do you have every minor defect fixed?

[Eggbeater]

Hello

Just took delivery this afternoon of a SR+. Love it more than I expected. I did notice some small imperfections in the paint (small spot) and a minor curve in a wheel well that bugs me a bit. My question is are these things that you as a buyer would have Tesla fix? I am not sure if it will bother me a month from now or not or if I would regret not getting it addressed. Looking forward to chatting with everyone. TIA

 

[Leafdriver333]

I have not found any defects on mine yet in 12 days other than slight misaligned steering wheel. The car tracks straight so it is the steering wheel that has been mounted slightly off. I wonder if they can electronically re-calibrate the angle.
Anyway, how big is the paint imperfection?
How bad is the bent wheel well?

 

[gilscales]

No, not for me at least, I have yet to hit the one year mark and am at 21k miles, there are minor things that I would mention if I ever go to a service center but just to damn busy enjoying the car!

 

[duy.duck]

I would not fix it. I went through a lot trying to get paint nibs fixed. The results required more work and the car was out of my hands for 2.5 months. I highly recommend you learn to overlook it.

 

[Scrutmonkey]

Nope, my trunk still is not flush. But whatever...

 

[UngaBunga1989]

It’s a car and the best driving one I have ever owned (M3P). I had a couple of minor paint imperfections on delivery and one very small panel mis-alignment. They are still there. It’s a car, not a museum piece and in a funky kind of way it is part of its charm.

I DID have them fix my alignment as the car arrived with a rather in-centered steering wheel and that did bother me. They fixed it quickly and professionally and the folks at my SC (Paramus, NJ) were great.

 

[TMThree]

Hello

Just took delivery this afternoon of a SR+. Love it more than I expected. I did notice some small imperfections in the paint (small spot) and a minor curve in a wheel well that bugs me a bit. My question is are these things that you as a buyer would have Tesla fix?

Too many horror stories about paint correction not being done right. I know a local guy who uses the same SC as me having to get his car repainted 4x because the repair job caused other issues. First the paint match was off, then there was new paint damage done by the shop. Then there was overspray. By the end of it, he decided he didn't want to risk going back for more issues, so he left it alone and dealt with whatever fall out he had by the 4th repair.

I have about 3 paint blemishes, decided not to risk going in because they were minor. Additionally, when you get stuff like ppf, if the repair isn't bonded properly, the ppf removal (4-8 years down the road) could lift off the clearcoat/paint repair.

And of course you have the possibility that the repaired paint won't fade at the same rate and look odd down the road.

 

[MMBTUS]

Beauty marks.

 

[Eggbeater]

Thanks for the replies brought me down to earth - joining the forum already has it benefits. BTW this is the most excited i have ever been about a car. More than my wife’s BMWs (650i, 330i, x1) or the Land Cruiser or Lexus ES we have had. It Certainly isn’t just a car in the same sense.

 

[jkoya]

My car was delivered with multiple paint defects that required repair from a body shop. Some of the defects, I would have just lived with, but I figured since they were mixing the paint, why not get all the problems corrected. Total cost of repairs was over $3500 plus Tesla had to pay Enterprise for the 2 week Model S 100D loaner.

My only body shop horror story was the 2.5 month wait for an opening at the Tesla approved body shop.

@Eggbeater - any pics of the paint flaws you are mentioning ?

 

[srs5694]

My Model 3, which I received exactly two weeks ago, had a minor bit of trim misalignment on the rear driver's-side door, which I'd just about decided to let slide when I noticed a paint chip next to the passenger-side taillight. That bugged me more, since I was worried about rust developing, so I had Tesla fix both problems. It took the shop five days (Monday to Friday) to fix these problems, which I thought was excessive, since they just applied touch-up paint to the paint chip, so although it's better than it was, it's still obvious that it's not quite right. It was only when I picked up the car that I realized the paint chip was on a plastic piece, so I needn't have worried about rust. If I had to do it again, I think I'd ask Tesla to just send me a bottle of touch-up paint. OTOH, the body shop claimed that they gave the car a "free" ceramic coating. Given the usual cost of this treatment, I doubt if it was a top-of-the-line job, but it's probably more important than either of the fixes I requested.

