[NicksDragon90]

I was reading on a different thread (here PPF and Ceramic Coating ) that several folks seemed to agree that Mazdas have "thin" paint.
I am curious as to the basis for that assessment. Has anyone actually used a paint micrometer to measure the thickness of Mazda paint?

I was an automotive Sales Manager for many years, and one of the tools I used when appraising trades (and I have appraised hundreds of trades every year) was a Paint Mic.
We used it to see if any panels deviated from the other panels, since humans can't paint as evenly and as thinly as the factory robots do, and tend to go over most areas twice for coverage. When 6 panels on a car measured 3.5 to 4.5 mils and then the trunk lid measured 8, you knew that the trunk had been painted.

Most factories painted their cars between 3 and 6 mils, with the exception of some tri-coat paint jobs. Nissan had extremely thin paint, it wasn't unusual to see readings from 1.0 to 1.5 mils on every panel. Many older Nissans had the hood and roof paint literally worn away by detailing; the primer coat would start to pop thru. It was really common until about 2015 when they started to put more material on their cars.

I never noticed this with any Mazda trades, although I worked mostly in high-line autos and probably have only appraised 30 or 40 Mazdas.

BTW, if you are curious, Paint Micrometers only work on ferrous and aluminum panels; they can't measure bumper paint, or Corvettes or Saturns with fiberglass or plastic body panels. In So Calif where I worked, I would guess that about 50% of used cars we sold had repainted bumpers, most of them repainted by the dealer.

I have a 2019 soul red Mazda 6 signature. When I purchased it I didn't know about the thin paint and I had the car covered with ppf and ceramic coating. The coating wasn't looking to good a couple of weeks ago and I noticed the roof was starting to show oxidation. I used my paint thickness guage and was shocked. I checked the paint level first inside the frame on the pillar in the driver side and it measured 2.28 mils; that is thin. I've always seen in cars that typically when I measure them that the paint is 1.5 to 2 times greater than that number and of course I attribute that to extra clear coats. What I found out is that most my panels measured about 3.5 and then when I went to the roof the front of the roof measured 1.78 and moving back it went up to 2.2. The paint is literally disintegrating and it's only two and a half years old. I wash this car by hand every single week with GRIOT'S wash products, which is one of the best on the market in my opinion. I used the surface wash and the three in one sio2 spray once every 4 to 6 weeks. The car has looked fabulous for two and a half years up until the last couple months when the Ceramic Coating failed. I decided to stop using the sio too on March 1st and to go for a month and see if the car would lose all of his hydrophobicity and it did. The coating had failed, a 7-year coating only lasted two and a half years. That's another story for later.
I went to the Detail Shop that put on the product originally and another one and both shops agreed that the coating had failed. But they also agreed that Mazda has very thin paints and unfortunately Mazda won't do anything about it. Also both shops said they would not work on it because the pain is too thin and so I'm left with just adding sio2 sprays until the paint disappears. Cuz I can't polish out the water spots because it is an outdoor daily driver and I can't polish out any of the oxidation. I just got to watch the paint dry out and oxidize. I have never had a paint job that went bad on a car and most my cars I own about 10 years and most my cars I buy or one or two years old when I buy him but of course most of my car is that about were Toyotas and BMWs. I have not bought Mazdas before.
I was wondering does Mazda repaint cars because they're so thin or is it just something we have to live with because I'm looking at a car that's two and a half years old and has lost over 30 seconds paint has just literally evaporated disappeared and at this rate this car is going to be needing a repaint within a year or two maybe three.