Paint defects..... anything I can do after 5k miles?

I got a bit of a shock on Friday when my detailer dropped the car off at home and asks me "have you had the wing resprayed?"

"no" I replied, "why do you ask?"

"there's a hair under the clear coat in the front nearside wing."

no way, surely I would have noticed that when I was washing it. Sure enough, there's a hair under the paint. its about 4 inches long ! In my defence though the detailer did not notice it the first time he had the car. There's also another defect in the paint on the same wing.

I've attached some photos of the hair but I cannot get any to come out of the other defect which kind of looks like someone has leant on the paint while still tacky.

Any suggestions what to do after the car has done 5000 miles? I really don't think I want them to actually respray the wing as it will never be quite the same colour

It would be very easy to establish if this was a factory defect by measuring the paint thickness using a paint gauge. I'm surprised your detailer didn't do that?

If it is still factory "thickness" paint then you have a warranty claim. If it has been resprayed (not by you) then you may still have a warranty claim as LR should have a record of any remedial work done to the car before it was sold to you.

Also some Topix records show an item along the lines of "remedial bodywork" from the factory. Get your VIN number into topix and have a look

Thanks WB,

where do i find that info in topix? is it just under the vehicle features list?

(22-04-2013 11:31am)eddkawasaki Wrote:  Thanks WB,

where do i find that info in topix? is it just under the vehicle features list?

If it applies to your car you should find it in the long detailed spec list you get when you type in your VIN.

(22-04-2013 11:55am)WB Wrote:  If it applies to your car you should find it in the long detailed spec list you get when you type in your VIN.

nothing mentioned in there. Guess its a trip to the dealers tomorrow then

(22-04-2013 01:04pm)eddkawasaki Wrote:  nothing mentioned in there. Guess its a trip to the dealers tomorrow then

If they claim its been painted then you'll need them or a bodyshop/detailer to measure the paint thickness and prove it to know whether it was in the factory paint or if the panel has had work done to it. Was it brand new to you?

Shouldn't be from the factory, there paint shop is sealed off & the panels are sprayed by machines.
The only way it could happen is in the drying area before the clear coat was sprayed. But all staff have to were these all in one body suits.

How long between the build date on TOPIx and when you were given the opportunity to collect the car?

It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the car was damaged after offloading at the dealership, and then 'repaired' as a rush job before you collected it.My view of dealers is at rock bottom and I'd put nothing past them.

(22-04-2013 06:35pm)doug Wrote:  Shouldn't be from the factory, there paint shop is sealed off & the panels are sprayed by machines.
The only way it could happen is in the drying area before the clear coat was sprayed. But all staff have to were these all in one body suits.

I thought the cars were all sprayed by robots with the exception of the contrast roofs which are sprayed by hand

(22-04-2013 07:04pm)Trapdoor Wrote:  How long between the build date on TOPIx and when you were given the opportunity to collect the car?

It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the car was damaged after offloading at the dealership, and then 'repaired' as a rush job before you collected it.My view of dealers is at rock bottom and I'd put nothing past them.

This is what's worrying me as the car went "missing" for about a week from the original delivery date. Topix build date is 1st Oct 2012 delivery date 31st Oct 2012. It should have been delivered on the 22nd but it was supposed to be on a transporter on the 24th and would be there in 48 hours and it finally turned up at the dealers miraculously just as I phoned again on the 29th. I hold no faith in their PDI as they missed the fact that the tv did not work, there was no spare wheel, and the tailgate only opened fully once in a while.

I've been down to the detailers today to pay the bill from Fridays session and they have said to come back in tomorrow on my way to the dealers and they will do paint thickness measurements for me to try to work out if it was a factory defect or something the dealer may have had done.

I'll post an update tomorrow after I've been to the detaliers

---

(22-04-2013 05:22pm)WB Wrote:  If they claim its been painted then you'll need them or a bodyshop/detailer to measure the paint thickness and prove it to know whether it was in the factory paint or if the panel has had work done to it. Was it brand new to you?

yep brand spanking (slightly repainted ) ordered in may.