Model S Ultra Red Waiting Room

[Anson Fung]

Quick update to post #589:

(1) The rearmost edge of the driver's side quarter panel had a huge glob of paint. It's right on the corner where the quarter panel meets with the rear hatch. Tesla will be fixing the defect two days from now. Service warned me there's a chance it'll have to be wet sanded and repainted--if that ends up being the case, I'll report back on paint matching. I also noticed that the paint was a little thicker in the same area of the passenger side quarter panel, so this might be an area to pay special attention to during y'all's delivery inspections.

Dropped the car off for service, and the Tesla Cypress service center made the final determination that the factory paint defect could not be fixed without a respray. Tesla service then sent the car to CSI Collision Specialist--a local Houston body shop--for the left rear quarter panel repaint and blending.

Entire process took about 9 days. Good news is that the body shop did a fantastic job: the paint match is spot on, there's no overspray, and the orange peel texture is indistinguishable from that on the panels with factory paint. And this was upon very close inspection--that is, when I was paint correcting, polishing, and coating.

When I dropped off the car, I was concerned that the respray would look noticeably worse; those concerns were elevated given the body shop's relative lack of experience with the new Ultra Red color. Glad to report that, at least in the hands of a competent body shop, it is totally possible to successfully repaint an Ultra Red car.

 

[Anson Fung]

I think the red is unique of all the S colors it’s less common, deeper, darker and more like candy apple actually. I personally love it. I’ve also been told it’s less likely to chip by the PPF installer (more durable) I have no way to know if that’s true and put a protective film on anyway.

It seems like your PPF installer might be onto something w/r/t Ultra Red durability. Paint correction, polishing, and coating are DIY projects for me. As far as I remember, the Multicoat Red M3 and MY each required extensive compounding (DA with microfiber pad and M105) and polishing (DA with yellow foam pad and M205). Neither the M3 or MY had been run through an automatic car wash before paint correction but both had a good amount of micro scratches and swirls from the factory.

Ultra Red paint really surprised me. Was prepared to do quite a bit of compounding but the paint just didn't need it. I instead was able to go straight to polishing with M205 and a yellow foam pad. There's evidence of some pre-delivery paint correction (found a small mark from a rotary polisher), but that alone can't fully explain why the paint was in such good condition. That's because I had run the car through a tunnel car wash not once (!) but twice (!!) before it went in for the respray. Of course, now that the car's corrected and coated, its back to hand washing only.

 

[f308gt4]

Just joined the waiting room, though I hopefully don’t have much of a wait. Ordered from inventory, 2023 Ultra Red Plaid with black interior. Got the 19” wheels, knowing that for sure will upgrade with aftermarket at some point, and possibly also the brakes.

Coming from a 2020 Model 3P, which will be passed on to a family member.

Can’t wait!

 

[Joey D]

Just joined the waiting room, though I hopefully don’t have much of a wait. Ordered from inventory, 2023 Ultra Red Plaid with black interior. Got the 19” wheels, knowing that for sure will upgrade with aftermarket at some point, and possibly also the brakes.

Coming from a 2020 Model 3P, which will be passed on to a family member.

Can’t wait!

I just got another compliment from a complete stranger today in a parking lot about the Ultra Red color....

 

[f308gt4]

Well, just had my first hiccup. Got the text and email to schedule a Delivery date. Tried to schedule for Sat Sept 2nd. For some reason, it gave me a date of Tuesday, which is going to be impossible for several reasons (one of which is I need to do a money transfer between accounts which could take a couple days, so I don’t even know if the money to pay for the car will be available on that day). Can’t seem to figure out a way to change the date. I may have to call on Monday to figure it out?

 

[f308gt4]

Can’t edit my post above, but my issue is fixed. I texted tesla and they got back to me and updated the pickup time to next Saturday. It’s going to be a long week…

 

[Joey D]

Well, you know what they say about the anticipation being better than attainment itself? That's a lie....

Can’t edit my post above, but my issue is fixed. I texted tesla and they got back to me and updated the pickup time to next Saturday. It’s going to be a long week…

You know what they say about anticipation being better than actually acquiring it? Well...that's a lie.

 

[MarkinArch]

Any luck with touch up paint yet? I have 4 rock chips on my rear driver's side door, all fairly deep and bright white, that I want to cover up. Tesla Collision Center said it is too expensive for them to make a small amount so they couldn't do anything for me.

