Flaking paint on 2021 M3 LR

[Deleted member 155949]

Hi All

I picked up my brand new 2021 M3 LR in December. I was slightly anxious having read some of the stories on here and elsewhere, but panel gaps, bonnet/boot alignment were all good and I was pleasantly surprised.

I have since had a problem with the HVAC – which would blow only cold air – but the SC has just replaced some sensors at the same time as fixing some minor scratches in the paintwork.

All good, or so I thought.

Having returned home from the SC I went to plug it in and noticed that the paint on the nearside sill has fallen off! I didn’t notice it when I picked it up so it must have happened on the way home.

Anyone else seen or experienced a similar problem and did it get resolved satisfactorily?? I still love the car (for now at least) and thought that I had managed to avoid one of the badly built vehicles but it seems that I haven’t…

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Someone else had something similar: How to fight this? Suffering excessive stone chips

 

[Goatex]

Yes had this too with 2021 LR. Known issue and has since been rectified under warranty.

 

[Sugei]

Ahhh guess what I noticed today cleaning my 3 month old car? Can't say I'm a big fan of service centre so this is going to be another fun game of roundabouts with them.

Fingers crossed they fix it under warranty, but I'm sure this will be happening again down the line

 

[Jason71]

I wonder if this is a small or large batch you guys should compare VIN numbers. This is the 3rd or 4th I have seen reported on here now

 

[Jon L]

HI all, I did post about this before Christmas. I got my M3LR in August and after 2 months and less than 2000 miles I had the same issue. Tesla would not entertain fixing it, i was told it was caused by stone chips and therefore not covered by warranty. They are adamant that there is nothing wrong with the car, its how I am driving it. Each week I took new photos and sent it to them showing it got worse nearly every time I drive the car.

Here are videos taken of my rocker panels, which I shared with Tesla.
Near Side

Drivers side

After 6 months of arguing with Tesla said they would look at it. They asked me to take it to a Tesla Approved Body shop they selected. They did a report and found lots of issues including insufficient paint coverage. They said as well as the rocker panels doors, bumpers and B pillars needed respraying. Both Tesla and I got the report - Tesla came back saying that they have looked at the report and there is nothing wrong with my car.

I then sent the Elon Musk interview with Sandy Munro. If you haven't seen it Elon gets asked why a car built a few months ago has paint issues and yet a car this month looks immaculate. Elon admits that during the period when my car was built they were in ramp up of production and the cars did not have enough time for the paint to dry properly which has caused a number of paint issues after delivery.

If you jump to 3:41 in the video, this is where he says the above.

After this they have agreed to respray both rocker panels as a Good Will gesture and NOT a warranty repair as the car is not faulty.

 

[Jon L]

For those of you with one or two missing bits. That's how mine started, it just got worse.

 

[Neilda]

Like most of us on here, I have owned many cars and driven tens of thousands of miles. I am a bit surprised that my new (red) M3 has quite so many stone chips on it already in just 1,000 miles. I have never had a car have have so many chips so quickly before. I don't drive close to vehicles in front either. I am not planning to approach a service centre with this - I can't see them doing anything about it.

 

[Cardo]

It seems to me that push to hit the 500,000 mark by the end of 2020 was horrendous for the quality of those last units built.

 

[Sugei]

HI all, I did post about this before Christmas. I got my M3LR in August and after 2 months and less than 2000 miles I had the same issue. Tesla would not entertain fixing it, i was told it was caused by stone chips and therefore not covered by warranty. They are adamant that there is nothing wrong with the car, its how I am driving it. Each week I took new photos and sent it to them showing it got worse nearly every time I drive the car.

Here are videos taken of my rocker panels, which I shared with Tesla.
Near Side

Drivers side

After 6 months of arguing with Tesla said they would look at it. They asked me to take it to a Tesla Approved Body shop they selected. They did a report and found lots of issues including insufficient paint coverage. They said as well as the rocker panels doors, bumpers and B pillars needed respraying. Both Tesla and I got the report - Tesla came back saying that they have looked at the report and there is nothing wrong with my car.

I then sent the Elon Musk interview with Sandy Munro. If you haven't seen it Elon gets asked why a car built a few months ago has paint issues and yet a car this month looks immaculate. Elon admits that during the period when my car was built they were in ramp up of production and the cars did not have enough time for the paint to dry properly which has caused a number of paint issues after delivery.

If you jump to 3:41 in the video, this is where he says the above.

After this they have agreed to respray both rocker panels as a Good Will gesture and NOT a warranty repair as the car is not faulty.

Thanks for this, I'm going to guess (I know for a fact) they will come up with a million excuses next week to not fix it. I'll be sure to link all these videos including the Elon one.

 

[BigBoy]

If you're leasing, would this be classed as fair wear and tear? Seems harsh if not if it's not our issue!

 

[Jon L]

I am leasing my M3LR. And no it wouldn't be classed as fair wear. When I showed my lease company they said it would if it was the end of the 4 year lease and it looked like that, they would charge for a respray.
However as soon as they saw it they said a car of this age shouldn't look like that and the paint clearly hasn't bonded properly. They have been very supportive with helping me fight Tesla on getting it sorted.

 

[Jon L]

5m 40

Same issue but Tesla fixed it straight away. Had more luck than me.

 

[Avendit]

Looks like a threat of independent paint analysis + small claims should sort this out if they argue? They should volunteer to sort the obvious problem, rather than letting a paint shop highlight every other panel that might need re-sprayed.

 

[BigBoy]

I am leasing my M3LR. And no it wouldn't be classed as fair wear. When I showed my lease company they said it would if it was the end of the 4 year lease and it looked like that, they would charge for a respray.
However as soon as they saw it they said a car of this age shouldn't look like that and the paint clearly hasn't bonded properly. They have been very supportive with helping me fight Tesla on getting it sorted.

Who's your leasing company?

 

[Jon L]

Who's your leasing company?

LeasePlan

 

[Jon L]

Ahhh guess what I noticed today cleaning my 3 month old car? Can't say I'm a big fan of service centre so this is going to be another fun game of roundabouts with them.

Fingers crossed they fix it under warranty, but I'm sure this will be happening again down the line

View attachment 640219 View attachment 640220 View attachment 640221 View attachment 640222

How did you get on?

 

[Sugei]

How did you get on?

It's booked in for Friday, not had any push back yet and I was at SC on Monday about a charging issues (think my charging port/unit is broke also) not had much luck with my M3 it seems.

I suppose we can all watch that video of Elon admitting the cars paint is trash should they come with any reasons not to fix it

EDIT: Just literally had a text from SC saying they are investigating the pictures and will advise on next steps to have it resolved at local Tesla Approved body Shop.

 

[Sugei]

Got told today they can't see it tomorrow as need to investigate further. I asked what they checking, apparently it "Looks like stone chips from road ware".
Round and round we go now, asked how a car with 1,700 miles has road chips when I've had previous cars do 50k with no such thing.

Just got to wait now to see what they decide. But apparently no one else's cases matter everyone is individual and they don't care what Elon said

This car is on the line of being thrown back at them, nothing but issues since day 1

 

[Durzel]

Will be interesting to see if this is a problem on MIC cars, I suspect it won't be.