Over two weeks ago I took my TL in for the paint problem with the rear bumper. White car with yellow bumper as the advisor said. They agreed to fix. Now, it's over two weeks later, they brought the car to me today and they took it right back to the dealership. I told them it was not acceptable. It looked the same. They did paint it, but the guy who brought it even said it still looked terrible. I've now made two lease payments on the car and I've only put 400 miles on the car. Does anyone have any idea of a resolution I could propose to them?
They've really been great but the problem is not resolved. I don't expect it to be perfect, but I 'd like it to look better. My boyrfriend tells me to request another car....but I told him that the dealership would never do that for this problem...

Any advice is well appreciated.

 

I would suggest that you tell the dealership to blend better paint. If this cannot be resolved, i think you should call acura client care services or have acura reimburse you for getting it painted elsewhere.

 

Call Acura Client Care Services: 1 800 382 2238...and file a complaint don't wait for them to paint it AGAIN and come back with the same results....

...tell them that it's absurd that you have to deal with THIS kind of issue on a new car and if they simply say they'll fill out a complaint about the situaiton, ask to speak with a supervisor and go off on them
...I would first try my hardest to get to them taking the car back and giving you another TL in a different color of your choice...if that doesn't work I'd threaten with a lawsuit against the manufacturer....as a last ditch effort I'd want to be reimbursed for the payments made thus far and not have to pay any of the lease payments for any number of months until the car is in my hands in respectable/ NEW condition

 

Is it REALLY that bad? Take some pictures.
I just learned to live with it.
Plus you're leasing the car, not financing it. You're not exactly the owner.
Dealership already did you a favor by repainting it. They won't give you a new car for that.
Ask them nicely to repaint it again somewhere else. Tell them this problem has to be fixed.
Tell them that Lexus doesn't have this mismatch problem and tell them if you've noticed this in the first place, you'd have leased a Lexus instead of an Acura.

 

hummm, they might not be so willing to correct it 100% considering they own it.

 

Well, they should at least stand behind what they sell. I had 5 hondas prior to moving into the Acura and two of those cars had paint problems that were corrected to my satisfaction. It looks terrible, and frankly, I'm embarassed to seen in this thing, especially for my co-workers to see it since I talked about having this nice new car. The dealer is not disputing anything with me yet, they've been very nice about it. It is a leased car, but I am paying a payment and I don't expect to receive any less quality or service on a lease than a purchase. Besides, if the car was financed, I'm still not the owner until the loan is paid in full.

If I had known this before, I would have gone with the BMW that I test drove before this car. I should have listened and gone with the BMW and lived without a few options, at least my car would be all one color!

 

This was the approach that I am wanting to take, since I am making payments on something I am not even getting to drive. I would like for them to offer me another car in a different color but I KNOW that will never happen. The only thing about filing a complaint right now, is that I don't want to piss them off and then they stop even trying to fix it. I know what they did, they tried to blend paint from the sides, they didn't even repaint the entire bumper because the VIN sticker is still on the part that meets the trunk. I guess they think I'm an idiot. I have lots of pictures of it before I ever took it in. I assume with this problem being so widespread with WDP that I'm not going to get very far...

 

Crissy, no matter how absurd the request is, all they can say is no - and you are no worse off than before. I can live with no, I just can't live with NOT knowing..so ask, maybe you will get someone who actually cares about a customer.

All they can say is no Crissy...do it! Ask for another car, another color, deferrment of payments until this issue is corrected (unless they are giving you a loaner), whatever! Good luck and post back results ok!

 

This is why I won't have mine repainted...a can of worms that I choose not to open. I'll live with mine also.

 

Agree 100%.

 

I think to some people they prefer the color they want.
For example, I'd never trade my WDP TL for another color.

 

sorry to hear about this buddy - but this is also the reason why I have royal blue pearl ;-)

 

I talked with the service dept manager earlier today. They are sending it to an outside body shop and will cover the cost for repaint. The manager promised me that it will look great when finished and said that this body shop has corrected this problem on this color before. The manager also agreed that mine looked terrible.

I do not want another color, the white is what I wanted in the TL, I just wanted a car with uniform color.

Hopefully it will look better, if not, I'll go from there.

 

good for you! take some pictures afterward.

 

Hey dude, I had to have my front bumper repainted after 3 months, it was fading and peeling, i went to the dealer and told them that I was not leaving until i spoke to someone at corporate acura or the general manager had them look at it and the repainted it and gave me the clear bra for free. I've had nothing but problems with Crown Acura in Richmond, all buyers beware.

