Hood paint damage - Pearl paint sucks

[Aphinity]

My 5 week old Model 3 pearl white multicoat just got rear-ended by my neighbour while backing up his truck-bed camper truck. I had just finished washing it, too. Thankfully, it missed the headlights and fenders, but put multiple deep scratches lengthwise on the hood and wrecked the emblem (and vinyl I had atop the emblem from Abstract Ocean that I put on last week). Scratches go down to bare metal on the hood but it does not appear to be dented.

Since this is a pearl colour, I'm starting to understand why I might have been better off getting one of the other non-pearl colours. Pearl just doesn't match. My autobody friend informed me that he knows of only one autobody shop that even works on Teslas to begin with (due to parts availability being such crap), and the pearl means they're likely to repaint the entire front end, or at least, blend it.

Has anyone else had this experience? Should I expect them to repaint and blend, or will they just repaint the hood and call it a day?

 

[Aphinity]

 

[M109Rider]

My 5 week old Model 3 pearl white multicoat just got rear-ended by my neighbour while backing up his truck-bed camper truck. I had just finished washing it, too. Thankfully, it missed the headlights and fenders, but put multiple deep scratches lengthwise on the hood and wrecked the emblem (and vinyl I had atop the emblem from Abstract Ocean that I put on last week). Scratches go down to bare metal on the hood but it does not appear to be dented.

Since this is a pearl colour, I'm starting to understand why I might have been better off getting one of the other non-pearl colours. Pearl just doesn't match. My autobody friend informed me that he knows of only one autobody shop that even works on Teslas to begin with (due to parts availability being such crap), and the pearl means they're likely to repaint the entire front end, or at least, blend it.

Has anyone else had this experience? Should I expect them to repaint and blend, or will they just repaint the hood and call it a day?

Sorry about the damage. That’s sucks.
I would think they will repaint the hood only.
That’s what every other body shop does with any colour.
It should match well, they have the paint codes.

 

[Aphinity]

Sorry about the damage. That’s sucks.
I would think they will repaint the hood only.
That’s what every other body shop does with any colour.
It should match well, they have the paint codes.

Yea, see, paint codes don't matter. Pearl never goes on the same twice. When an entire car is painted, it's painted at the same time in nearly every case, making the colour match since the pearl (which is a suspension in clearcoat) is the same throughout. I've never heard of two pearl cars having identical paint, so unless they just swap my hood with a car made the same day, I don't see how it'll match, even with the paint code matching.

 

[M_D129]

I have a small dent, and paint chip in mine currently from some debris kicked up from a car in front of me, while driving. Small speck, in the grand scheme of the hood. I was quoted $870 to repaint the entire hood, from the third party Tesla uses in my area.

 

[Aphinity]

I have a small dent, and paint chip in mine currently from some debris kicked up from a car in front of me, while driving. Small speck, in the grand scheme of the hood. I was quoted $870 to repaint the entire hood, from the third party Tesla uses in my area.

View attachment 572390

Did they mention blending the fenders too?

 

[M_D129]

Yea, see, paint codes don't matter. Pearl never goes on the same twice. When an entire car is painted, it's painted at the same time in nearly every case, making the colour match since the pearl (which is a suspension in clearcoat) is the same throughout. I've never heard of two pearl cars having identical paint, so unless they just swap my hood with a car made the same day, I don't see how it'll match, even with the paint code matching.

I just had Tesla’s paint shop partner in my area fix a rusting issue, and they did a fantastic job of blending. I thought there would be a similar issue given that it’s pearl, and thought the same thing. The fix is indistinguishable from the existing paint.

I had them check out the speck on my hood while they had it to fix the rusting (covered under warranty), and that’s when they quoted me for the hood.

 

[M_D129]

Did they mention blending the fenders too?

No just the hood to be painted on its own.

 

[Kiprich]

This is my third car with pearl white. Yes, is hard to match colours, but a good repair shop should be able to do it. My second car was hit from the back and was repared nicely. If a shop can't do it, go to a better repair shop.

Only advise is to check the colour matching in the sun AND shade, so you are satisfied with the matching.

 

[Aphinity]

I just had Tesla’s paint shop partner in my area fix a rusting issue, and they did a fantastic job of blending. I thought there would be a similar issue given that it’s pearl, and thought the same thing. The fix is indistinguishable from the existing paint.

Sweet. I hope that's the case here. It'll be a fairly lengthy repair, I imagine, since they'll have to bring the hood down to bare metal in order to smooth it properly.

