Bad Paint Job

[DavJul73]

We took delivery of my husband's 2022 Model Y Performance in early October. At the time of delivery we discovered lots of paint issues, which we brought to the delivery persons attention. We were told to schedule the car for service, which we did. When we took the car for service, Tesla told us they don't do paint, that we would have to be scheduled for an estimate at a third-party paint shop that was authorized to do Tesla's. Fast forward to the end of November and we still have not been schedule for an estimate on having the paint issues fixed. On top of that the "estimate must be approved by Tesla" prior to getting it repainted. I asked why they have to approve it since it was a defect from Tesla. The reply was "that's the way Tesla does it". We scheduled another appointment for service since we haven't heard back from them because you can't talk to a live body, you must go through the app.

This is my biggest complaint about Tesla - you cannot talk to a live body with a question and it takes forever to get anything done. Anyone have a better way, besides the app, to get our vehicles taken care of?

 

[ElectricAnt54]

I was scheduled to pick up the car on 1/28 after over 15 days at the service center. When I arrived the repaint was terrible. The car is in worse shape now than it was when I dropped it off. After the fender has been painted it still has defect inside plus the hood has a bunch of clear coat runs. The car wasn’t even cleaned and there were bunch of white paint stains on the plastic covers under the frunk cover and bumper.

I did not pick up the car and left it with the service center. I am scheduled to meet with their manager to discuss the situation. They said they have to send the car to the body shop again for a 2nd repaint. This is so unacceptable, brand new car has to be repainted twice.

Hmm...is your car getting serviced at Burbank Service center and they had Fixx Auto do the paint work?

 

[EV_Dad]

Oh, man. Sorry to hear that, @23YAustinTX, but not unexpected based on my experience. I'm hoping I'll have more luck with my frunk hood this time, because like you I'm finally dealing with a service manager. He ordered a new one to be painted at the Tesla collision center, instead of sending my car to a third-party paint shop that can't do anything right, and instead of waiting for the factory to produce that part for me. It's been an endless comedy of errors, and you really need a sense of humor to deal with Tesla. That, and a spare car.

 

[EV_Dad]

Hmm...is your car getting serviced at Burbank Service center and they had Fixx Auto do the paint work?

Seems like regardless of region, they pick the cheapest, worst-performing paint shops they can. As I mentioned up-thread, last time the Fremont shop not only repainted it wrong again, they even forgot to replace my "T" emblem. You can't make this stuff up.

 

[23YAustinTX]

Seems like regardless of region, they pick the cheapest, worst-performing paint shops they can. As I mentioned up-thread, last time the Fremont shop not only repainted it wrong again, they even forgot to replace my "T" emblem. You can't make this stuff up.

Ya my car is at Burbank Service center. I went in today to talk with the manger. Had a terrible experience, he had no idea why I was there made me furious.. anyways after talking decided to put in a request for Tesla to repurchase my car. There were even more issues after looking the car over a second time, the body shop didn’t spray and clear in the inner part of the fender where the gap is at the frunk. And there are new scratches on the other fender and bumper under the clear coat.

 

[23YAustinTX]

My

Seems like regardless of region, they pick the cheapest, worst-performing paint shops they can. As I mentioned up-thread, last time the Fremont shop not only repainted it wrong again, they even forgot to replace my "T" emblem. You can't make this stuff up.

Hmm...is your car getting serviced at Burbank Service center and they had Fixx Auto do the paint work?

The car is at the Burbank service center and was sent to Renew collision for the repaint. Worst paint job I’ve ever seen. They not only didn’t fix the initial issue they added more defects to the paint

 

[ElectricAnt54]

Ya my car is at Burbank Service center. I went in today to talk with the manger. Had a terrible experience, he had no idea why I was there made me furious.. anyways after talking decided to put in a request for Tesla to repurchase my car. There were even more issues after looking the car over a second time, the body shop didn’t spray and clear in the inner part of the fender where the gap is at the frunk. And there are new scratches on the other fender and bumper under the clear coat.

