has anyone noticed that if you drive the cayman the bonnet automatically scratches. it should be a warning on the owners manual. any driving will scratch your bonnet.

i have steadily xymolled the car over the last 4 months with carbon on the basis that my service manager told me that my car does not have clearcoat. can anyone remember the last time a production car didnt roll out with clearcoat on its paint??? and how do you get that sand-like stuff off the rear bumper next to the exhaust? (it was there when i got the car)

i was tempted to walk through the showroom with my key held outstretched at a 90 degree angle past the 997 turbo, the carrerra gt, and a few black and midnight blue numbers on the forecourt to test his theory that porsche paint aint got no clearcoat.

we must unite against all OPCs of the world.

I don't know what you're talking about - All Porsched are clearcoated... If you're getting scratches on your bonnet from driving around, then you must be driving through a gravel storm or something....

If you've got valid complaints about the car, that's fine... but please don't come on here post things that aren't true. And, if your service manager really told you the car has no clearcoat, then he should be fired.

brad

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well, he does live in the UK...

beez, i am genuinely surprised you feel so strongly about my cayman care issue. i, like you, am a cayman owner, and have no reason to lie on this forum. infact, i would urge that you, with your 20 years experience, phone my service manager and discuss the issues you feel so strongly about. because i was genuinely told that my non metallic had no clearcoat, and that was his reason why the car was scratching so badly. i will supply you his name, OPC address and his position as service manager. maybe he should be fired, but what advantage is that to me now?? i have authority here but unfortunately cannot fire random people.

and, as for the gravel storm and UK. again, that one flew right over my head. i could crack one over the pond but would class that as below the belt.

again, having layered 4 coats of zymol over a few months now the car is coping better with everyday driving. non metallic paint is SOFT, but i am considering clearbra

I can confirm that your service manager is wrong, ALL Porsche paints are clear-coated. In the past some non-metallics were not clear coated but that hasn't been true for years now so your service manager's info is outdated. While Zymol Carbon is ok for black cars, since your car isn't in the registry I don't have a clue as to whether or not you should be using it on your current Porsche. You cannot use it on a clear bra or it will stain the clear bra blue. There are much better paint care products for your Porsche, might I suggest contacting showcardetailing one of our sponsors or zaino another one of our sponsors, both have products that are excellent for a Porsche.

The only way to never get any paint damage is to lock the car away in a museum I am afraid...

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K-Man S

FYI:

Investment in the clear coat process

Valmet Automotive will renew its clear coat process. The investment improves the paint surface quality and also allows to use 2-component clear coat in the future.

The clear coat protects the paint surface and gives it a shining gloss. Currently, the clear coat is applied both manually and automatically. After the renewal, the clear coat process is carried out by four robots. Simultaneously, the ventilation and humidifying systems on this area will be renewed.

The supplier of the new equipment is Sames Technologies, France. The line will be rebuilt during the shut down period next summer.

Thanks to systematic development and investments Valmet Automotive's painting process is state-of-the-art and meets the highest surface quality requirements of demanding specialty cars.

The primer materials as well as the base coat are waterborne and the environmental issues are fulfilled. Currently, different body models with over 30 base coat colours can be flexibly treated in the painting process. Also bigger bodies such as SUVs and mini-vans can be painted.

For more information, please contact Mr Leo Myllymaa, Project Manager, tel. +358 20 48 49600

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K-Man-S thanks for ur reply. you are right in your prediction and the carbon was a pure name-based choice (as i have been prone to for a few things previously )

i think a clearbra would be a step backwards for me. the car's paint is really soft and my service manager could not understand why my car was scratching so easily all over. so he went for the clearcoat explanation. well, speaking to me he thought he had an advantage of 30 IQ points when infact it was the opposite way round. i couldnt be bothered arguing so that was that. the car has scratches with this carbon on top to protect any deeper wound.

throwing ideas out but i was tempted to seal the paint. but another option is to keep the scratches and watch them for metal exposure only. get them repaired just before i sell. after all, as beez so elegantly put it - i must be driving through a gravel storm (is there even such a thing). and no - i didnt opt for the gravel driveway even though i would love a magnum style house.

It should be relatively easy to find another Porsche at your dealership's lot that has the same amount of mileage as your Cayman and compare the paint. I had a soft windshield from the factory so Porsche replaced it because I was able to show them that cars with 60,000 miles had better windshields than mine with only 10,000 miles. If your paint is truly bad, it will show next to another car with equivalent mileage, unless you have been driving in gravel/sand/abrasive storms. If your car is just like every other Porsche with that mileage on it then your car is normal in which case your definition of a scratch or ding to the paint may be different from someone else's. You might also benefit from going to a Porsche Club get together in the UK and have other Porsche owners look at your car and render their opinions. Wax isn't going to stop a rock from chipping your paint if you hit it hard enough or at the right angle no matter how good the wax is.

Logically you feel that is a problem or problems with your Cayman. However, we can't see or touch your Cayman across the internet, heck last time I looked it wasn't in the registry so I don't even know what color it is. As much as I or anyone else here would like to help you, you haven't really framed very many questions that we can directly answer for you.

If your question is:

"Is Porshe paint worse than other paint used on other makes/models?"

Then the answer is NO. Despite what Douge says about his personal experiences, on average Porsche paint is as good as any in the industry. It is water based paint just like others for environmental reasons so it isn't as tough as say a hard enamel from the 60's, but with a clear coat also shouldn't fade or weather the way those old enamels would do either.

If you can frame some questions that we can answer I am sure that I and other members here will try to help you.

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K-Man S

Bazcayman, Is there any possibility that your car has been repainted? Did you buy it new? What do you mean by sandy grit in the rear bumper area, is it under the paint? If so maybe your car was repainted without a clear coat (single stage paint) and was poorly prepped before being sprayed. I certainly hope not but issues you have with your paint seems to be atypical.

I posted this in another thread a week ago, but my 987 Boxster and my CS both have better than average paints jobs, imo. Virtually no scratching or chipping compared to just about any other car I've owned. Maybe a QC issue that affects some cars more than others?

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Inspired I spent some time looking for the "perfect product" today. There must be one since some Cayman owners have such high benchmarks. So I visited the Windows forums-nope, then surely Apple-not by a long shot, perhaps Lexus-no way, the refrigerator like Honda-not from their owners. Oh I did run across one obscure forum where people only talked about themselves and they were all perfect, I think I recognized a few names. Cheers

i dont know when porsche started it, but for CERTAIN that by 2000, ALL PORSCHES are clear coated regardless of the paint is metallic or not.

Brad is right. The paint is just as good if not better than on any car that I've had. If the paint is scratching that easily, something is wrong. Either the sandblasting is caused by the road conditions, or something is drastically wrong with that car.

Baz,
It seem that you have quite a set of complaints with your car. People tend to take negatively to people who consistently report issues. If you truly are this unhappy with your car, I think its time to switch to another that you would be more satisfied with. I seem to remember one of your older posts where you were looking at BMWs.

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"The Cayman doesn't need any more toys." -- My wife