 

[AAKEE]

Any luck with touch up paint yet? I have 4 rock chips on my rear driver's side door, all fairly deep and bright white, that I want to cover up. Tesla Collision Center said it is too expensive for them to make a small amount so they couldn't do anything for me.

Of course it’s very far but the best online shop for car pant in Sweden paint has it.
Might be a dangerous goods issue to ship over there?

I had to get one direct at delivery as Tesla appearently delevers cars scratched and dented.

For ultra red its three layers, first i lighter red, than a darker red and after that two comp clear coat. Each in good containers so the amount supplied will be enought for
a lot of small repairs.

Worked very good for me, the chipped paint positions more or less dissapeared.

 

[CTDW]

Any luck with touch up paint yet? I have 4 rock chips on my rear driver's side door, all fairly deep and bright white, that I want to cover up. Tesla Collision Center said it is too expensive for them to make a small amount so they couldn't do anything for me.

I keep checking the Dr. ColorChip site, and nothing yet. I have a chip I would like to repair as well and can't believe Tesla is still not offering a kit yet.

 

[AAKEE]

I keep checking the Dr. ColorChip site, and nothing yet. I have a chip I would like to repair as well and can't believe Tesla is still not offering a kit yet.

Did Tesla ever offer touch up kit’s?

 

[Joey D]

Did Tesla ever offer touch up kit’s?

Still do...just not for Ultra Red (at least not yet.) Probably a few other colors they don't offer as well...

Paint Repair Kit

Cover up paint chips from road debris and rocks with the Tesla Paint Repair Kit. Application is quick and allows users to easily fill in paint chips to a smooth surface within a few simple steps. This paint system is a two stage process of applying paint to cover the defect and then blending the...

shop.tesla.com

 

[MarkinArch]

Did Tesla ever offer touch up kit’s?

Not yet,. I check on a weekly basis. I just got ANOTHER chip on my door on the way to work this morning. I knew I should've PPFd the whole car! It's so weird because in 5.5 years of ownership with the 3 I never had any chips on the side of my car, just front PPF that was getting battered. Here we are with the S for 2 months and I already have 5.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

I keep checking the Dr. ColorChip site, and nothing yet. I have a chip I would like to repair as well and can't believe Tesla is still not offering a kit yet.

You might contact them. It's possible they have it, but haven't updated their website.

 

[AAKEE]

Not yet,. I check on a weekly basis. I just got ANOTHER chip on my door on the way to work this morning. I knew I should've PPFd the whole car! It's so weird because in 5.5 years of ownership with the 3 I never had any chips on the side of my car, just front PPF that was getting battered. Here we are with the S for 2 months and I already have 5.

Sorry to hear that, Too bad.

Mine is getting PPF as we ’speak’, or most probably dries. I used my 2 comp dual color ultra red before driving it to PPF to fix the dents/chips that the car came with. (Plus two almost invisible on the hood/frunk).

 

[CTDW]

You might contact them. It's possible they have it, but haven't updated their website.

I have checked with them and there is no ETA

 

[f308gt4]

The stars aligned today and I was able to pick up my car a few days earlier than anticipated. Here’s a pic at the dealership. First mod when I got back home was to remove that front plate.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Congrats! It's amazing how Tesla owns all the SC's, but they vary so much. In Houston, they don't even let you know your car has arrived, and when you find out it's ready to pick up, it's left dirty somewhere in the lot for you to find it on your own without any fanfare at all.

 

[Propofoln]

The stars aligned today and I was able to pick up my car a few days earlier than anticipated. Here’s a pic at the dealership. First mod when I got back home was to remove that front plate.


View attachment 969677

Congrats! You’ll love the ultra red. I get so many compliments

 

[wjohnst320]

Of course it’s very far but the best online shop for car pant in Sweden paint has it.
Might be a dangerous goods issue to ship over there?

I had to get one direct at delivery as Tesla appearently delevers cars scratched and dented.

For ultra red its three layers, first i lighter red, than a darker red and after that two comp clear coat. Each in good containers so the amount supplied will be enought for
a lot of small repairs.

Worked very good for me, the chipped paint positions more or less dissapeared.

I just ordered this from Amazon. Haven't tried it yet, but looks like it might do the trick.