I was washing my car a few weeks ago and noticed some very some cracks on the hood...over the last few weeks the cracks have spread from the hood to the fenders! It can actually be seen from a distance now! I went to the dealership today and had the service manager take a look at it. He called the body shop manager over who measured the paint and determined that the car had not been repainted. The body shop manager also said that he had seen this happen before on other Acuras. So now, because my car is no longer under warranty, I have to wait for the Acura rep to come to the dealership and look at my car to determine if they will repaint. Has anyone else had this problem? And, was your car out of warranty? If so, did Acura repaint it?

 

Did the cracks look like little chicken feet? Sort of like the picture on the right?

 

Yup exactly like that...it almost looks like white dog hair that won't brush off the hood.

 

The photo on the right is of "cracking" or "checking " of the clearcoat film. This may be due to improper application of the paint or as is usually the case, the paint has been wiped at one time or another with a solvent such as paint thinner, lacquer thinner or a cleaning solvent such as an over the counter Wax/Grease/Tar Remover which contained xylene in the formula.

The only concern resolution of this condition is refinishing of the affected areas.

 

Thats what I figured...hopefully the Acura rep will be cool and repaint.

 

Possibly a good polish job can take care of it?

 

Not if its clear coat failure .. I have has some luck in the past on a black Explorer that had that by using the Turtle wax Colored wax .. then sealant over top .. wasn't noticable fron 7 feet away .

 

I don't think wax is gonna fix this! Its gradually spreading too!

 

clearcoat came off my tl... they repainted the afflicted panels.

 

What year was your tl? Was it under warranty? What dealership was this?

 

I had the exact same problem on my 04' NBP. They said it was caused by environmental fallout (bird droppings, acid rain, ect.). My hood looks like shit. BTW, it's the one on the right in the pic. Acura did not cover it, the Acura Rep even looked at it. Basically they said it was not a flaw in the paint. I have never seen this on any car I have owned. I don't let bird droppings sit on my car.

 

One thing to watch for is some OTC bug/tar removers contain Xylene and this will do it over time. Its not where you wipe it on and it appears in 3 minutes.

Numerous applications over time and next thing you know out of no where it shows up.

One of the reasons I don't use bug removers.

 

The body shop manager said that he had seen this before on other acuras and he said that it had not been repainted. I am not the original owner but I have taken excellent care of the paint always keeping wax on it. This is my first acura and I love it I really hope they treat me right and fix this for me.

 

You say you bought it used? How many miles are on the car? Unfortunetely bro, most times something like that would be something that would be your expense. Who knows what that paint has been through before you bought it. When did they say the rep could look at it?

 

well thought I'd update you guys on the paint situation. Long story short Acura corporate said no. The service manager at my dealership talked to the regional rep and he said that the problem could be a result of improper care so Acura will not cover it. Despite the fact that the body shop manager said the car has not been repainted and that he had seen this occur on other Acuras. As of now the entire hood and fenders are beginning to show signs of cracking...this is bullsh*t. Up until now I had received excellent service from the Acura dealer but Acura corporate sucks. So now I will have to fit $1200 paint job bill out of my own pocket.

This was my first Acura that I've owned. Coming from two bmw's that had perfect paint jobs when I sold them (each over ten years old) I'm very disappointed in the quality of the paint on this car. This will be the last Acura that I will ever buy.

 

Why should Acura cover this? Didn't you buy the car used? I have worked as a detailer at a dealership for 5 years now, and I have seen all sorts of things done to paint jobs to make them look like crap. Unless you bought the car from a friend or family memeber, uou don't know what happened before you bought that car right? I can see why you would point the finger at Acura, but if there was a defect in their paint jobs, don't you think this would have should up before now? That is what a warranty is for. If you are going to demand that much, i would suggest buying new.

 

I also got an opinion from another body shop and they said the same thing...I have a written statement from them that I gave to Acura. The clearcoat is evenly cracking from the bottom of the windshield all the way to the grill and from the left wheelwell all the way to the right wheelwell. The Acura dealer was actually going to repaint it until they realized that it was no longer under warranty...if this was a result of mistreatment why would they offer to cover it under warranty?

 

I'm not saying they should. I am saying that if it was actually a DEFECT, it would have shown up before the warranty had expired, not just starting now. I feel for ya man, but it's part of buying used. I have worked at a used car dealership for years, maybe i'm biased because I know where Acura fits in, and where you do as well.

 

I wasn't of the understanding that you thought they should cover this under warranty. On the contrary, I think you are of the mindset that they should not. But, apparently the dealer felt differently, why do you think that is? The warranty is expired because of the mileage on the car not b/c of time. The car is actually not 4 years old yet. And this issue has absolutely nothing to do mileage. So technically, this problem did show up before the time limit (I'm assuming thats what you are referring to here.) of the warranty expired. Also, I'm not the only person on this forum or outside the forum that has had this problem with the tl, but apparently it is not widespread enough for a recall.

