bws326

My White 2001 Cl Type S is only five months old and has 9000 miles. About three months ago I noticed major rings and flaws in the paint. Acura tried a claybar and I tried full zaino process and no luck. So back to acura where they buff the trunk to get down to the problem and low and behold there are indentions like little holes all over the paint. Acura claims it is acid rain. This was wednesday after four hours of sitting in the waiting room, because they did not have any loaners. They said they were going to need to wet sand it. But, acura does not do it there they send it to a guy they contract out. So my service manager said he would set up an appointment for me with this guy and call me back thursday morning. Nothing. Calledd this morning and the manager said he was in meetings all day, but would get back with me today. Then I asked who he reports to and how I can get in touch with someone who makes decesions. Well, he will not be back in our district until the end of the month and I can not contact him over the phone, the only way I can get int touch with him is schedule a meeting for the end of the month while my paint rots away. Help what should I do.


-----------------------------
2001 White Acura 3.2 ClS
Aem cold air intake
Comptech springs, sways
Koni Yellows

RaleighNC

Sorry to hear that. Have you checked with another dealer??

Performance in Chapel Hill (919) 833-0786 or Leith in Cary (919) 460-8200??

These two dealers are A-1 so far with my acura server. I believe both have in-house bodyshops.

astro

get a hold of the manager of the dealership and if that isnt possible or doesn't work, contact Acura Customer service through the website....
you could also try going to a different dealership...

bws326

One thing I am worried about is the quality of my paint after the wet sand. My service manager at Crown Acura always does a great job. I just think the entire deal is a load of shit 9000 miles on a $32,000 car and a paint job that cant withstand 5 months of rain. I think Acura should be doing something about this, at the least for all the time I have had to spend at the dealer. I personally think Acura should give me a new ride.

JOE CL TYPE S with Navi

I feel for you but Acura is NOT going to give you a new ride just because of paint issues. If I were you I would call a few other Acura dealerships and ask their advice. Another thing I would do is make sure that Acura pays for any services done to your car. Best of luck to you..

JamE55

Go to where he is and tell him exactly what you need. Sounds like he's avoiding you??

SanDogDewey

Sound like you have a bad clear coat. Excessive buffing and wetsanding are going to remove it completly. Are they going to re-shoot the clear coat when they are finished. If they get into the color coat, I would ask that the car be re-painted.

JasonT

Does white have a clear coat? I was told be a dealer one time that white cars are not clear coated, because they will yellow over time. Is that true? or BS, I think BS because I never heard of that.

SanDogDewey

I would say BS. Quote From the Acura website:

The body is then carefully washed, dried and inspected for even the slightest imperfection in preparation for undercoating application. The base coat and subsequent color coats are baked in a low-temperature oven to ensure that each coating is completely cured, followed by another round of washing, drying and inspection. The final step is the application of a durable clear coat designed to resist fading, oxidation and discoloration from environmental pollutants. The outcome is a brilliant, enduring finish.

phinthesky

HEy guys,
I used to work at Ford-Utica Facility where we painted all the fascias for FOrd cars.

I got to witness a lot of shit there including the wet sanding of a ford mustang for the detroit autoshow.

The dude that wetsands your car must be careful not to sand to far into the clear coat. If he does he will be sanding your basecoat and that is bad. (BTW, all cars have clearcoat on them).

After he wetsands, he SHOULD apply a coat of clearcoat. Now this clearcoat drys with normal air. It doesnt have to be baked on. If they try to tell you no such clearcoat product exists, they are lying. I have seen it done.

