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Model 3 paint wearing off
Does not explain why Tesla Model 3 looks like this after 4600 km. White spots are not dirt.
Looking soon like this in the video...
pdx_m3s
Active Member
You have to be delusional to think that this is common with all black cars. Its not. Pull yourself away from the koolaid on occasion.
Guess what? Is not a Tesla Model 3 .
Black paint shows everything and that's why I am done with black cars after my third one. I was able to polish out the defects. That what happens when you try to save money on paint lol I am glad Tesla is making the base color white.
No that damage Tesla should pay the $500 to get the side skirts repainted.
MrBadger
Badger out
Apologies for only top and tailing this topic so asking a couple of questions that may already been answered.
-Ian
- Is the root cause of this known?
- Is there a specific manufacturing date range that this problem affects
- Will it affect recent build cars? Being totally selfish, cars made since May 2019?
-Ian
Obviously nothing official. I think it's a design decision for aesthetic and aero reasons, that make the Model 3 more prone to this kind of paint damage.
Many cars are vertically-sided in order to minimize dirt from blasting the sides of the car. Not the Tesla, it undercuts, so that the bottom part of the rockers and doors are exposed to the dirt being kicked up by the tires. The vehicles that aren't vertically-sided might compensate by putting dark gray plastic covering the exposed rocker areas. The Tesla has a little bit of dark gray plastic down there, but not much. Other vehicles might have a little PPF to cover the risk areas on the rockers. Some vehicles have little mudflaps extending down from the wheelwells, to lower the risk of dirt flying up. Not the Tesla. Why? It has to be aero and aesthetics.
It also doesn't help that the bottom is covered by the battery cover and/or the under tray, like an F1 car. That helps the aero and allows more dirt to be carried by the smoothed airflow towards the back. Other cars with open bottoms would have that dirt fly up, hit some metal suspension bits or muffler, etc and fall to the ground.
So, the design for aesthetic and aero reasons, make it more likely that the paint on vulnerable areas will get blasted by dirt. I'm not sure any paint, hard or soft would survive that kind of abuse. The only way to avoid it, is to either drive in areas without lots of dirt on the road surface, or to install either mudguards, or PPF. Could be very cheap to fix beforehand, as little as $25 for DIY mudguards, or very expensive to fix afterward.
One of guys from our FB GROUP posted this.
1H... It is worst what can be found and it it not so good on Tesla """"multi coat"""""
Coating Scratch Hardness - IGL Coatings Blog
1H... It is worst what can be found and it it not so good on Tesla """"multi coat"""""
Coating Scratch Hardness - IGL Coatings Blog
MrBadger
Badger out
pdx_m3s
Active Member
I generally agree with everything he listed. Paint is very thin and soft, and the rocker-panel issue is made worse by the design/aesthetics Tesla chose (the rocker panel and lower portion of door is in the direct line-of-fire of the front tires).
Painting the whole car (doors included) in one piece apparently has also introduced some unusually poorly painted areas.
There was also the rumor on Twitter or somewhere that Tesla skipped some rust protection step on Model 3 that is usually done these days that might explain the quick rusting on some cars, anyone got any more on that?
There was also the rumor on Twitter or somewhere that Tesla skipped some rust protection step on Model 3 that is usually done these days that might explain the quick rusting on some cars, anyone got any more on that?
I can confirm we have found rust spots also in Finland + norway in
But i do not know about rust protection.I don’t see why that would make a difference given most of the damage is around the rear wheels? One could imagine RWD even kicking up more dirt back there than AWD due to easier wheel spinning? Mudflaps are probably a good precaution.
See images from message #13 for example:
MrBadger
Badger out
@WannabeOwner in another thread posted a photo about aero wheels, so I have anashamidly borrowed part of the photo of interest
This is front wheel from a recently delivered UK car. I notice some extra thick paint in lower area of rocker (hope i used that term correctly, we call it sill).
Is it likely that this plus some ceramic coating and set of low profile mud flaps will help sort the problem on an existing, but yet to be delivered car? Still waiting for ours, but its probably already on a boat.
I've been looking at what other manufacturers do in this area. Many use a plastic moulding in this area. In old days, sills rusting out was a common occurrence and had hoped this was largely a thing of the past. Disappointing if its going to be a weak spot as Model 3's age. We want ours to last 15 years or so. Likely to be second last car we buy.
This is front wheel from a recently delivered UK car. I notice some extra thick paint in lower area of rocker (hope i used that term correctly, we call it sill).
Is it likely that this plus some ceramic coating and set of low profile mud flaps will help sort the problem on an existing, but yet to be delivered car? Still waiting for ours, but its probably already on a boat.
I've been looking at what other manufacturers do in this area. Many use a plastic moulding in this area. In old days, sills rusting out was a common occurrence and had hoped this was largely a thing of the past. Disappointing if its going to be a weak spot as Model 3's age. We want ours to last 15 years or so. Likely to be second last car we buy.
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