So sorry to hear that. Paint jobs can be tricky to fix. Yeah, I had a feeling your car was being handled by Burbank SC. The photo looked like the Burbank Town Center mall parking lot where Tesla drops off vehicles for customers to pickup since that SC is always tight on physical space due to being the busiest in the nation, well that's what they told me at the time in 1/2022. I live 5 mins from the Burbank SC & when I first got my car they said all my panel gaps were in spec. Two hours after dropping my car off, they said it was all done. They ignored my complaint about thrashing snare drum sound from liftgate when going over bumps & a sensation of cabin pressure changing which kinda made my ears feel like they had to pop constantly...lets see, they said one door which looked fine was out of spec and realigned it and made it look horrid. I had some sort of waxy layer in one part of my car which looked white when viewed under harsh light at night. SC did buff it out successfully.
Took car to the SC on Centinella near Fox Hills Mall/LAX which is all away across town (which takes a while to drive to due to LA traffic) because my pal said they had been good to him over the years. They looked at my car for 45 minutes with me. Agreed panels were out of spec except for one. Noted the thrashing sound liftgate made but did not go on test drive. They sent car to a really good auto body shop need Jim & Jack's in El Segundo. Car came back with gaps fixed and even the the item which was deemed "in spec" was fixed. Liftgate no longer made thrashing sounds. Auto shop did not correctly install some interior trim pieces that they had to remove. Mobile tech from Burbank SC came out and fixed that up (mobile techs have been great so far).

 

[EV_Dad]

Finally, after a year plus six weeks since delivery, my MY LR has a properly painted hood, and it's not missing the "T" emblem.

But... there is a small dent next to the emblem. Someone is supposed to call me to arrange a dent-pulling appointment.

I'm wondering if I should just live with it though. Every time they work on this car, they ruin something else.

 

[EV_Dad]

Or maybe not so properly painted. Today for the first time I looked at the new hood under direct sunlight, and I saw paint swirls.

Nowhere near as bad as last time, but they're there and they may get worse as the paint cures.

Sigh. Again, maybe I should just give up and live with it at this point.

Last time:

This time (and that's a reflection of a streetlight at the lower left):

 

[ElectricAnt54]

Or maybe not so properly painted. Today for the first time I looked at the new hood under direct sunlight, and I saw paint swirls.

Nowhere near as bad as last time, but they're there and they may get worse as the paint cures.

Sigh. Again, maybe I should just give up and live with it at this point.

Last time:
View attachment 904847

This time (and that's a reflection of a streetlight at the lower left):
View attachment 904848

Take it back. Perhaps it can be corrected. My car had odd swirls in one area when hit by strong liight at night. Tesla employee at Burbank,California SC had been a detailer previously & got them out.
Ugggggg….so sorry. Perhaps qualifies as lemon since they have tried to fix many times & can not?

 

[EV_Dad]

Perhaps qualifies as lemon since they have tried to fix many times & can not?

That has certainly crossed my mind. Probably not worth the trouble though, unless it gets worse as it cures. But if I don't hear from my SA soon, I will take it back and speak to the service manager about the dent and the swirls.

 

[EV_Dad]

Perhaps it can be corrected.

The only way to correct that is to repaint it. The original hood was repainted twice (over three visits, because they forgot to send it to the paint shop the first time... and the third time, they forgot to reattach the "T" emblem). But this is a brand new hood, painted by the Tesla collision center instead of their third-party paint shop. At least I got the emblem back this time, lol.

 

[kelledy]

