tman

Purchased my Palladium AWD 12/17. Finally hand washed it a couple weeks later after heavy snow in the Seattle area. Well, discovered paint flaw on the lower part of the drivers door and on the left fender. The flaw was appx 4 inches long and it almost looked like bondo was on the car under the clear coat. Went to service and showed them the flaw to the asst mgr. He immediately recognized that it was a factory paint flaw. I asked him to run my VIN to see if there were any other repairs to my car prior to me taking possession. He did and it showed paint flaw repaired to the trunk. So no bondo on the door or fender. Mgr informed me that during PDI the detailer noticed the flaw on the trunk lid and so they sublet the work to local body shop. I do not see the repair at all on the trunk. Just got my car back after 3.5 days. They took it to the same body shop. They repainted the affected areas blending it into the other panels and then clear coated the entire left side. Pretty damn good job. Sorry no before photos of repair.
Anyway, went to the body shop to look at my car and there was another new Palladium there. This one had more paint flaws than I had. Mgr said he has seen several of this color with flaws. So Im not a secluded incident. If I would have seen these flaws, I would never have accepted the car. Acura needs to do better QC on this color. Im disappointed that there were paint problems but the shop did an excellent job with the repair. Take a good look when you get your car.....

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Tman, unfortunately, this isn't surprising with Acura. From reading other threads on this site, it seems like Acura might have a "not so great" reputation when it comes to painting their cars. But I'm glad to hear everything turned out good for your TL.

tman

As of yesterday, found more paint flaws on the right side. Right front door, right c pillar, and right quarter panel. For you Palladium owners, check out the paint. Seems like the flaws become more visable as time goes on. Otherwise, I would have had the dealer take care of the same problem I had on the left side at the same time. Looks like another 5 days at the body shop to be painted.

DLeeWebb

Thanks for the heads-up. I checked it out pretty carefully at delivery and it looked good but I wasn't expecting to see anything. I know I won't see anything until I get down in there when I wash it this Spring. I'll have to look it over even more carefully on the next sunny day. I hope this isn't a general problem with Palladium because the last thing I want is a body shop working on my car when I have only had it since last Friday!

Colin

Different customers have different 'thresholds' for what theu tolerate and what they want repainted. Personally if I found a 'fish eye' on the hood I wouldn't require it to be refinished cause it's not worth it to me.

edited to add that I'm not suggesting that the OP shouldn't have it done or is incorrect for doing so. Each case is different

KeithL

You woudl be surprised as to what gets repaired without customer knowing it. I passed on 2 diffeernt Type-S 08 TLs becasue either the bumpers were poorly sprayed at factory or they had been repainted post factory. Here in GA they are allowed to repair up to $1500 without disclosing it to customer. There was a big thing 2 years ago, some guy bought a Honda Pilot or Odyssey and foudn out after a few months the car had a Car Fax on it because it was ina wreck, but becaue the damge was under $1500 the dealer did not have to tell him! Go figure I need to sign a doc that says my trade in was not in a wrekc or had damage yet the dealer can give me a damage repaired car without telling me! I thing anything over $250 should be disclosed!

bmode

Tman, call the Acura headquarters, they'd love to hear from you, now more than ever. I've had my issues as well with my Black Crystal Pearl, but I think mine was the dealer's sub contractor that messed it up. The number is in the manual that came with the car, give them a shout.

DLeeWebb

Anything and everything that makes the car less than undamaged "new" should be disclosed...

KeithL

I woudl agree, but that will never pass, dealers woudl be afraid of scaring people off of people asking unreasonable discounts becasue the car was "damaged". My guess si state by state they decide what value woudl begin to hurt the "new" value of the car. I do think $1500 is ridiculous!

tman

Colin, you are so right about individual thresholds. One fisheye may not be that bad. But on mine, there were some very obvious to slightly obvious flaws. The not so obvious can only be seen under specific lighting conditions. The obvious ones are the weirdest shape. It looks like the metallic did not flow correctly when sprayed or the a sprayer was partially clogged. Who knows how it happened. On 2 of the flaws, it looks like the area was bondoed and when it was repainted, it took the shape of an outline of the reparied area. Fortunately, it is not a bondo repair.
My right quarter panel under good lighting, looks like horizontal metallic streaks going the length of the panel. On the right C pillar, looks like a rough semi circle shape, which is obvious, but you have to look close. Same thing on my right front door. It barely shows on a photograph.
Again, the asst service manager informed me that he has seen several Palladium cars with paint flaws. I found out that the dealer repaired a flaw on my trunk lid before I took delivery. He told me their detailer is suppose to catch these problems before it is delivered. So Im not the only one. So the flaws have taken different shapes and sizes. Best lighting is daylight sometimes shaded or direct sunlight to see them and at various angles. It took a friend to notice the long streaks on the right qtr panel. Indoors, its hard to see.

JohnnySpagz

I actually was considering getting a Palladium Metallic TL SH-AWD but after reading the above, should I be reconsidering this? I was considering White Diamond and Polished Metal, then when I saw PM next to an 08 TL, the color was so much nicer than the traditional silver, however if there are issues with this paint, I would be concerned. Any thoughts?

tman

I really like the color. You just have to look carefully panel by panel and at different angles. Straight on to oblique angles from the standing position to getting down to the mid-level of the car. I see them better with outdoor daylight. Obvious ones are bad, but the subtle ones are difficult but not impossible to see. If you can tolerate the subtle ones, then you will be ok. We all pay good dough for these cars and we as buyers have higher expectations from this line of cars. We are not buying Hyundai's or Kia's. It all depends on how much you care about what you get.