When did Honda start cutting corners on quality?

VTECnR

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I just bought a civic si. My plan is to trade it in for a type r when

how often would you suggest using clear coat polish (applying manually, not an auto buffer)? Thanks for all the good information.
I'd encourage ya to avoid any attempt at removing swirls without a DA. It's just not practical on a large scale.

If you don't want to correct, fill instead. The results will be shorter lived but it's much easier, takes a lot less time, and can still level the paint to some extent. Wash with Meguiars Plus to help deep clean the paint, rinse well, and spray down the car with an iron remover like Iron X, rinse thoroughly. Clay with nanoskin... I like their 7Ă—7" green clay rag for the R. For the clay lube, use a good quick detailer like Griots. Rinse well and wipe down with a body solvent like Duplicolor paint prep. Wax with Jescar Powerlock Plus for high gloss or Colanite 845 for a warmer look... or both (Powerlock first). Wax THIN!!! Maintaine with a mild car shampoo like Meguiars Gold Class and always dry with Griots Spray Wax or P&S Beadmaker as a drying aid. It'll look real nice. Griots Best of Show Spray wax and Meguiars Ultimate Fast Finish are excellent toppers too but ya get to get the car pretty dry first.

Steve
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Baime

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I haven't noticed the paint issue or body panel gaps, but most of the time I've owned my car it has been winter, and I don't spend time looking at the paint. I will give it a closer look this spring. I'm hoping this isn't an issue on all of the cars.

What I've notice is Honda being cheap on some of the basic little things over the years..

I owned a 94 Civic sedan for 17 years. They didn't offer an audible alarm if you left your headlights on. It wasn't even an option. My wife or I easily left the headlights on once a year. I kept jumper cables in the trunk just for this occasion.

Not offering a built in garage door opener in a fairly loaded up 2018 EX_T sedan in my opinion is unacceptable, and just plain cheap.

I would put the "no lumbar support adjustment" in the same category.

Take care, JP
 

Hondaman_MI

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My LSM hatch has a ton of good chips on it as with everyone else. I ended up on my GE8 Fit putting a faux carbon fiber hood vinyl just to stop the chipping .... and for the look lol. Is the only good way to fix chips is to use touch up paint?? I’ve heard it’s awful on LSM.
I've used it on mine. The black touch up paint matches well, the harder thing is getting it to be level with the surrounding paint. If it's a small chip, put a little on a toothpick, and use the minimum amount needed. Another method I used was a black sharpie permanent marker.
 

87elco

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Well people want more stuff(technology) for less money and you have to cheap out on something to make the profits they want...plus paint can't be the same anymore with the epa and protecting the environment and what not
 

Nitroturtle

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My biggest complaint, while small to others, is the glossy, black trim that's on the pillars by the window. That crap scratches so easily. You can't do anything to prevent it. It's not just Honda. All the big companies are doing this. Why do they use that kind of material that scuffs up under the most ideal of circumstances??
I had all of the gloss black trim done with PPF when I had the front end and rockers done. Makes it a lot easier to keep it from swirling, especially on the doors where it's often touched when closing the door. Also did the whole wing, since people seem to love running their fingers across it.
 


oliviaiiii

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Don’t think warranty will cover it but you can try.
 

SavagePavich

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-Soft paint
-Weird clutch issues (gears popping out, 1st gear not going in etc)
-Plastics in places where there really, really shouldn't be plastic (like on the bloody door trim)
-Cloth arm/console rests that are so abrasive you end up rubbing half your dead skin cells on it
-Head rest on the seats lean your head foward in an uncomfortable position if you like to sit straight (I'm over 6'3" so this is probably just me)

I drive an LX model so most of this kinda comes with the territory but coming from a 04 Civic it's pretty clear they prioritized tech over comfort in some areas. Then again having higher end cloth with a crappy budget head unit and no Gucci Digi-Speedo probably wouldn't fly with people these days, so I understand.

I swear if I had the money I'd replace the crappy cloth trim yesterday
 

ebhaynz

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I read someplace that saving just $50 in manufacturing is a big deal for these car companies. I guess this is true because how many 10 gen Civics will Honda end up selling? 5 million? 10 million? If so saving $50 amounts to a billion dollars.
 

Gruber

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Water-based car paint is not as good as solvent-based....
Low GWP (should be now renamed to CCP, hahaha) refrigerants are not as good as the traditional freons...
Lead-free solder in electronics is not as good as the traditional lead-containing solder....
Soy-based cable insulation is not as good as the regular insulation...
Replacements for lead-based anti-knock agents are not as good as lead.....
Ethanol in fuel.....
Titanium or zinc-based white paint is not as good as lead-based white paint....
No thermometer is as as good as the mercury thermometer in some applications....
Asbestos substitutes are not as good as asbestos....
Soy-based inks...


"Not as good" means mostly that it will cost you additional money, at least during the decades when these products are introduced. Consumers paid billions of $$$ for inconveniences and failures related to these and similar replacements. Some of these bans and replacements were better justified than others, but none of them came without consequences and costs to consumers.
 
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integra15

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My 2008 Mazda Speed 3 was 100 percent made in Hiroshima Japan. Need I say more??? Mexican and even worse Canadian workmanship equals a pile of shit. I have SOOOOOOO much orange peal on my deck lid on my coupe ... it;s really a S A D mess.

Aren't these the Mazdas that rusted after three or four years? Not the best example of quality.
 
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Monnk13

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Ahahaha, but I love the polar bears. Look at this furry and innocent beast:
cdn_k3s34210-3976.jpg

So cute......:love:
Lol. I have a general rule regarding cute animals. Any animal that has the power to rip off my arm and beat me to death with it automatically gets a 50% reduction to its “cute factor”
 

civicls

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Lol. I have a general rule regarding cute animals. Any animal that has the power to rip off my arm and beat me to death with it automatically gets a 50% reduction to its “cute factor”
Polar bears? naaah. They'll just hug you and act cute. Try it, they're super friendly.
 


 


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