Crappy build quality of cars from the 00s

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

Please don't pull the built for Australian conditions crap, other countries have harsh conditions too, and from what I've seen a falcon or commodore do not stand out as any better.
VT commodores or Au falcons to don't fair any better than an E39 BMW or w210 E class.

but Mitsubishis built in Australia have some of the worst paint I've seen

In theory, cars from a manufacturer are all painted the same way no matter where they are made. They should all follow the same e-coat and painting process.

But Australia does have the highest UV ratings anywhere in the world, so our sun is particularly harsh.

[Polyal]

By 00's I am thinking this does not include AU's, it simply can not. In all honesty IMO it was the car that had the highest build quality out of the lot.

How they are treated 20 years down the track is another story.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Polyal

By 00's I am thinking this does not include AU's, it simply can not. In all honesty IMO it was the car that had the highest build quality out of the lot.

How they are treated 20 years down the track is another story.

They did rust, and you see them all the time with clear coat peeling off. But yes, a lot of that comes down to how they are looked after, and if the owners ever bothered polishing them.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

In theory, cars from a manufacturer are all painted the same way no matter where they are made. They should all follow the same e-coat and painting process.

But Australia does have the highest UV ratings anywhere in the world, so our sun is particularly harsh.

Austrailas has pretty High UV, But I believe NZ, Chille Boliva and Argentina can have higher,

Chillie is a funny one as parts of it are so dry things dont rust, despite the paint peeling off

[oldel]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

What's that Falcon color that peeled off the cars when you washed them - Shockwave?

Yes, can confirm. My ford is a BA ute in shockwave. I have had to paint panels as they get unbearable to live with.
I've resprayed the RHS(drivers) door, b pillar and guard, plus the entire roof.

There's failure points on the bonnet, pass door and b pillar - each has a peeling spot that I just touched up with a brush.

Just this year the LHS (pass) b pillar is getting worse and worse. Lets just say I wouldn't dream of ever ever pressure washing it because i can see already where it's going to let go if I did.

that said though, the never fully repainted LHS ( pass) side can still shine up OK. The primer sucks but the clear coat doesn't suck. The clear coat done on the canopy sucks though!
Photo from this year:
https://i.imgur.com/35BgB35.jpg

Bare in mind that's it's best 'factory' side - the entire roof failed, and the drivers guard and door were very very bad.
But circled in yellow in where it is failing elsewhere, bonnet on the drivers corner, a bit on the pass door and the b pillar there is really bad. Meanwhile the clear coat on the canopy is completely stuffed. It was never good but this was parked in the sun for forever - including 2013-2019 where it was never driven, let alone washed

[MrZ]

Originally Posted by XR Martin

1968 XT Falcon 500 wagon, 3 on the tree, 3.6L. Patina project.

3.6L engine in 1968?? Didn't they use imperial back then?

[MrZ]

Originally Posted by lumen8

Is that the metal showing though, or the base coat, and the clear has come off.

Looks like metal to me, but it's not silver as you'd expect because it's been "stained" by the paint. But the actual paint is pretty much gone. The clear coat itself is a very thin layer. If it comes off, the paint underneath won't look like that - you can see that a thick layer has come off just by looking at it. It looks like the clear has come off first, then the actual paint underneath has soon followed due to having no protection.

[anobserver]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

Please don't pull the built for Australian conditions crap......

but Mitsubishis built in Australia have some of the worst paint I've seen

That may be so, but ive never understood why. Mitsi took over the Chrysler factory, knew local conditions and built cars here, for here. It makes no sense.

[Sprintey]

Yep, XT engines were labelled as 3.1 and 3.6L for the sixes. I think that continued with the XW? Mustang 5 Litre was how the V8 was marketed I think.

188/221/302ci


Back on topic - aaargh those door window switches and windows getting stuck. Just siliconed the Terry, drivers window is near shot in movement. It's a big window... Tbh, would rather have a car with wind-up windows as it ages...

On the bright side, no opening drivers' window = can't do Maccas drive through = less obesity

[Yellow_Festiva]

Originally Posted by MrZ

This is what I call poor paint quality:

image

I took this photo in 2009 in the US - the car would have been about 12 years old at the time. I've never seen this in Australia - where the paint has literally peeled off right down to the metal.

Without knowing the history of the car you can't even assume it is factory paint.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by oldel

Yes, can confirm. My ford is a BA ute in shockwave. I have had to paint panels as they get unbearable to live with.
I've resprayed the RHS(drivers) door, b pillar and guard, plus the entire roof.

There's failure points on the bonnet, pass door and b pillar - each has a peeling spot that I just touched up with a brush.

Just this year the LHS (pass) b pillar is getting worse and worse. Lets just say I wouldn't dream of ever ever pressure washing it because i can see already where it's going to let go if I did.

that said though, the never fully repainted LHS ( pass) side can still shine up OK. The primer sucks but the clear coat doesn't suck. The clear coat done on the canopy sucks though!
Photo from this year:
https://i.imgur.com/35BgB35.jpg

Bare in mind that's it's best 'factory' side - the entire roof failed, and the drivers guard and door were very very bad.
But circled in yellow in where it is failing elsewhere, bonnet on the drivers corner, a bit on the pass door and the b pillar there is really bad. Meanwhile the clear coat on the canopy is completely stuffed. It was never good but this was parked in the sun for forever - including 2013-2019 where it was never driven, let alone washed
image

Anyone know the exact reason why shockwave paint was such a disaster? I remember hearing the paint supplier got it wrong somehow, cause no other colours had the same issues. Never heard exactly why it happened though.