Also, whether or not it is acid rain is not the issue. Paint is formulated with chemicals that resist against chemical rain. The paint should be robust enough. As far as having rings in your paint, I am really not sure what the failure mode would be for that. If your paint is metallic, then it could be "mottle." Mottle occurs inthe basecoat. It is where the metallic separates from the rest of the paint and appears as blotches on the car. However, you would have noticed this when you bought the car. If the problem is in the basecoat, the car will haveto be repainted.

acura_service

its said resist, i can tell you something about this because living in the northeast we have some of the worst acid rain problems of anywhere in the country and i've seen this since i've worked in dealerships since 1987 - first of all its likely that not all of it will come out with wetsanding - more realistic is 90% but that depends on how bad the pitting is: yes the clear can be wetsanded and buffed, but like its already mentioned here that the person has to be careful not to sand down into the color coat, but you have nothing to loose unless you decide to live with the pits, you might want to ask about painting the flats, try the buffing first and see if your satisfied, if something happens down the road you have all of your documentation, you really don't have to involve the reps, this can be resolved on the dealership level

Mick

bws326,

I had a midnight 2001 cls with acid rain spots . They were on every flat surface of the car . I noticed them after 5 days of ownership during it's first waxing . I brought the car back to the dealership and they sent the car to a body shop to wet sand the spots out . They got some of them out but not many and made the paint on the hood look wavy if you looked at it in certain lighting conditions. I told the service manager it wasn't acceptable and they offered to paint the car . Great a 30K car with a Maco paint job! No Way!! I got on the line to Acura Customer Service and filed a complaint . They sent a rep from Calif. to come look at the car His response was that it was enviromental damage and that Acura doesn't warrenty acid rain it was a dealership issue . I talked with the management at my dealership and they said they would try to get Acura to pick up some of the cost of replacing the car . After many weeks of calling / e-mailing Acura I contacted a lawyer to see what I could do . He was to write a letter threatening litigation But that afternoon I got a call at work from Acura Customer Service saying they were going to replace the car there only restriction was that the replacement would not be a dark colored cls but the good news was that it was going to be a 2002 model so I opted fo a red one. From what I could gather my dealership ( Precision Acura of Princeton ) had alot to do with accomplishing the deal. By the time the swap was made I had 6400 miles on the 2001 and didn't pay for any of them as a matter of fact my monthly payment went down $ 8.06/mo. as the interest rates had dropped .

Keep after them they know the paint is crap and have to do somthing to keep customers coming back

Good Luck
Mick

acura_service

its every mfg, i don't care what you do, acid is acid thank the EPA and there paint restrictions, don't get mad at any mfg, call your congressman and complain, aircraft paint is under different restrictions due to the process they use, is very durable (i'm only pointing out how good paint can be under the right blend of chemicals) every see what a hail ball can do at 300mph, the aircraft paint holds up pretty good - if it weren't for these restrictions, the paint on our cars would hold up like stone, but we might offend some people - so what we get is acid rain, i've seen acid rain etch an aluminum evaporator core and cause it to leak, so if it eats through aluminum, i guess your paint is fair game, i'm not happy about it either, i have written to my state representative, sometimes its worth it do to a little investigation before all the name calling and finger pointing, lets yell at the people behind all the decision making

EricL

Interesting note – the Navy uses a sealant/”wax” called "TS Clear Coat" (we've been using it on my wife's car); it protects F-14s from UV, salt, and other damage as they fly and sit on carriers.

The new paints are rather sensitive to bad water (from sprinklers) -- it is easy to get water spots that won't come out (if not treated quickly).

I had my Maxima (no clear coat) hit with some nasty reclaimed water (from sprinklers) out in Sylmar one day (the car had the water on it all day). The paint on the car was not clear coat, but the paint was applied in Japan (it was too thin in the front, but it was tough). The spoiler was finished here (in the USA). I knew this as I later found out that the dealer had damaged it and had used water based paint to repaint the spoiler (after their screw up/damage.) The water spots in the spoiler did NOT come out and I even did the wet sanding myself (I'm good a wet sanding and used to paint). Interesting that the FACTORY paint cleaned with a minimum of fuss!