 

How did it look after they painted it? The service manager told me that it will look good and that they have dealt with it before and had to send the cars out. They should have done this to start with. They kept saying the "detail" guy is working on it when they tried to paint it before. Isn't the "detail guy" the person who cleans the cars up? I know they were just trying to get out of paying an outside body shop to fix it. I was pissed when I called today, so I hope they got the point!!!

 

you should still try getting the payments you've already made, back

 

If it's fixed right and to what I think is acceptable I may just let it go. They have been very nice about the whole thing. But when I go to pick it up, if it's still not right...then I'm going to push for a replacement or at least that money back. Plus, I lost 3 weeks of my free XM trial, which I've had XM before in another vehicle, but its just the principle of it.

 

^^^^ummm, good luck w/ that crissy.

 

I believe you are experiencing the 'White Diamond Pearl Trance Syndrome'. This syndrome is found in individuals that are immensely drawn to the visual appeal of the white diamond pearl TL. When viewing a TL in this color it sets the viewer into a trance. While in the trance, the viewer begins to notice blemishes and color distortions that the average viewer does not notice when glimpsing at the car.

Treatment can begin with refraining from staring at the car for any length of time. (I often find myself doing this daily). It is hard not to be set into a trance when viewing the white diamond pearl TL but this is the first step to curing the syndrome. So try it and hopefully it will help.

 

Why oh why does Lexus pearl white look so much better than ours. On Lexus IS250s and RX350s I can't see any color difference between plastics and the body.

 

^ to answer your question

Lexus Quality > Acura quality

 

I believe the trial is for 3 months, not weeks but I could be mistaken. Nonetheless, best of luck with the bumper. Acura paint is pretty bad

 

Yes it is for 3 months, but I'd like to enjoy the entire free trial. They told me today that they will not bring it back until it's right this time...They also said they are using a body shop named B & R. I'm not from Charlotte so I don't know anything about the place.

 

My take on this is that you took delivery of a NEW leased car. You noticed a problem in the paint and immediately pointed it out to the dealer. You gave them an opportunity to fix/repair but was not pleased with the outcome. You have now been without your car for ~ 2 weeks. If they are having to do all of this respraying, you are not going to have what I would call a NEW car when you get it back. I would go ahead and tell them you want another car. They could then use your "repaired" car as a service loaner. You never know until you ask. Don't back down and simply take "No" for an answer. Be willing to negotiate if necessary. Worst case, you get your car back (hopefully looking better!), you get reimbursed your 2 lease payments, and they throw in a 1 year XM subscription.

Good Luck!

 

When my first TL got wrecked I called XM and they extended my trial for 3 more months. Give them a call; it never hurts to ask.

 

Usually owner will notice and let them know right away if the bumpers color don't match the body at all if they look really bad.

I knew about this problem for WDP color before I got my TL.
When I got my TL, it didn't look THAT bad, so I let it go.

Most of the time it's other people or friends that tell the owner the bad news since they'll check out the new car from the owner. 100% of them will tell the owner to go back and get them fixed no matter what. Then the owner will finally notice the bumpers DO look really bad compare to the rest of the car. The "WHY" question comes up and it makes the owner feel even worst.

 

Well, I did not know that this problem existed before I leased the car. I want MY car and I want it fixed. They have sent it out to an outside bodyshop, so I will give them a last chance. I am going to approach the issue of the time period without my car and also the XM radio trial when I go in to pick it up. If they were being ugly to me and trying to argue, I would be raising hell at them.
I guess the reason I'm trying to be patient is because I have had some terrible experiences with other dealerships and so far this one does not compare. At least they did give me a loaner, that's more than the others I dealt with had to offer. Plus I'm driving the piss out of their loaner (:

 

Yes, this is correct, however they did not send it out to a body shop until now. The "detail guy" whoever this is, used their system to paint it and it turned out exactly the same yellowish color. I'd like to think a body shop could do better than the "detail guy."
It never really looked new to me to start with, being that the bumper didn't match, but of course I didn't notice this before signing the papers. I assumed that a car of this price range would at least have matching pieces, I won't ever assume anything the next time I car shop!

 

B & R is very good...one of a handful of body shops I would actually take my car to...they're on South, just north of 485 (unless they have multiple locations now). Your car will look like it's supposed to when they're done. Charlotte Paint & Body on Albemarle (@ Independence) is also very good...they do all of the work for Beck (Mercedes).

I know it's not your car, but look on the bright side, you're still driving a TL, listening to XM (well, not really sure that's good), and putting mileage on a car other than yours. As for dealership experience, it's hard to beat Hendrick...the more you go there (hopefully only for service in the future ), the more you'll realize this.

Do we get some pics when all of this is done?

 

Listen, every WDP TL is like this...
It's called the protection layer they use on the bumpers; plastic bumps will crack and break VERY easily, and to prevent this problem, they spray a special coat over it to keep little dings / hits from completely wrecking the bumper.