[oldel]

paint supplier (PPG) got it wrong, doesn't stick to the primer used by ford.
My tub was fitted later (white au tub chucked on a formerly tray back ba 1 tonner ute) and resprayed by ford when it was resold and the tub never peeled off. Bad spray directly over white with no primer but didn't peel of at least.

[smoo]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

It reinforces my thoughts that Euro cars don't cut the mustard in Australia, they don't deal with our environmental conditions.

It’s not as if Aussie cars from the last twenty years have stood up to these conditions, unless they’ve been kept inside.

paint fade on AU-FG, Terry and VE.
headlight oxidation on the same above. Haven’t notice it as much in FG though.
Hood lining sagging is common on them as well after 15 years.
Standard spec has no external trans cooler on them.
territory and B series rust issues less than five years from new. In a country where 85% of the population lives within 50km from the coast.
Territory and B series ball joints. Control blade IRS bushes. Most of the later models come with larger alloys and low profile tyres.
Falcon seat bases that collapse within 100,000km, giving the driver a dead **** on a drive longer than going down the road. Weak seat bases in a country that ranks 6th in obesity OECD.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by smoo

It’s not as if Aussie cars from the last twenty years have stood up to these conditions, unless they’ve been kept inside.

paint fade on AU-FG, Terry and VE.
headlight oxidation on the same above. Haven’t notice it as much in FG though.
Hood lining sagging is common on them as well after 15 years.
Standard spec has no external trans cooler on them.
territory and B series rust issues less than five years from new. In a country where 85% of the population lives within 50km from the coast.
Territory and B series ball joints. Control blade IRS bushes. Most of the later models come with larger alloys and low profile tyres.
Falcon seat bases that collapse within 100,000km, giving the driver a dead **** on a drive longer than going down the road. Weak seat bases in a country that ranks 6th in obesity OECD.

All this stuff just convinces me to keep operating with an older non electronic fleet.
Funny enough all basecoat white in colour.

I feel for Hayseed with the red (pink) fleet.

[Sprintey]

You could probably treat yourself to an EL Ghia as well Rokwiz (even tho electronic), those seem safe?

+1 on the pre electronic, just imagine the electric VWs as they age...

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

You could probably treat yourself to an EL Ghia as well Rokwiz (even tho electronic), those seem safe?

+1 on the pre electronic, just imagine the electric VWs as they age...

EL ECU has like 60 pins and a distributor - its basically less electronics than your microwave

[Sprintey]

Excellent, that means I could use it to also power my Lunar Command Module.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Excellent, that means I could use it to also power my Lunar Command Module.

Here's an interview with the guy who invented the EEC-V

[Sprintey]

Thanks, that was incredible. What a legend engineer.

5:50 : "Unreliability, that's the key... because the more cores you add... the more unreliablilty you add to your system because of sheer numbers of parts."

Also, those bits, individually hand-wound, polarity was either 1 or 0 - they fit a program in the memory they created to guide the rocket through it's entire ascent! Then they built triple redundancies in the guidance and double redundancies in the memory.

Epic.

[XR Martin]

No one has mentioned the biodegradable wiring insulation that various Mercedes' had in the '80s and '90s.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Here's an interview with the guy who invented the EEC-V

wow how far we have come, they really were flying blind back then took them 2 weeks to analyze the data from spreadsheets!

[Sprintey]

When you think about it, it's absolutely amazing they did* what they did with the technology on hand.








*some may believe it's impossible to fly through the firmament and leave the flat plane

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

wow how far we have come, they really were flying blind back then took them 2 weeks to analyze the data from spreadsheets!

Yep, any Little "elcheapo" Phone from Colesworth/Aldi/Auspost has more computing Power than the First Space ship..

[Sprintey]

A modern Hilux has more computing power than the Saturn V's and I saw one such Hilux of Friday using all of it's computer power to lay a glorious smoke screen over everyone behind them at the traffic lights.

Joke of an engine management system

[smoo]

Originally Posted by XR Martin

No one has mentioned the biodegradable wiring insulation that various Mercedes' had in the '80s and '90s.

1991 to 1995.
Nearly all will have been replaced by now, unless it’s a low mileage example kept in the garage all it’s life.
Those engines the harnesses were fitted to are solid. The same can’t be said for the petrol ones developed post 2000 which are made of cheese.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by smoo

1991 to 1995.
Nearly all will have been replaced by now, unless it’s a low mileage example kept in the garage all it’s life.
Those engines the harnesses were fitted to are solid. The same can’t be said for the petrol ones developed post 2000 which are made of cheese.

Oh I dunno, the little V6's are virtually bulletproof.

[smoo]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

Oh I dunno, the little V6's are virtually bulletproof.

Yeah m112 and m113 V8 were the last ones that could go forever, they came out at the end of the 90s coinciding with the first ML and w220 S Class launch.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by smoo

Yeah m112 and m113 V8 were the last ones that could go forever, they came out at the end of the 90s coinciding with the first ML and w220 S Class launch.

Yeah, mines an M112 V6, (but 12 spark plugs Coz Benz ) will clock over to 300,000 kms in the next week

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by GasoLane

Yeah, mines an M112 V6, (but 12 spark plugs Coz Benz ) will clock over to 300,000 kms in the next week

What Car is Wrapped around it Gaso..??

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by hayseed

What Car is Wrapped around it Gaso..??

CLK240 the one in my Avatar.....minus the Bullbar