Model 3 MSM paint - major problems with clearcoat

[AlexMasters]

Hi,

I’ve been handwashing my car since it was delivered on March 27th 2020. I have noticed that there is significant etching in the clearcoat, even after using tar remover and clay bar and light polish with DA polisher. The bonnet and all horizontal surfaces are similarly affected (wing flares, bootlid, front bumper PU). I believe the clearcoat is defective as I’ve never seen such extensive etching in such a short period of time. The paint is smooth to the touch after using tarspot remover and clay bar, so it’s not adhered to the surface - It actually appears to have eaten into the clear coat.

I’ve cleaned the car weekly since it was delivered , using pre-wash, jetwash, handwash and dry. I noticed this when taking the car out of direct sunlight to wax it. I’ve tried a polish and it is only maybe 10% better. To try and buff out with cutting compound is going to take too much clear coat out – it’s 120-140 microns across most of the bonnet and horizontal surfaces from my paint thickness gauge.

I’m absolutely gutted as this cannot be removed by ‘normal’ cleaning – this is a brand-new car and I’ve done everything I can to keep it clean and it shouldn’t happen. I’ve shown the car to my valeter, and he’s only seen one other car (out of thousands) with clearcoat damage like this (a 911 GT3). The car’s paint shouldn’t be damaged so readily with just being parked up and washed carefully once a week, in line with the manufacturer’s recommendation. If it is expected, it clearly isn’t fit for purpose as this is a nearly new vehicle and it shouldn’t look like this at six weeks and 377 miles on the clock.

What I’d like to happen:

1. Arrange for inspection at a Tesla approved body shop
2. Rectification of problem – this won’t be fixable with compound and polish without thinning the paint finish unacceptably (this is a six week old car with 300 miles!).
3. Spray the affected areas to fix the clearcoat, or replace the car

Anyone seen something similar and if so, how did you get it fixed? Even if Tesla offerred to respray, I'm not sure I want a complete respray done on a new car.... what do you think?. I've had someone look at the car, and his view was that it has been resprayed before delivery.

Regards,

Alex

 

[JasontheBeaver]

Yep, I've seen that many times.
I agreed with your line of thinking also... that this requires repaint to fix properly. But that can open another can of worms especially with the quality and longevity of the repaint job. It is imperative that you find the highest qualified paint shop. (Tesla approved or not in this case), and make sure you get their warranty in writing.
Otherwise I'd demand a new car.

 

[Trevor B]

You have a valeter? Wow

 

[AlexMasters]

Some preliminary feedback from a Tesla-approved body shop that I've used before below. I'm seriously sceptical about a full bare metal respray on a brand new car. It seems that the car valeter used a reasonably agressive polish twice and improved it by 10% (in his view). Basically, it's never going to be fixed by buffing unless the majority of the clear coat is removed.


Good morning Alex

Many thanks for your email and photos attached. On closer inspection of the photos you have sent in, it appears that something has reacted in the paintwork. It can be repaired by using the repainting method and bringing the panels down to bare metal again.

This will need to be inspected by Tesla so they can identify what has caused this and process this down the line of warranty. If you feel un happy and want to reject the vehicle, I cannot comment on this as this a discussion you have to have with Tesla direct.

Kind regards

 

[AlexMasters]

oh, and the paint is completely smooth - there is nothing bonded to the surface. it looks particularly awful under artificial light, but looks bad under direct light in reflections

 

[MP3Mike]

Was the paint like that when you got your car, or has that happened since you got it?

 

[AlexMasters]

It has gone like that since I had it - I first noticed it started a couple of weeks ago. There has been sap deposited (relatively light) and washed off each week. I've had other cars parked in the place for years without any sign of a problem with the clear coat, at all, ever. The sap from the silver birch can always be removed with claybar and tar remover. This pock marking on the clear coat is most noticable on the flat surfaces, but is also on the vertical surfaces of doors and wings.

 

[MP3Mike]

It has gone like that since I had it - I first noticed it started a couple of weeks ago. There has been sap deposited (relatively light) and washed off each week. I've had other cars parked in the place for years without any sign of a problem with the clear coat, at all, ever. Can always be removed with claybar and tar remover. This pock marking on the clear coat is most noticable on the flat surfaces, but is also on the vertical surfaces of doors and wings.

So do you think this is a reaction from the sap or from the tar remover you've been using? (What kind of tree is the sap coming from?)

 

[AlexMasters]

Yep, I've seen that many times.
I agreed with your line of thinking also... that this requires repaint to fix properly. But that can open another can of worms especially with the quality and longevity of the repaint job. It is imperative that you find the highest qualified paint shop. (Tesla approved or not in this case), and make sure you get their warranty in writing.
Otherwise I'd demand a new car.

Hi,

Any idea what the cause was and what the correction is? I note that tree sap is an exclusion in the warranty so I'm very worried that Tesla will hide behind that, and then it may get adversarial. I hope not and that a professional assessment will demonstrate that there a defect.

Regards,
Alex

 

[AlexMasters]

So do you think this is a reaction from the sap or from the tar remover you've been using? (What kind of tree is the sap coming from?)

Honestly, I don't know. I don't think it is from tree sap. I haven't used tar remover on the car as it hasn't been necessary to remove any deposited sap. My eyesight isn't the best and it's not nearly as visible under natural light unless you catch the reflection. it is very noticable once you've seen it.

The tree is a silver birch. My previous mercedes was parked there for five years without any problems at all. My Ford focus has been under the same tree for seven years without any problems at all.

 

[MP3Mike]

I haven't used tar remover on the car as it hasn't been necessary to remove any deposited sap.

