving the car its excellent rigidity and safety. IMHO the plusses outweigh the minuses. One other thing, I have seen some really nice looking subies with stock paint, so extreme care probably helps!
Thanks,
Allan
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From: Livermore
Car Info: 2004 WRB WRX
My 96 integra has 70k miles on it and its been around and the paint is in great condition. As far as the paint on subarus start a topic asking how many people have no problems with their paint. You've heard one side now hear the other.-Todd-
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The paint on the WRX is nothing to write home about. It's average at best, but then again we didn't exactly buy our cars for their pretty paint jobs now did we? 
Compared to other Japanese cars, the paint is indeed inferior to most; it's better than, say, a Suzuki though haha.
As for the sheet metal, it's actually pretty heavy-gauge for a Japanese compact. Civics were a joke: stare hard enough at the hood and it'll dent. Hell you throw a rock or swing a door against anything short of a Gen 1 Hummer and it'll make a dent. I think some of us are getting a little picky here. My old battle-tank (1988 BMW E30 5.28s) survived a rear-end at 45mph with only a scratch on the bumper's weather stripping, yet was covered with dings on the door from the doors of other cars being flung open into it.
Compared to other Japanese cars, the paint is indeed inferior to most; it's better than, say, a Suzuki though haha.As for the sheet metal, it's actually pretty heavy-gauge for a Japanese compact. Civics were a joke: stare hard enough at the hood and it'll dent. Hell you throw a rock or swing a door against anything short of a Gen 1 Hummer and it'll make a dent. I think some of us are getting a little picky here. My old battle-tank (1988 BMW E30 5.28s) survived a rear-end at 45mph with only a scratch on the bumper's weather stripping, yet was covered with dings on the door from the doors of other cars being flung open into it.
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From: Ottawa Ontario
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then it would be safe to assume that the paint is thicker on those models because they know what kind of life cars go through in north america, as from what I understand, they only get snow and ice and gravel roads in japan on a very special basis only, ie going into the mountains at high elevations.
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Snow's pretty common in the northern and northeastern parts of Japan, as is sleet and hail. In the winter, of course 
Gravel's not exactly rare out in the countryside either.
Gravel's not exactly rare out in the countryside either.
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but is it as widely available as it is here in north america? I mean, the most they ever use their cars for is daily driving in a city, we're using them on interstates and big highways that are strewn with pebbles and debris. We've also got heavy winters where we salt and dirty/gravel up the roads to provide grip.
It's a pretty big assumption as to what I don't know goes on in japan, but I'm pretty sure we got all of that and more to deal with here :P
It's a pretty big assumption as to what I don't know goes on in japan, but I'm pretty sure we got all of that and more to deal with here :P
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Paint is average, engineering is above average, remember why we bought this car and note you can't have everything for $24k. BTW my silver wagon has the usual tiny chips out of the front but all in all it's no worse than the Volvo I owned previously at the same milage.
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