Paint issues continue

[Teza]

Good morning all,

I have been the proud owner of a black model 3 LR since March 2021 however the owner journey hasn’t been an easy one if I’m honest. Ever since delivery I have had paint issues with the car, scratches on delivery etc, then a few months ago, after being away from for only a day, I returned to bird dropping on my car (which is unavoidable) of which I shocked to find that after wiping this off, this has left a mark on the paint work, is this normal? Tesla told me that there is nothing they can do.

Furthermore, yesterday, I found on my right door, I can only describe as two chips/peeling, where I can literally see the white paint underneath the black paint work (pictures attached)

Any advice/guidance would be greatly appreciated. Just starting to feel a little deflated…

 

[seadog]

Bird droppings are acidic and can damage any paintwork, best to remove them carefully as soon as possible, it's quite easy to scratch the paint as well removing them. They marks left can usually be polished out though either by hand or machine polishing if required. Difficult to say from photos but the two marks look like normal stone chips which again you can get on any paintwork, get a touch up paint and use something like a cocktail stick to get a tiny drop of paint into the chip. Lots of youtube videos to follow if you want to do a good job.

 

[GRiLLA]

Bird mess will often leave the clear coat looking disrupted, you can polish it out or sometimes if you just wait until summer the heat will smooth is out anyway. Same with any car. Like above, I suspect the two marks are stone chips, that's why touch-up paint exists.

I wouldn't say that my model 3 is more prone to either of these than my previous BMW (it was ruined with sun cream as well). As well as being awesome, your black car will show more scratches, same will all black cars. To keep them pristine needs very careful treatment and regular paint correction polishing.

 

[InventEd]

My new blue model Y has some white marks on the paintwork on the bonnet. They look at first like a small piece of grey ash has landed on the bonnet, but giving them a rub they are light marks in the paint. No blemish to the surface. I was taking the car for a quote from a detailer and he said "have you checked the glass?" Sure enough on the glass on the boot there are very similar marks. He did know what they are from but says he has seen them on several Teslas. I noticed them before the 100 miles so put in a service request. But I am intrigued if anyone else has seen this or knows what it is from?

 

[init6]

Furthermore, yesterday, I found on my right door, I can only describe as two chips/peeling, where I can literally see the white paint underneath the black paint work (pictures attached)

Any advice/guidance would be greatly appreciated. Just starting to feel a little deflated…

The peeling paint that Teslas have suffered from in the past looks like the first picture in this thread:

Flaking paint on 2021 M3 LR

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 –...

teslamotorsclub.com

What you appear to have is just stone chips - unless the marks develop further. If the colour coat is removed then you will see the white primer underneath. Same as any other car.

 

[init6]

My new blue model Y has some white marks on the paintwork on the bonnet. They look at first like a small piece of grey ash has landed on the bonnet, but giving them a rub they are light marks in the paint. No blemish to the surface. I was taking the car for a quote from a detailer and he said "have you checked the glass?" Sure enough on the glass on the boot there are very similar marks. He did know what they are from but says he has seen them on several Teslas. I noticed them before the 100 miles so put in a service request. But I am intrigued if anyone else has seen this or knows what it is from?

It's hard to say from that photo. Can you get closer?

 

[GRiLLA]

My new blue model Y has some white marks on the paintwork on the bonnet. They look at first like a small piece of grey ash has landed on the bonnet, but giving them a rub they are light marks in the paint. No blemish to the surface. I was taking the car for a quote from a detailer and he said "have you checked the glass?" Sure enough on the glass on the boot there are very similar marks. He did know what they are from but says he has seen them on several Teslas. I noticed them before the 100 miles so put in a service request. But I am intrigued if anyone else has seen this or knows what it is from?

That's a blue bonnet, can't see anything.

Almost certainly it needs paint correction polishing, all new cars do, but surely that's what your detailer is for.

 

[Adopado]

Bird droppings are acidic and can damage any paintwork, best to remove them carefully as soon as possible, it's quite easy to scratch the paint as well removing them.

The other issue is that some birds consume a quantity of grit. They don't have teeth so they need grit in their gizzard which is used to grind their food to aid digestion. Some of this grit is expelled in their poo. This can mean that if you rub off the droppings you scratch and damage the paint on your car. They choose some seriously hard grit ... the first time I discovered this issue was when removing droppings from a car windscreen and it actually damaged the surface of the glass! If the droppings don't swill off without rubbing I recommend laying a thoroughly soaked paper towel on top and leaving it for 5 or 10 minutes. That usually makes is slide off without rubbing.

 

[K.M.]

Good morning all,

I have been the proud owner of a black model 3 LR since March 2021 however the owner journey hasn’t been an easy one if I’m honest. Ever since delivery I have had paint issues with the car, scratches on delivery etc, then a few months ago, after being away from for only a day, I returned to bird dropping on my car (which is unavoidable) of which I shocked to find that after wiping this off, this has left a mark on the paint work, is this normal? Tesla told me that there is nothing they can do.

