The 21 HRV scuffs and stains so easily. It is white so hard to keep clean but I have had a white car previously and never remember finding so much dirt and grime all over.
The 4xe I had for 3 months got an inch long checkmark like scratch and it barely was scratching the surface but it wouldn’t come off with some off the shelf products. Also water spots hard to come off.
The Pilot I have had a week is Black and has already been thru car wash. Rain doesn’t seem to “bead up” like it does on previous cars. Fingerprints everywhere and very visible from a distance.
If you can, hand wash yourself to minimize marring / swirls. DIY ceramic/ hybrid ceramic will give you decent results if you don’t want to shell out big bucks for the tools or professional job
I imagine this doesn’t come up that often here since the great majority of us get rid of our cars before lease term maturity and almost certainly before B2B warranty ends.
Honda is known for shitty, thin paint that easily chips. Even their panels often mismatch on their vehicles.
Common complaint from all Honda owners and it’s on every vehicle. Odyssey, Accord, CRVs etc
Not sure why you had issues with paint on the 4xe. I think their paint is on pretty thick . You might get swirls from towel drying etc but I think their paint is pretty solid .
That is why you always opt for the super duper protection package for $2,495 with nitrogen filled tires and VINetching /s.
But you should look into sealant and/or spray ceramic coating if you are DIY. Gtechniq makes a spray coating that lasts 6 months where you just attach the canister to a garden hose and spray it on. Will help a lot with water beading and general road grime. Nothing you can do about scratches except PPF or be more careful.
I have scratches on my 4xE and they appear out of nowhere. Given that it is a lease, I don’t even stress about it. With purchases, it becomes more personal . People park at the end of parking lots to avoid dings and scratches
I have noticed I get a lot of chips on the hood. I don’t remember this being the case with cars 10 years ago. Maybe I pay more attention now? I don’t know.
In Phoenix, Las Vegas, Reno and other similar areas dealers charge $1500 for something called Desert Protection Package. Which I assume is an extra coat of wax. If that. Consumers, especially car consumers, can be so dumb sometimes.
honda paint is dogshit. got an 18 accord with the pearl white sparkly paint. its so impossible to touch up that body shops have to repaint the entire part just to get it to look ok. it chips at the drop of a hat as well.
Thanks for reminding me. While I do think water-based paints are leading to less durable paints overall, I now remember how easily my (2003) Accord’s paint job got marred. I know bird poop is really bad, but the Accord seemingly had permanent damage the poop wasn’t removed pretty quickly.
If you truly want a swirl free car, self healing PPF is the way to go. Unfortunately for most ppl, it’s very cost prohibitive to PPF an entire car.
Basically, any type of touch wash including drying with even a microfiber towel will induce micromarring and swirling of the paint, ceramic coatings do not prevent this.
As far as a ROI, I agree - you won’t get anything back with PPF, but some people absolutely have to have a pristine car, so it may be worth it to some people. Otherwise, it takes a ton of work to keep a car free of swirling and imperfections that come with washing the car repeatedly, no matter what type of wash you use.
White should not be that hard to keep clean. After silver, beige, light grey it is on the easier side of the spectrum.
But after preferably washing the car yourself or going to a car wash if that’s your only option, make sure to go over the car again after drying it. Water that will slowly drip from exterior mirrors and door handles will be your main culprit.
Use a good wax to protect the car’s appearance between washes and increase the interval between washes.
Black is the hardest. I’m not sure why you bought a black Pilot if appearance is important to you. I always avoid buying black vehicles for this reason.
I would probably only buy a black car if I was planning to fully PPF the car. 99% of the black cars you see on the road in direct sunlight - swirl city. Looks so bad.
Yes I am not keeping mine past lease term it’s just seemingly annoying after just getting these cars. The 4xe is already flipped so not my problem!!
I just think past cars never were like this or at least as noticeable. I’ve had BMW 330i, Malibu, Terrain, Tundra, RAV4 and an 11 Pilot in the past decade.
. People park at the end of parking lots to avoid dings and scratches