 

I have this problem on my 05 NBP TL. They are spots popping up none bigger than a half-dollar. When they are new, and the clear coat is still clear, but cracked, one can clearly see that the DEFECT is coming up from or through the basecoat. BTW- my car has 41k not a single scratch or ding, like 20 coats of zymoil and is garaged......all day.

 

blueracer17 and aztec209 both had this same problem...I think it would be good if we could get a list of everyone with this issue goin...

 

I just bought a used 2005 Black TL and it has the same issues. There are random white cracks on the finish. Trunk, hood, roof and front fenders. Would something like this be covered under warranty? The car only has 31K miles so it should still be covered right?

 

Yeah the dealer was going to repaint mine until they realized it wasn't under warranty. They tried to say that it had been repainted at first, but then they measured the paint and determined that it had not been repainted.

 

Just wanted to follow up after going to the Acura dealer. My car is still under warranty but I was denied. FYI- they are now armed with a booklet showing examples of the cracking and they say the cause is environmental. Apparently this book just came out.

I had the service manager look at it and it just so happens the regional manager was there along with another executive. They went over my car for a good hour. They checked all the panels with a paint thickness tool. The book indicated what each panel's thickness should be. They determined that mine were all original.

They also found a couple outlines of tree leaves. Apparently wet leaves sat on the car for an extended period. Since it's black, they just bake onto the car. Other marks were caused by bird poop which had eaten all the way through the clear coat. They didn't have a specific explanation for the cracking except that based on all the other marks it means it was also environmental.

I gave it my best but it was hard to argue when 3 guys were looking at it. They all claimed they had never seen anything like it before. I told them that I have owned some pretty crappy cars in my time that have sat outside but don't remember seeing all these marks from the "environment". I don't know how I missed all this stuff when I saw it on the dealer lot.

Is paint supposed to be this fragile now?

 

Read this link .. maybe it is of some help.

Clear coat failure.

 

That is interesting, thanks. The Acura dealer's book has a similar picture of the clear coat cracking and the cause of this as stated in the book is environmental. It says it is very rare that the paint/clearcoat is defective. Having the outlines of the leaves pretty much damned me.

In other words I am SOL.

 

I find it interesting that they have a book that specifically deals with clear coat cracking...hmmm maybe Acura has dealt with this problem before.

 

I think all automakers have gone though this before. I still see older GM cars with sections of the paint just flaking off. The thing is there are a lot of ways to destroy paint. I understand that you would like to ignore them. The fact that you don't know the entire history of the car is not in your favor.

Some of us that did buy our cars new are not 100% sure of everything that has been applied to them. Sucks but you can't win them all. Best of luck with the repaint.

 

I ended up going back to the used car dealer who I bought the car from. He looked at it for 30 seconds and said it would be taken car of. If they can't wet sand it out then they will refinish it.

 

What I thought was interesting was the fact that the dealer was gonna cover the repaint if the car had still been under warranty...I would consider that an admission of guilt.

 

Or, how about goodwill on their part that they had sold to Acura for warranty work?

 

What? I don't follow what you're saying here. Before I owned my TL I had two BMW's for about 9 years. In that time I was on 3 different forums and never heard of this problem happening with a bimmer. I've seen at least 6 other 3g TL's with this problem in a matter of months. Go figure.

 

Just saying perhaps the dealer gave the easy answer for good PR when they thought they could get money back from Acura but hard to say. Point was just because they tried to be nice does not mean they thought they were guilty.

I've had lots of new cars too over the years and never had this problem. My cars have included at least six new Honda/Acuras. I currently have a 1993 DelSol purchased new that lives outside, no paint problems there either. You can and will beleive what you will. The point about the clearcoat geting somehow destroyed seems most likely to me.

There are many things that possibly happened without your knowledge. Not enough information to ban Acura to Hell for defective paint IMHO, that's it. Along with the savings from buying a used car comes the assumption of some risk. If I owned a dealership, I would have likely provided some assistance but the dealer doesn't know what happened either.

 

Well, I got a third professional opinion today that agreed with the other two that I already got. Besides, the work was going to be covered under warranty, but when they realized my car wasn't under warranty it was a no go. If the car had been under warranty they would have repainted it. There was no "goodwill warranty" work to be done. Since it wasn't under warranty and this is not a recall issue there they don't have to repaint.

 

call up client services and complain.

 

Thanks, where can I get that #?

 

I had a similar problem all over the front bumper panels. I have a 2004 Acura TL and I took it to the dealer and had the regional rep check it out. He told me that he would only repaint the affected area, not the entire car. I was cool with that. They repainted and everything was great.

BTW I took it to Cerritos Acura in California.

Acura stepped up in my situation.

 

Was your car under warranty?

 

I have this as well, not too bad though, but noticeable when up close. I bought the car this way pre-owned from a dealer in Wayne, NJ, but automatically asumed it was due to the previous owner using a front end cover/bra. When these sit on the car and are wet underneath in between the paint and the bra, then gets hot, it will actually cause the paint to have similar effects to this blistering shown in the p hotos above. But if there is a known defect, I'd love to know about it, because this irritates me knowing this is there..

 

I have the same prob 04 TL......