 

[TheThrill19]

Bummer about the accident. You’ll have color match issues with just about any factory car paint and a good shop will know how to blend repair area into the adjacent panels. In addition to color, texture also plays a big part of the repaint process and usually will differ between the repair vs the factory paint. Blending here also helps.

 

[M_D129]

Sweet. I hope that's the case here. It'll be a fairly lengthy repair, I imagine, since they'll have to bring the hood down to bare metal in order to smooth it properly.

My last paint job went over the weekend, I would expect at least 3-5 days for it to be in their hands.

 

[Glamisduner]

My 5 week old Model 3 pearl white multicoat just got rear-ended by my neighbour while backing up his truck-bed camper truck. I had just finished washing it, too. Thankfully, it missed the headlights and fenders, but put multiple deep scratches lengthwise on the hood and wrecked the emblem (and vinyl I had atop the emblem from Abstract Ocean that I put on last week). Scratches go down to bare metal on the hood but it does not appear to be dented.

Since this is a pearl colour, I'm starting to understand why I might have been better off getting one of the other non-pearl colours. Pearl just doesn't match. My autobody friend informed me that he knows of only one autobody shop that even works on Teslas to begin with (due to parts availability being such crap), and the pearl means they're likely to repaint the entire front end, or at least, blend it.

Has anyone else had this experience? Should I expect them to repaint and blend, or will they just repaint the hood and call it a day?

Tesla had to repaint mine after delivery. No the new paint did not match perfect and you can see it when the light hits it right. However I'm probably the only person who notices.

The metallic part of the pearl paint reflects differently, like the grain is in another direction. Pissed me off since this was in a band new $75,000 car but These days I just live with it. It's a Tesla after all, so I found have low expectations for the paint.

 

[Aphinity]

The metallic part of the pearl paint reflects differently, like the grain is in another direction. Pissed me off since this was in a band new $75,000 car but These days I just live with it. It's a Tesla after all, so I found have low expectations for the paint.

That was my expectation when I bought my car. I was pleasantly surprised to have a car with what seems like very good paint, particularly on the ... hood.

..ugh.

 

[MP3Mike]

Yea, see, paint codes don't matter. Pearl never goes on the same twice. When an entire car is painted, it's painted at the same time in nearly every case, making the colour match since the pearl (which is a suspension in clearcoat) is the same throughout. I've never heard of two pearl cars having identical paint, so unless they just swap my hood with a car made the same day, I don't see how it'll match, even with the paint code matching.

Yep, Elon recently said that they had outsource the painting of the bumper covers and that it caused a lot of problems because they couldn't get the paint to match so they had to bring it back in where Tesla paints the bumper covers themselves.

Any good body shop would end up blending the hood into the fenders and front bumper cover.

 

[Glamisduner]

That was my expectation when I bought my car. I was pleasantly surprised to have a car with what seems like very good paint, particularly on the ... hood.

..ugh.

I would see if you can get re-reimbursed for diminished value.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Since this is a pearl colour, I'm starting to understand why I might have been better off getting one of the other non-pearl colours.

Colours?? I think you mean colour. The only non-metallic/pearl paint they have is black. At least I think that's a plain black, but I could be wrong.

 

[Aphinity]

Colours?? I think you mean colour. The only non-metallic/pearl paint they have is black. At least I think that's a plain black, but I could be wrong.

I could be wrong, but I think metallic is a different story from pearl in terms of how it sprays. I know I've had metallic cars and didn't have this matching issue as bad.

 

[richrootes]

I could be wrong, but I think metallic is a different story from pearl in terms of how it sprays. I know I've had metallic cars and didn't have this matching issue as bad.

Ritchie Collision matched up the paint on my Audi perfectly - when I had it

Richmond (also down on 1st) is the North Shore certified Tesla body shop - they're working on my S as I type

Some tit reversing was exactly how my damage occurred - mine was quite a bit worse than yours

Anyway, good luck!

 

[Aphinity]

Ritchie Collision matched up the paint on my Audi perfectly - when I had it

Richmond (also down on 1st) is the North Shore certified Tesla body shop - they're working on my S as I type

Some tit reversing was exactly how my damage occurred - mine was quite a bit worse than yours

Anyway, good luck!

Thank you so much! I had my friend who used to work for Elite recommend Richmond Autobody as the place who might be able to help. Much appreciated! I hope your repair turns out well for you too.