awood

I have a 2002 TLS. Today I saw what I thought was dirt on the rear passenger side door trim (the wide black vertical strip). When I went to clean it off, it turned out to be the clear coating cover on the decal chipping away. With the loose stuff cleaned off, this black panel is half glossy and half matte with a jagged line down the middle where the clear coating has worn away (I assume from wind).

Has anyone else seen this?? I have about 33K miles on the car.

Should this be covered under the warrenty?

Thanks!

HCHO2000

very common problem i have it too bottom line dealer if under warrenty but takes 2-3 days because if must go to a body shop or bring it to a body shop your self or live with it like me

crombie1000

commond problem, Acura replaced mine under warranty. I'm glad because they were chipping like crazy

awood

Thanks for the advice. I called the Acura dealer and they were able to replace all four panels in one day. Just got it back today. First reaction is that they look great. I hadn't realized it, but after looking close I noticed hairline cracks running horizontally across all four panels. Its like the clear coat had become quite brittle and now wind erosion was enough to wear it off.

However, even in areas were it wasn't worn off, I now realize that it wasn't as glossy as when it was new. The new panels looked significantly better.

With a replaced drivers seat, transmision, wrinkled window trim, 3 recalls, and now cracked/chipped clear code on trim, I don't know if I'll ever buy another Acura, but I must say that the Acura service is by far the best experience I've ever had.

If I had to rank my service experiences from 1 to 10 for all the cars I've owned:

Volkswagon: 2
Hyundai : 1
Ford: ???
Acrua: 9

The reason I can't rank Ford is because I put 75K miles on my 95 T-Bird with nothing other than oil changes. It never saw the inside of the Ford garage. The only thing that ever went wrong is a plastic clip that connects the door lock cylinder to a rod on locking mechanism broke (the key would no longer open the door), and I replaced that myself.

Don't get me wrong, the Acura has been a lot of fun, but with anything less than the exceptional service I've received, this car could easily have been a nightmare.