So sorry to hear that. Paint jobs can be tricky to fix. Yeah, I had a feeling your car was being handled by Burbank SC. The photo looked like the Burbank Town Center mall parking lot where Tesla drops off vehicles for customers to pickup since that SC is always tight on physical space due to being the busiest in the nation, well that's what they told me at the time in 1/2022. I live 5 mins from the Burbank SC & when I first got my car they said all my panel gaps were in spec. Two hours after dropping my car off, they said it was all done. They ignored my complaint about thrashing snare drum sound from liftgate when going over bumps & a sensation of cabin pressure changing which kinda made my ears feel like they had to pop constantly...lets see, they said one door which looked fine was out of spec and realigned it and made it look horrid. I had some sort of waxy layer in one part of my car which looked white when viewed under harsh light at night. SC did buff it out successfully.
Took car to the SC on Centinella near Fox Hills Mall/LAX which is all away across town (which takes a while to drive to due to LA traffic) because my pal said they had been good to him over the years. They looked at my car for 45 minutes with me. Agreed panels were out of spec except for one. Noted the thrashing sound liftgate made but did not go on test drive. They sent car to a really good auto body shop need Jim & Jack's in El Segundo. Car came back with gaps fixed and even the the item which was deemed "in spec" was fixed. Liftgate no longer made thrashing sounds. Auto shop did not correctly install some interior trim pieces that they had to remove. Mobile tech from Burbank SC came out and fixed that up (mobile techs have been great so far).

I had the opposite experience with centinella sc and jim & jacks. They made the scratches worse and they used so much rubbing compound that there are large burnt spots on the car. Among the many, terrible things they did, the worst was probably when the manager and assistant manager both lied and confirmed with me the bumper was replaced instead of spot corrected. When I asked for the paperwork to confirm the bumper being replaced, they then said it was just spot corrected.

 

[Alonzo]

and you really need a sense of humor to deal with Tesla. That, and a spare car.

A spare car? Don't they give you a loaner when you get warranty work done?

You have a lot more patience than I would. You're fortunate to have a service center or two to choose from. My nearest one is 2 1/2 hours away. Reading threads like this one make me think maybe I'm not such a good candidate for a Tesla.

 

[EV_Dad]

A spare car? Don't they give you a loaner when you get warranty work done?

Not always. And when they do, it's usually coated with asphyxiating cleaning products that get all over my clothes. Also they recently pulled out of whatever deal they had with Uber, so no credits for that anymore. But I have a spare "ICE monster" in the driveway, with its 12v battery attached to a trickle-charger because we almost never drive it.

You have a lot more patience than I would. You're fortunate to have a service center or two to choose from. My nearest one is 2 1/2 hours away. Reading threads like this one make me think maybe I'm not such a good candidate for a Tesla.

Experiences reported here tend to extremes, either all perfect or all problems, lol, and I bet the most happy owners don't even know about TMC. Still, if the nearest SC is that far away, I might rethink my reservation. There will be many alternatives on the market from established brands by next year. I'd give them some time to get a clue about their new models' EV parts, but I hope at least one will offer service closer to you.

 

[GData]

When we picked up our new 2023 Austin-made Y, we noticed some small paint defects around it. One of them was fixed with a bottle of touch-up paint, the kind you buy at O'reilly's. It was an unprofessional paint-blob repair. We accepted delivery and had the SC fix them (took them 9 days). The repair was 90% better but you can still see it was repaired if you knew where to look. Not a big deal. But then we found new problems that were introduced when they fixed the original problems Lol.... (they fixed those as well). Anyway, it's true what people say about Teslas having poor manufacturing QA. They're clearly rushing assembly to produce as many units as possible

 

[Chewy13]

When we picked up our new 2023 Austin-made Y, we noticed some small paint defects around it. One of them was fixed with a bottle of touch-up paint, the kind you buy at O'reilly's. It was an unprofessional paint-blob repair. We accepted delivery and had the SC fix them (took them 9 days). The repair was 90% better but you can still see it was repaired if you knew where to look. Not a big deal. But then we found new problems that were introduced when they fixed the original problems Lol.... (they fixed those as well). Anyway, it's true what people say about Teslas having poor manufacturing QA. They're clearly rushing assembly to produce as many units as possible

Yup. I’ve got 4 globs of touch up paint fixes from the SC.

 

[Alonzo]

One of them was fixed with a bottle of touch-up paint, the kind you buy at O'reilly's. It was an unprofessional paint-blob repair.

Yup. I’ve got 4 globs of touch up paint fixes from the SC.

Sad. I've bought over 20 new vehicles in my life, from inexpensive Kawasaki motorcycles to high end dually diesel pickups. Never, never had a paint issue at delivery, and I check my vehicles closely before paying for them.