Think about it, would you rather have a uniform car and have dings all over your bumper(high way rocks will ding / scratch / chip your paint) or a bumper that lasts with a light discoloration.

A little advice, just park it in very dark areas, and you will never notice. I do it all the time, I noticed this after somebody else mentioned, and I talked to a few of my mechanic buddies, this is what they told me.

I hope this eases your mind, because if you will get fed up about something they did to protect our cars, then you will never get over little rattles from 'sub-blasting' in the TL and other little bullshit that all cars have problems with.

 

I will post my before and after pics, hopefully soon! Yes, Hendrick has been very hassle free, other than the wait. The have not argued with me at all so far, they seem to really care or at least that's my impression so far. The advisor said the Body Shop is on Independence, I looked online and I think there may be multiple locations.

 

That's the only truth in your post.....

No special coating as you suggest for "protection". Their are however many claims by Acura/dealerships that it's the "flex additive" in the paint, but I don't even buy that. I painted cars for years, more rubber/plastic bumpers than I can remember.. With or without flex additive I didn't have the color disparities that Acura has.

The 3G has been out for near 4 years, and still paint issues. If Acura really wanted to fix this they could. However, the capital required to retool/program the painting process properly for plastic panels exceeds the sales/consumer disappointment issues.. If it's not costing them money, why spend money to fix it - it's just business. But then again, if I was on the board at Honda/Acura, I would be embarrassed to present this "paint quality" to the automotive world.

I really like my WDP yet have lived with the yellow bumpers for near four years. It's the "cost" of liking the color..

 

This happened to me too. I was supposed to pick up the car last weekend (Saturday), did all the paperwork, down payment & finance thing, car was being washed and cleaned. When I was finally ready to leave, I notice the difference in color between front & rear bumper with the body. I told them Im not buying a car with 2 different color, told them to fix it, salesman and sales manager did not want to fix it at first, they claimed it was because of 2 different material that caused difference in color. Then I said if they're not fixing it, I will cancel all the transaction and file a complaint to BBB. First they thought I was just bluffing, but then they finally agreed to fix it. Its been 4 days now and I havent heard anything. Im not going to chase and rush them, but sometimes I get the feeling they are taking their time. They cashed my check on down payment. I guess I can only wait for now.

 

It has nothing to do with flex additive, plastic vs. metal parts, or any of the other absurd stories out there. The mismatch is caused by the bumpers being painted in a different facility than the car. The paints aren't mixed exactly the same...it's called human error. The problem is not inherent to Acura, either...all brands that don't paint all in one facility have this on their whites and silvers (ie. light colors).

 

Not that I doubt you.... but can you cite some facts that back this up? In all the debates on this subject, this is the first time I've seen someone say that the bumper is painted somewhere other than where the other panels are painted.

Thanks!

boxstock

 

If you ever look at the last generation Audi A4's, you will notice that the rear bumpers on those are two different shades of the same color. I find those to be the most noticable.

I had an accident last summer and had about half of my silver TSX repainted. On one side of the bumper, the silver doesn't match 100%. I did have the body shop that repaired the car repaint the bumper 3 times before I was finally somewhat satisfied. It still doesn't match to my utmost satisfaction but over time, I've learned to live with it. However, if I picked the car up brand new like this, there is NO way I'd be as patient as you are being Crissy. Good luck and continue to be persistent!

 

My SA told me (current and former; both are honest and not like the ones you read about here); the body shop owner told me (he's been painting Ferrari's and Rolls' for over 20 years). In theory, my basis is just as much hearsay as everyone else's, so take it for what you will. Also, this has come up before...I'd give you some links, but I don't feel like searching.

 

I would say human error has nothing to do with it and being plastic and the fact that the bumpers are painted separately from the car is.. No I have never been to the Ohio Acura plant, yet I highly doubt a human has much to do with any of the painting process - near all "mass produced" auto's are completely automated.

I truly believe its an issue with sealing the plastic parts right and a possible issue with the way the paint is applied. If you don't spray metallics/pearls near exactly the same direction/motion you end up with paint/flake that lays different, thus has a slightly different tent/appearance. If you don't seal/prime a rubber/plastic piece it can easily change the color of the paint, some immediately and some more over time.. Like I said, if Acura really wanted to fix it, they could. They just know that that "quality" is not demanded by the American masses....

Just my opinion/experience.

 

just as an FYI, the plastic bumpers aren't primered, so the paint color will appear darker on lighter colors due to black plastic underneath. Thats what an independent body shop told me when i asked them the cost for a repaint because my front and rear are slightly mismatched.