Hmmm. In your first post you said you did:

I have noticed that there is significant etching in the clearcoat, even after using tar remover

 

[JasontheBeaver]

Hi,

Any idea what the cause was and what the correction is? I note that tree sap is an exclusion in the warranty so I'm very worried that Tesla will hide behind that, and then it may get adversarial. I hope not and that a professional assessment will demonstrate that there a defect.

Regards,
Alex

The correction is as we've stated, repainting the affected panels. Sanding or compounding out these defects will do exactly as you've stated, reduce the thickness of your clearcoat to an intolerable low level which will significantly shorten the lifespan of the paint due to decreased UV protected provided by the clearcoat.

What caused the damage? Almost impossible to say, but in my experience tree sap or resin specks of that size do not cause that kind of etching unless left uncleaned for many months and in hot weather. Hard water spots are also probably not the culprit since they are very small in size and they also take months to cause this level of permanent damage. This leaves some other foreign airborne caustic substance (doesn't have to be a liquid) that can be impossible to trace down the exact source. It is very likely that this damage was already occurring when you took delivery of the vehicle and it's gotten worse over time. If this is the case then the substance doing the damage is still present, and needs to be neutralized with something like Ferrex.

I can tell you this, if you say anything about the car being under a tree, or the word sap in any form, you're probably toast, and as you've said, Tesla will not cover it. The fact that other cars have sat under the tree with no damage has no bearing on their decision.

 

[AlexMasters]

Hmmm. In your first post you said you did:

I meant that I hadn't used it before it went to the valeter for paint prep prior to ceramic coating

 

[AlexMasters]

The correction is as we've stated, repainting the affected panels. Sanding or compounding out these defects will do exactly as you've stated, reduce the thickness of your clearcoat to an intolerable low level which will significantly shorten the lifespan of the paint due to decreased UV protected provided by the clearcoat.

What caused the damage? Almost impossible to say, but in my experience tree sap or resin specks of that size do not cause that kind of etching unless left uncleaned for many months and in hot weather. Hard water spots are also probably not the culprit since they are very small in size and they also take months to cause this level of permanent damage. This leaves some other foreign airborne caustic substance (doesn't have to be a liquid) that can be impossible to trace down the exact source. It is very likely that this damage was already occurring when you took delivery of the vehicle and it's gotten worse over time. If this is the case then the substance doing the damage is still present, and needs to be neutralized with something like Ferrex.

I can tell you this, if you say anything about the car being under a tree, or the word sap in any form, you're probably toast, and as you've said, Tesla will not cover it. The fact that other cars have sat under the tree with no damage has no bearing on their decision.

Thank you for that information. We'll see what happens, but this looks like a manufacturing issue rather than a contamination issue per-se. I think the problem has probably taken a while to show up.

As mentioned earlier, the car is washed weekly by hand and the problem hasn't shown up until recently. Sap has been deposited in the past, and just washes off, so I don't think thats the root cause, especially as these spots are showing up on non-horizontal surfaces where sap couldn't deposit, and where it can, there is relatively short dwell time before it is removed.

 

[Diamond Hills]

The correction is as we've stated, repainting the affected panels. Sanding or compounding out these defects will do exactly as you've stated, reduce the thickness of your clearcoat to an intolerable low level which will significantly shorten the lifespan of the paint due to decreased UV protected provided by the clearcoat.

What caused the damage? Almost impossible to say, but in my experience tree sap or resin specks of that size do not cause that kind of etching unless left uncleaned for many months and in hot weather. Hard water spots are also probably not the culprit since they are very small in size and they also take months to cause this level of permanent damage. This leaves some other foreign airborne caustic substance (doesn't have to be a liquid) that can be impossible to trace down the exact source. It is very likely that this damage was already occurring when you took delivery of the vehicle and it's gotten worse over time. If this is the case then the substance doing the damage is still present, and needs to be neutralized with something like Ferrex.

I can tell you this, if you say anything about the car being under a tree, or the word sap in any form, you're probably toast, and as you've said, Tesla will not cover it. The fact that other cars have sat under the tree with no damage has no bearing on their decision.

Echoing what Jason said in this post and his first one, it really is pretty impossible to say what caused it. We've seen several instances of this in newly delivered cars in the last few months. Our shop was contacted by our local service centers here to rectify the issue. All of the vehicles had less than 500 miles. When the service centers attempted to polish it out, it only exacerbated the issue which led to us doing a full respray of the panels and proper blending of the adjacent panels. Wish I had better news for you.

 

[AlexMasters]

Echoing what Jason said in this post and his first one, it really is pretty impossible to say what caused it. We've seen several instances of this in newly delivered cars in the last few months. Our shop was contacted by our local service centers here to rectify the issue. All of the vehicles had less than 500 miles. When the service centers attempted to polish it out, it only exacerbated the issue which led to us doing a full respray of the panels and proper blending of the adjacent panels. Wish I had better news for you.

Thank you for confirming. I'm glad that I'm not the only one, in a way. I'm not keen on an extensive refinish on a brand new car, especially with a metallic finish, and the difficulty in blending.

 

[MP3Mike]

I meant that I hadn't used it before it went to the valeter for paint prep prior to ceramic coating

So you are saying it was ceramic coated, and the damage is happening under the ceramic coating?

 

[AlexMasters]

So you are saying it was ceramic coated, and the damage is happening under the ceramic coating?

I had sent the car to be coated but it was aborted after the problem became apparent after wash and decontamination stages. Polishing didn't remove or improve it much, so I told him to stop and just wax it to cover the paintwork.