I'm beginning to wonder if buying an Acura was a good choice
After I first got the car and gave it its first good wax/wash job... I noticed the very bottom of the front bumper in a few spots -- there was clearcoat chipping off minimally. I figured, well it's down near the road, it's probably from rocks/road debris, etc. -- I'll get the bumper repainted when I put on the body kit this summer.

Now today, I stopped at a hand spray car wash to just rinse some of the slush/salt off of my car. I come to the drivers door and start rinsing and the water if like "squirting behind" -- ya know how it looks when you spray ice on your car, the water shoots underneath it til it finally dislodges. Well this "ice" wasn't dislodging, rather flaking off... ITS CLEAR COAT. On the side rubstrip/trim strip -- whatever that thing is called on the door... some huge pieces have flaked off and its bubbly elsewhere on the strip. The door itself seems fine -- I called the dealer and made an appt. for Friday morning.

My question is --- should this be something the dealer should take care of? It's certainly not neglect... I take excellent care of my cars -- and prior to my owning it this was a Southern car. Hell, people couldn't believe that my 7 year old 130k mile Thunderbird had its original paint because it was in such great condition.

Thanks...

 

Did you run a Carfax report on this car? Any chance it was in an accident? Or maybe somebody had it repainted? Sounds like a D.I.Y. clear coat job on your car.

Take it to Park Ave. They seem to be more lenient than most dealers.

Good luck.

 

If you're still within the warranty period, it should be covered.

 

Yes CarFax was pefectly clean... actually when the 2nd owner (i'm the third) purchased it -- it was a Certified Acura. The 1st owner leased it. I DO know that the fender was replaced/repainted... but I believe it was on the other side... I'll have to ask the guy I bought it from.

Thanks

 

With that # of previous owners, you should make sure whether or not it is damage from poor accident repairs. If not, you are going to start up the Quality issues debate that quite a few of the board members here complain about.

BTW, I am not one who has any problems with the quality, however if my tranny ever went, I could easily join the malcontents.

 

 

Yes i know the cars fvcking filthy, gimme a break we got 8 feet of snow and I dont have a garage with warm water or a drain that works....

I washed it once today believe it or not... thats how i found the clearcoat...

and a pic of the red wipers (ADDED like 30HP.... man I beat an M5 :p)

 

remember, a clean car-fax report doesn't rule out the possibility that the car was in an accident settled outside of insurance

It could've been a bad repair job since there are 4000 members on here and this is the first we've heard of this.

 

I did know that the fender was replaced....
the door was unscathed from what I've been told...
I'm goign to try to contact the last owner tomorrow.

 

BTW>..i've heard a lot of guys on here complain about sh!tty paint jobs... I think one guy on here has a TLS with like5k miles and they are gonna give him a new one because its sooo bad

 

If the damage is only on the side trims, you may be able to simply get new trim pieces and replace the old ones.

 

Even if it was in an accident, the trim pieces on the doors come pre-painted from the factory. Unless it was a really cheap ass shop that re-painted the factory piece, i don't think it was accident related. Could it be the salt that ate through the clearcoat and caused it to flake off?

 

I really doubt it considering the rest of the car is fine...
And I wash my car a lot in the winter...
My 7 year old car had no flaking and it was always a car that was up here...
this was at some point a southern car

 

These are my thoughts exactly. I'm of the opinion that the flaking clearcoat is due to a poor respray.

 

If the paint under the flaking clear is still shiny, then I'd also agree the flaking paint is clearcoat that had been reapplied, and poorly. If it was the factory clearcoat, the paint underneath would be the semi-dull basecoat.

Unfortunately, if it's a recoat, it would probably not be covered by warranty either, especially you being the 3rd owner. I would wonder if there is any way to "fix" the affected areas without totally repainting.

It reminds me of the "clearcoat paint protection" they used to apply back in 80's. It peeled off like that too.

 

It's amazing what they use clearcoat for! I bought an '89 Beretta when it was about 3 years old. Everything was fine. Well after about a year of owning it I noticed all these fine scratches on the trunk. Turns out they were under the clear coat. Someone sprayed clearcoat on it and then it was sold to me. I guess if you spray that stuff on there and put some wax on it, it covers the scratches.

There were millions of scratches like people used to sit on the trunk, hangout and bullsh*t/smoke whatever.

Owell.

 

The previous owner of my 00 TL had the HID's stolen and the thieves bent the hood, when the car got repaired the body shop didnt use any activator in the paint and now it chips and flakes as soon as something dings it. I got the whole nose of the car repainted by acura under warranty. To get to the point, from what it looks like in the pics, somebody just resprayed the trim/panel without any activator in the paint so now it doesnt have any flex at all and if u drove by a salt truck and it tossed salt or sand at the car, that could have done it.
BTW, a lot of cheap body jobs dont use activator because its expensive and they dont feel like mixing it.

 

The areas where the clearcoat has flaked completely off are "duller" they are almost like a flat red and not shiny...

 

TommyBoi, This is unfortunate. You need to find out if the door is involved in an accident. Carfax obtained its data from volunteering dealers/paint shops/insurance. These places are not required to provide the information.
You paint flake is definitely a 're-spray'. The OEM trim is painted and clear coated first, and then 'pasted' on our car. There is no clear coat over the 'trim and body' afterwards. Your flaking looks like aftermarket respray. My recommendation is to get an honest answer from the previous owner and take it back to the shop that resprayed it.

 

Frick I aint driving 15hrs to alabama....

I'll see what the dealer sez first tomorrow and go from there...

will keep u's updated

 

i had my car's clearcoat...paintshield...rust proofing...whatever it calls all done at my dealer...they got me for half price!!! same as doing those outside...
also i found out every dealer has different period of warrenty...some has 5 yrs, some has 10, some has lifetime...but it should be covered if ur car is only 2 to 3 yrs old...

 

eh... turns out he said the fender (i knew about the fender) door and part of the hood were repainted well I guess the whole hood cuz u cant just partially do it. He said see where there are like "fish eyes"? um no... lol but I guess dirt under tha paint?

But ne how -- he siad the trim piece is only $40. So he ordered it for me and is going to put it on for free.

How much would it cost to get :gulp: the hood, door, and fender repainted?

I'm gonna try and contact the previous owner I think his name was on the Bama title i had...
And I'll see if he knows or can tell me where it was done