Hi There,
First of all let me say that this is my first post and I have to say that I am stoked with all the info available for the 380 and the following on this Forum.
I have to admit I really am a Nissan man but my daily driver has just become a manual 380 which in my opinion is one of the most under rated cars going around. 11 grand got me a lot of car I must say.

Any way here is my question.
My 380 is a 2006 Limted Edition and is Platinum Silver Paint code EH. The other day I noticed that during certain light conditions I could see a slight blotchiness through the paint on the bonnet. Had a look the next day in overcast conditions and it was gone. Spoke to the panel the other day about something else and happened to ask him about this. First thing he said was " Is the car Silver" I then replied yes.
He said very common with late model cars with light mettalic colours. He called it Mottle effect and can occur straight from the factory with Fords according to him. I then looked it up on the internet and he was spot on.
Has anyone else noticed this effect on their 380. I suspect this bonnet was re-sprayed at some stage and the spray painter must not have been up with modern paint techniques and as a result left with Mottle effect. Not a big deal I suppose, Can always get the bonnet re-sprayed down the track.

Interested to hear if any other owners with Silver 380's have seen this effect.

I have a platinum colour 380 (manual too) and I've never noticed any mottle effect on it.

I think you might be right and whatever you are seeing is due to a respray and not factory paint.

I reckon one way to check if the bonnet has been resprayed is to look for tiny stone chips.

If there are none at all, not even touched up ones, then it's likely to have been resprayed recently.

Get really close to the paint with a torch in the dark, you will see the metal flakes better. If they all lie flat, you get a bright patch, if they all stand up you get a darker effect. The robot arm in the factory gets it right all over a flat panel like a bonnet, try to copy that with a human arm is near impossible, spray gun setup, temperature, speed of movement of the gun/closeness to panel while spraying determines the paint thickness, drying time, and the percentage of flakes that lie down or stand up.

I've painted cars before, but I'm not game to try metallics. lol
Way past my equipment and skills. lol

No mottle here, but thanks for the warning as I was thinking of getting the bonnet resprayed due paint chips!

I worked at a Mitsubishi dealership when these were new. We actually found a lot of 380's with various paint defects. They included sand in the paint, fish eyes in the paint, paint missing from some panel edges and of course motled paint. The MMAL rep took photos but basically if the customer didn't pick up the defect in about the first 10000km, then it was their problem. The problem was a bit unusual as the vehicles were apparently not touched by hand until they had been pressed, welded and then painted. We got no answers from MMAL after this point.

Sounds like there was a problem in the spray booth that didn't get picked up by quality control. All it takes is a problem with ventilation or temperature control.

Hi, welcome to the forums. Nice to see another 2006 Limited Edition. Me too, but auto (and black). Recently had mine fully detailed (needed a correction as paintwork had heaps of scratches and swirls, etc).

Thanks guys,
Some interesting info.
Had another close look today. Walked around the car several times and could not notice anything.
Drove it to a relatives house This arvo and after I parked it had another look as I was walking away and this time I could see the Mottle effect in the bonnet and a tiny bit in the doors. It is very dependant on how the light actually hits the car. Could go days without noticing anything and then the sun hits it on a certain angle and you can clearly see the Mottle effect.
I think its just one of those little annoying things. No real big deal. Just remember guys that if you ever paint the bonnet to make sure the spray painter blends in the quater panels to make it look factory.My panel beater reckons that he could re-spray my bonnet with a 70% improvement.
Apparently its all about how you mix the thinners and how long between coats along with a criss cross paint technique and 50% overlap
He did however say to me that light colour Metallics are a real pain.
Anyway the 380 becomes my daily next week so looking forward to really enjoying it as I have only really driven it 3 or 4 times so far.