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Different color white on rear hatch vs rear panels?
- Thread starter DriveEV
- Start date
SilverString
Member
When I got my body work on my Pearl White MS they replaced both door shells when only one was damaged because of this very issue. The body shop rep (Tesla Certified) told me there are nine different possible shade variations with the Pearl White.
SilverString
Member
There is a very long Model 3 thread about this. I have a feeling the white formulation changes ever so slightly on occasion and it bites them when pulling these plastic, painted covers out of the parts bin. My Model 3 looked just like this Y. It didn’t get fixed until I got rear-ended and everything was repainted.
Taber
Model Y charged via the sun.
The paint on the doors of my blue Model Y performance is variable, but the rest of the car is solid. Clearly they have issues with the painting robots in the factory.
The same thing happened with my old Venza when the rear bumper had to be replaced after a collision. The bumper definitely looked like a different shade of grey than the rear fender. When I complained, they re-painted it and they were able to match it a lot closer. There were several reasons/complications they mentioned with plastic bumpers, which I think are true for all cars:
- Even in the factory, the plastic parts are generally painted separate from the rest of the body, so some variation can be introduced there
- The paint that they use on the bumpers has to have a flex additive (so it won’t crack if something bends the bumper), so you’re already dealing with slightly differently formulated paint
- Metallic or pearl paints are notoriously difficult to match
- More specific to bumper replacements, body shops generally do not blend bumpers. They’ll blend when they replace fenders or doors to make the paint appear to match, but not bumpers.
Granted, most of the above applies to replacing a bumper, not getting the car from the factory with an obvious mismatch like the one in the OP’s photo.
- Even in the factory, the plastic parts are generally painted separate from the rest of the body, so some variation can be introduced there
- The paint that they use on the bumpers has to have a flex additive (so it won’t crack if something bends the bumper), so you’re already dealing with slightly differently formulated paint
- Metallic or pearl paints are notoriously difficult to match
- More specific to bumper replacements, body shops generally do not blend bumpers. They’ll blend when they replace fenders or doors to make the paint appear to match, but not bumpers.
Granted, most of the above applies to replacing a bumper, not getting the car from the factory with an obvious mismatch like the one in the OP’s photo.
RoBoRaT
PoPeYeD'SaiLoRDuDe
Our defunct late 2019 X had the Pearl White paint mismatch too.
It got fixed when it was totaled
,and got Midnight Silver Model Y instead.
Helpful, and I do appreciate that but it’s noticeable. Just trying to think about it but wouldn’t want them to make it even worse potentially...
Taber
Model Y charged via the sun.
KRG21
Member
Oh my god that looks awful (No offense guys, so sorry!)
Amazingly these look like the exact sort of pattern on the front door with thin and thick spots so it would appear it's a problem with how they are laying down the paint and it's probably a problem on every Y, with certain colors showing worse than others.
As for the white, plastic bumpers always take on a different shade as the paint lays on the surfaces different. Metallic and pearl colors seems to do worse than others as it appears the pearl/metallic additives cause the color shift to be different.
Here's one of my Foresters that's never been in an accident or repainted...factory paint and you can really see the difference with the bumpers and rear panels on the doors vs the metal. The flake makes it look a shade darker.
KRG21
Member
Yeah ^ My mom’s car is pearl white and the bumpers are 3 shades darker. New from factory.
I also had a misaligned tailgate on my Land Rover, and my friend’s new Volvo had to have the Window trim adjusted bc it was off. I also had two Porsches and they both had minor build quality issues when obsessively analyzed. Unrelated..but one of the Porsches and the Land Rover both had major engine trouble in the first year. All of these were brand new cars. I’m beginning to think Tesla’s quality is average and people here just haven’t bought a new car in a while or didn’t look that closely at their previous vehicles.
The blue pictured above is ridiculous though. Not sure I believe that? How would that go unnoticed.
I also had a misaligned tailgate on my Land Rover, and my friend’s new Volvo had to have the Window trim adjusted bc it was off. I also had two Porsches and they both had minor build quality issues when obsessively analyzed. Unrelated..but one of the Porsches and the Land Rover both had major engine trouble in the first year. All of these were brand new cars. I’m beginning to think Tesla’s quality is average and people here just haven’t bought a new car in a while or didn’t look that closely at their previous vehicles.
The blue pictured above is ridiculous though. Not sure I believe that? How would that go unnoticed.
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Mine is currently at Tesla to address this paint issue. It is only evident during certain lighting and can easily be missed. I didn't even noticed it until it was pointed out to be under the exact lighting condition as indicated on my picture posted..
I suggest you give Tesla service a ring as well..
I suggest you give Tesla service a ring as well..