 

[corduroy]

You'll find things as time goes on that only you will notice, but it's not a big deal. No car is perfect.

 

[ALSETJC]

I decided not to get any of the paint defects fixed I knew my kids would destroy the paint almost immediately. Also don't like touching the factory finish because no matter how good a paint shop is nothing is better than the factory coating .

 

[ngogas]

I have not found any defects on mine yet in 12 days other than slight misaligned steering wheel. The car tracks straight so it is the steering wheel that has been mounted slightly off. I wonder if they can electronically re-calibrate the angle.
Anyway, how big is the paint imperfection?
How bad is the bent wheel well?

The ranger that came to replace my signal module had to take the steering wheel off. He said the steering only goes in one way. He said their is no way to mess the steering wheel alignment. So if it is missed aligned it’s likely can be realigned by software or by a wheel alignment is my guess. Mine has been spot on. I owned BMW, Audi, VW, Chrysler, ram and this is the first car that the wheel is 100 percent dead on. My wife’s Chrysler van is pretty dead on as well. But my German cars has always been a .5 off centered. Too small of a margin to really bother me.

 

[TMThree]

The only way to deal with paint defects that require body work to repair: reject the vehicle.

Reject it and get a different one issued to you. You don't have to accept a flawed one unless they want to discount it for you to take it.

But whatever you do, do not accept delivery of a car with defects that require body work if you don't want to get it repainted, because its a huge hassle to return and then buy again.

Either live with the damage, accept body work needs to be done, or reject at delivery and get a different car.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Rule of thumb is that no car is perfect, if you look close enough.

For most owners, a good quality car is totally acceptable. Some will want to nit pick the car to death, and spend lots of energy getting all the little things addressed.

Lots of posts about people trying to fix one thing, just to find that something else got damaged in the process.

While these cars are expensive, most hope for perfection, but are satisfied with acceptable.

If something really bugs you, Tesla is usually pretty good at making a good faith effort to correct the issue. Usually this goes smoothly, but occasionally it will result in a failed attempt.

If you have a strong Ego involvement in your car, and want it to be of show quality, be prepared to put in the time and effort to bring it up to that high standard.

Paint on my X was flawless, but now after 28,000 miles and two years of driving it, there are now some little scratches and tiny rock chips. Doesn't bother me enough to get anything done.

 

[Eggbeater]

The only way to deal with paint defects that require body work to repair: reject the vehicle.

Reject it and get a different one issued to you. You don't have to accept a flawed one unless they want to discount it for you to take it.

But whatever you do, do not a

My car was delivered with multiple paint defects that required repair from a body shop. Some of the defects, I would have just lived with, but I figured since they were mixing the paint, why not get all the problems corrected. Total cost of repairs was over $3500 plus Tesla had to pay Enterprise for the 2 week Model S 100D loaner.

My only body shop horror story was the 2.5 month wait for an opening at the Tesla approved body shop.

@Eggbeater - any pics of the paint flaws you are mentioning ?[/QUOTE

Here are a couple of pics. The first one is a sample of the small marks on the paint followed by the slight bend in a front wheel well. The third however is something new - artifacts on the screen. I am new to the car but I am assuming this is not normal correct?

 

[Uncle Paul]

If this was my car, I would first try a little light buffing/polishing compound on the paint scratches. Might be good enough for me. But if that did not work I would take it to my friendly local service center to see what they think would be the best course of action.

 

[jkoya]

@Eggbeater - Out of curiosity, did you get a "Due Bill" from Tesla about your concerns ? If you are particular about the appearance of your car, it may still bug you in the future. The artifacts on the screen look troubling and is not a confidence builder.

 

[ammulder]

The car we test drove had some screen artifacts (fuzzy along the top 1/4" or so) and the Tesla person said if we weren't about to go for a drive, she'd do a hard reboot of the car to fix the screen. So, I guess, try that?

Though I must say, when I ordered and they offered me the test drive car, I declined.