Furthermore, yesterday, I found on my right door, I can only describe as two chips/peeling, where I can literally see the white paint underneath the black paint work (pictures attached)

Any advice/guidance would be greatly appreciated. Just starting to feel a little deflated…

I have the same problems with the paint inclusions / contaminations you speak of but mine is on the bonnet and the deckled.

Not the best picture but gives you an idea...

 

[InventEd]

It's hard to say from that photo. Can you get closer?

Can you see any better on this zoom in?

 

[HenryT]

I have the same problems with the paint inclusions / contaminations you speak of but mine is on the bonnet and the deckled.

Not the best picture but gives you an idea...
View attachment 787411View attachment 787412View attachment 787413

deckled?

 

[init6]

deckled?

I was trying to work that one out too

The bonnet should be covered during transport, so it shouldn't have picked up much in transit. If the deckled is also covered then that might give us a clue as to what is going on.

 

[init6]

Can you see any better on this zoom in?

Not really. Are the @K.M. marks like your? Did the detailer do anything with the marks? Did he try to remove them? Hard to see if they are proud of the paint or under the cleat coat.

 

[init6]

I have the same problems with the paint inclusions / contaminations you speak of but mine is on the bonnet and the deckled.

Not the best picture but gives you an idea...

Are you able to feel this one:



It looks like a stone chip, but if it's smooth then it's something in the clear coat.

 

[init6]

Might be worth comparing notes with @niiru

UK 2021 Model 3 Q4 Collection and Delivery Experiences

Congrats on the new car, it looks great. However, I can see the missing paint on this picture without zooming in, so it’s definitely an issue. Tesla need to sort that out for all owners IMHO. Yeah definitely shows a bit as it is quite a contrast vs the grey paint….good to get a view if lots of...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[K.M.]

deckled?

I was trying to work that one out too

The bonnet should be covered during transport, so it shouldn't have picked up much in transit. If the deckled is also covered then that might give us a clue as to what is going on.

Sorry - I was trying to do 6 things at once and didn't pick up on the autocorrect *face palm*... decklid*

Are you able to feel this one:

View attachment 787428

It looks like a stone chip, but if it's smooth then it's something in the clear coat.

They're not stone chips, it's some form of contamination during the painting process. They're completely smooth to the touch because they're under the clear coat. I suspect it's either a dirty airline during base coat application or 'spitting' from the gun. Either way, I have several panels covered in the little dots and varying in size. The picture shows a huge one in the middle and then lots of little ones.. sadly it isn't just in the area show, it's literally all over the panel.

The only remedy is to sand back and respray I'm afraid.

They're not going to be happy as I'm going to be suggesting pretty much every panels gets repainted. I'm from the automotive sector (manufacturing not retail) so I've got a keen eye for how things should be. I don't feel I'm being over 'picky' but there are several howlers I'm not happy with. I think the most offensive one is a really poor 'brush-in' on the bottom edge of the front passenger door. They've clearly adjusted the door to get the gap and profile correct but gone too low on the latch, closed the door and chipped the paint. Rather than repair - and hoping nobody will check the bottom edge - have just brushed in some paint (common practise sadly) but have done a very poor job. There's also a fair bit of damage around the tread plate on the drivers side and a scratch on the IP upper.

 

[init6]

That scratching on the tread plate is shocking.

 

[K.M.]

That scratching on the tread plate is shocking.

I know!! Sadly the rear quarters and wings look pretty much the same.

I have my own DA polisher and all the kit BUT I'm not touching it just yet... if I touch it and uncover another issue (thin paint, craters etc) then I own it. If they polish it and burn through then they need to fix it.

I'll give them their shot, get it 'good enough' and then sort it myself and put a ceramic coating on or PPF.

Luckily my other half shares my obsession for good paint. She took it to work today and happened to park under trees. She came home, grabbed a couple of buckets and went and gave it a wash to remove the bird lime ha-ha!

 

[Teza]

Thanks all for the comprehensive responses as always I really do appreciate it. I’ll take some pictures tomorrow of the mark left by the bird poo. At this point I’m really regretting not getting the vehicle PPF’d.

Any advice on what I should do next, as I’m thinking of having PPF applied at this point so I don’t have to worry too much about issues like this moving forward but need to get all the scratches, chips etc fixed first? Any recommendations on suppliers to visit?

P.S. Tesla denied at every step of the way that the paint had any issues from factory but just the amount of threads about paint imperfections on this forum alone tells a different story, what could we do about it as community?

Thanks again,
Teza

 

[InventEd]

Are you able to feel this one:

View attachment 787428

It looks like a stone chip, but if it's smooth then it's something in the clear coat.

Not sure if this helps but I popped into a detailer yesterday to book a date for my Y to be prepared and ceramic coated and I mentioned these types of marks in paint and glass. He showed me a brand new Mercedes’ he had just had dropped of and it also had a couple of similar marks (not as many as yours). He thinks they are in the laquer (as you suggest) not the paint and will come out when he preps the car. He sees them in lots of cars. Still going to take my car to Tesla first to see what they can do. If it’s that easily rectified then Tesla should be able to sort it before I ceramic coat it.