I can only advise folks out there to take the time and trouble to layer up your favorite wax or sealer (I like the Zaino and TS Clear Coat). The sealer will still get damaged by bad water and acid rain, but at least it works (if not expected to do too much) as a sparing coat; it will get eaten before the clear coat does in most cases. Even the Zaino and other "tough" synthetic protestants/sealers/waxes have a rather tough time with: bird dropping, insect guts, environmental pollutants, acid rain, and all of the other nasties around!

The Acura paint is "soft" and needs all the protection it can get *and* it needs that protection to be maintained as much as one's time schedule will allow.

I was so stunned when my factory "old process" paint on my Maxima's body was able to be cleaned-up with some vinegar and a little mild polish, but the spoiler (with its soft USA approved paint) had faint white Zebra spots that would show up under certain type of street lights.


BTW -- Acid rain eating the Aluminum is probably not the best analogy (but what you say is quite true -- it looks like shit after a rain or two if it isn't anodized to death). However, you wont see any acids being stored in an Aluminum container. There are various acids and other corrosives that can be stored in plastic containers (depending of plastic and nature of the acid or base). My Aluminum screen door (long gone) looked white from the years of acid rain

Finally, maybe you can put a "please use a power clear coat" into the Acura suggestion box. I'm sure a bunch of folks would thank you...

Mick

Acura_Service

While the Acura rep was at the dealership he told me the acid rain was a common problem with dark colored cars and went looking for another car on the lot with the same problem , he couldn't find one. It's my belief that if the car doesn't have a good coat of wax/Zaino on it then it's alot more likely to be damaged by the acid rain. By the way my previous car a 1999 was on the lot and the paint was perfect

Mick

TypeSAddict

Eric, check this out
http://www.tsservices.com/ccf.htm

Its $30, maybe ill order it. does it protect against chips, or just environmental pollutants? and, how do you like it, in general, on your wife's car?

acura_service

it all depends on how long the car has been on the lot with the protective coating removed, and a car without polish doesn't really get acid rain as the water does not bead, although it more than likely would fade faster

rsuzara

I am pretty sure Leith Acura does not have a body shop, b/c when I went to leith acura once to check out a scratch on my bumper, they gave me a number to a body shop that they send their cars to.

I am not sure about performance acura in chapil hill if they have their own body shop.

RaleighNC

Then maybe it was performance acura. I asked about fixing a scratch, and they wanted to set-up an appointment for an estimate.

acura_service

what kind of dealers are these without body shops?, our body shop is one of the largest on the east coats, they run 2 shifts, and they never need an appt for an estimate, plus are direct repair for over 20 insurance companys

EricL

1. It isn't like the Z5 -- the car has to look perfect when you apply it (consider it to be like a piece of clear plastic -- it wont cover any scratches or blemishes up, it will just protect what is underneath.

2. It lasts about 6-months on my wife's Burgundy clear-coat Altima. The amount of protection is amazing and if you look over the site, the info on the F-14 usage is not BS. My car gets covered-up more and is Silver, so it gets the Zaino.

As far as chips, etc -- she does very little freeway driving, but her car gets covered with dirt and she takes it to a hand car wash. It is her car and she is the boss in that department. However, even though we think we found the best hand car wash around, it is not like a "perfect" do-it-yourself hand wash, and she washes the car a lot. So, I can't tell you how it resists little projectiles (like multiple layers of Zaino), but it seems to be great for UV and general long life protection. The car also looks better than new, but it did need a machine polish last year to make the clear coat look better than new, and we were amazed (he put the TS Clear Coat on right after the car has a "perfect" base to put the "protective layer" of TS Clear Coat on.

So, it looks very deep (more than the Zaino) and it protects very well. But, there is no Z5! So, make sure the finish is in perfect shape!

AS with all products, it does require us to remove really nasty bug guts and bird dropping ASAP (we don't wait around to remove the nasty stuff).

Summary:

Chip protection – don’t know
Environmental protection – amazing stuff

TypeSAddict

thanks man, maybe Ill just atick w/ zaino then