How is the paintwork on a Z? I'm gonna be loking at a few with the intention of buying one, probably a 50-60k miles import. Should the paintwork be spotless (give or take a stone chip or two), or should i be expecting to see some cracked paint or a few blemishes?

 

Come to think on it... where are the most common rust spots. I've heard about the rear sills but are there any others that are "to be expected"? I guess the floors in the Z's are pretty solid?

The general stock paint work of the car is excelent. You will get stone chips there is nothing you can do about that besides putting one of those stupid Bras on that the Americans love :eek:

 

Then there are parts with bird crap which happenes but there are none on mine nor have I seen anyother Z with that problem. I have seen Z's with 1 or 2 blemishes but I think they are parts that have been resprayed.

 

I did some work and small respraying on my car a while back and cosidering I put new paint on the car next to 11 year old paint, you couldnt tell the difference in shade or colour.

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/rides/srrae/srrae_shiney_side.jpg

 

Here is a pic of my Z after a polish. You cant complain about that 11 year old paint work. :D

 

Stuart

Having been a Lancia fanatic for years, (and having it rust away), the rustproffing was one of the reasons I went for a Z. The rustproofing's great and if you get a Jap spec then they've never seen salt as they don't use it out there.

 

One thing about the metallics though - only use a bodyshop that really knows it's job! A main dealer sprayed a scratched wing for me, & matched the colour exactly but the wing stood out like a sore thumb in strong sunlight. After months of arguing I went to FG's in Nottingham. Seems the paint has to sprayed from the right angle else the metallic chips don't look right ! :confused:

 

Sorted now though and like SRRAE it's matched my 10 year old paint seamlessly ! :D

Originally posted by SRRAE

http://www.300zx.co.uk/rides/srrae/srrae_shiney_side.jpg

 

Here is a pic of my Z after a polish. You cant complain about that 11 year old paint work. :D

 

Stuart

Now I can tell by the polish on that car that you must have been getting ready to go to Billing. Am I right ?

Hi there, with regards to the paint work on a ZX I don't think you can fault it. Mine is a 1990 ZXTT import with just under 50,000 miles on the clock and it's not got a blemish on it. Looks almost as new, the only thing that lets it down is that the rear spoiler is looking slightly worn. It's only a bit of rubber so that's nothing to worry about.

 

Glenn

 

1990 ZX TT import

Yes I forgot about the rear spoiler.

 

Its made of a thick sponge which will start to soak up water causing the paint on the spoiler to crack or blister. Unfortunaltly there is nothing you can do about it besides get a new spoiler. Its best to get a fibre glass one for about £180 which is a hell of a lot lighter than the original and I mean a lot lighter, which wont soak up water and wont blister or crack..

 

 

Stuart

Places to watch are:

 

Rear of sills - the thick anti stone chip stuff can hide rust - look for soft bubbles in it - bad sign - drain channels from the T tops run through here and can get blocked and instead fill sills with water.

 

The front inner wings just near the top shocker mounts especially where the seam with the wing proper meets it andNissan uses mastic. There is a plastic rivet near there also that partially fixes the plastic wheel arch liner to the inner wing - I found that that traps muck on mine and was beginning to rust around the rivet hole.

The rear wheel arches - They are double skinned and can trap muck and salt especially with wide rear tyres that throw up loads of muck this time of year. I hear even it sticking!

 

Around the fuel filler pipe road salt can gather and perforate it - once you learn where these places are you tend to get keen with the hose and blast away any gathering muck.

 

Mostly all recoverable / repairable stuff

 

I heard on here too that somebody had front cross member rust under the member thats under the radiator.

 

Probably true that UK cars suffer more - mine had although finish still looks superb. On balance pretty good rustproofing but you might expect even better in a £36k car when new.

Willie

Yeh.

 

Mines UK model and appears to have been outside most of its life.

 

Can't grumble for an 11 year old car. There is a small amount of rust trying to fight its way through the paint on the rear outer wheel arches, and the rear spoilers got in one corner more cracks than your average grandmothers forehead, but otherwise gleams well.

 

:D

Hi, my Zed is 11 years old (Jap. import) and I can't find any rust on it. The paint work is really good. But yes you do find the rear spoiler can suffer - 2 tiny parts of the upper finish is starting to lift. But since I've had the car it been kept garaged.

Yours, Tanzx.

Jap import here too, 1991, 24,000 miles only, paintwork is near perfect and completely rust free, having said that, I don't think it would stay that way for long on our filthy roads, I'm going to comprehensively Waxoyl the underbody & wheel arches before I start to use it properly, rust proofing looks as you would expect for Jap car, ie OK but probably for 10 years max before things go pear shaped in UK climate!!

 

Paul N

well iv got a uk car, no rust whatsoever apart from a tiny bubble of rust on 1 of the T tops!! doesnt even look like its chipped, so god knows how that got there!

 

rest of the bodywork is A1 though.

Andrew Warren

Get that "small" amount of bubbles fixed asap. I had same and once you do the dentistry it goes to about 2 - 3 cm of dodgy metal extraction - trust me the bubble is the tip of the iceberg - dont leave it too long. You'll find the inside edge of the wheel arch in the rear the other side of the bubble also holed once you start checking - and its double skinned there - just right for trapping salty water in the seams. Only my offside was affected - hard to explain - maybe not enough paint in the wheel arch when new

 

I've mostly done the waxoyl trick now but I'm still not convinced I got it everywhere - except over myself. Even the sills seem to have partitions in them. The waxoyl keeps going cold and thick (like myself) and wont spray - that was in summer too.

Cheers for advice WillieO

 

Its next job on the list.

 

Merry Christmas:)