Peeling paint from Model 3 rocker panels

[afadeev]

Has anyone experienced anything similar? On both sides of the car's front rocket panels?
The paint is neither chipped, nor sand blasted, nor damaged by an impact. Just simply pealing from poor paint adhesion after ~3 years in service?
See pics below:

I noticed the paint peeling from the front of my rocker panels (both sides) this past summer, 6-9 months ago. Similar trend on both sides. It likely happened sooner, but that's the first I noticed. The paint is neither chipped nor scratched. It's just lifting off the surface in one continuous sheet.

I finally had time to raise the issue with Tesla during an SC appointment the other day.
Tesla service guy came out, took pics, went back inside, told me to look for an update in-app.

A few minutes later I get this generic message:
View attachment 902927

After going back inside and waiting for a while in the service line to speak to someone (another person was working the service front desk), a conversation with a Tesla SC guy went as follows:
Me: Can you help me understand if this message means the paint problem is covered under warranty?
SC guy: It means you should take it to the body shop.
Me: So, the body shop will know how to bill for repairs back to Tesla warranty?
SC guy: What warranty? Do you really want Tesla to warranty a 2019 car?
Me: Well, yes.
SC guy: Why would we warranty paint on a 2019 car?
Me: Well, because the car is still under warranty. And the paint looks to be peeling due to poor application from the factory.
SC guy: We would only warranty paint issues if you brought it up within a week or two after purchase. Not 3+ years later. You probably drove it through rain and snow since then.
Me: Of course I did. But that is not a reason for paint to be peeling off the car, is it?
SC guy: <Waives 2 other people from behind service doors>. This guy wants us to warranty paint a 2019 car! What other car manufacturers would ever warranty paint issues on a car that old?
Me: EVERY SINGLE ONE I EVER OWNED! Are you telling me Tesla's warranty does not apply to the paint?
SC guy: You can file an insurance claim, or pay for repairs out of pocket by following the link we sent you.
Me: Can you confirm if Tesla warranty does or does not apply to paint?
SC guy: You can take the car to a body shop, if you want. Other 2 SC employees are now rolling their eyes.

Three (3) quick Qs:
1). Has anyone experienced anything similar?
3). If you did, did you get any warranty coverage out of a Tesla SC?
3). Any confirmation if Tesla warranty covers paint adhesion to body panels?

TIA,
a

 

[nate704]

where is that? can you zoom out and take some pictures?

 

[afadeev]

where is that? can you zoom out and take some pictures?

Front of the rocket panels (area under the front/rear doors), behind the front wheels.

 

[launchd]

The paint is neither chipped, nor sand blasted, nor damaged by an impact. Just simply pealing from poor paint adhesion after ~3 years in service? It's just lifting off the surface in one continuous sheet.

Front of the rocket panels (area under the front/rear doors), behind the front wheels.

So the paint (in an area of your car that gets blasted the most by road debris) is peeling off and you want Tesla to cover this under warranty? You're located in the Northeast man, in NYC to boot, did you really expect the paint (in such a high wear area) to be fine after three years of abuse with no added protection? I've lived in the Northeast (tristate area) my whole life, I know all to well what our roads do to our cars. Mud flaps, PPF and constant car washes (especially in the winter) are an absolute requirement if you want paint to remain in good shape on any vehicle long term here.

How long are you leaving salt sitting on your paint? Are you aware that rock salt is corrosive? How often do you wash your car? Do you do anything to prepare it for the winter months here?

 

[nate704]

You need to wash your car first!

 

[afadeev]

You need to wash your car first!

Yeah, I know.

So the paint (in an area of your car that gets blasted the most by road debris) is peeling off and you want Tesla to cover this under warranty? You're located in the Northeast man, in NYC to boot, did you really expect the paint (in such a high wear area) to be fine after three years of abuse with no added protection?

110% Yes.
It has been perfectly fine on all BMWs, Hondas, Acura's, Audis, Mercs, and MINIs I've ever owned.
I absolutely do NOT expect any modern, well built, vehicle to suffer body panel paint delamination. Ever. Least of all within warranty period.

The only cars I've ever seen suffering body panel paint decay are rusting low-end Detroit products. And even those would start falling apart way our of warranty.

YMMV,
a

 

[Kandiru]

I put 18/25mm spacers with my 18" Aeros, so mudflaps became a must, Basenor has very nice ones, really OEM looking.

 

[launchd]

110% Yes.
It has been perfectly fine on all BMWs, Hondas, Acura's, Audis, Mercs, and MINIs I've ever owned.
I absolutely do NOT expect any modern, well built, vehicle to suffer body panel paint delamination. Ever. Least of all within warranty period.

The only cars I've ever seen suffering body panel paint decay are rusting low-end Detroit products. And even those would start falling apart way our of warranty.

YMMV,
a

Fair but, for as long as I've been reading about Tesla cars, the one thing that is consistently talked about is their paint quality. That is, their paint is soft and easily susceptible to damage. If the paint was peeling off on areas of your car that aren't being blasted by whatever your tires are kicking up I'd say you have a paint quality issue that may get covered under warranty. However, I bet it's safe to assume that nowhere else on your car is the paint peeling like this. If it was simply a factory paint issue, wouldn't you expect to see it elsewhere? Odd that it is only occurring in the high impact areas, right? My guess is you ended up with paint chips early on in these areas and you didn't nip the issue in the bud. Instead, you left them exposed and let road grime/salt sit on these damaged areas for far too long.

I'm not trying to dismiss your frustrations, I'd be frustrated too. You didn't buy a cheap car so you expected it to hold up as well as other cars in the price range. Unfortunately, that just doesn't seem to be the reality with these Tesla vehicles - certainly not from a paint perspective.

 

[heavyD]

I've seen this on our local Tesla facebook community. If you operate these cars in northern climates where roads are salted and sanded you should get yourself some mud flaps as there are a variety of types available for these cars. As mentioned the paint on these cars is ultra-soft and can wear easy in impact areas.

 

[Mr Limpet]

Everyone knows Tesla has garbage paint. You know that going in. First thing I did was PPF/Ceramic coat and mud flaps and I live in AZ. Rocks and sun are my enemy.
If I were you, I would wait until spring, Scrub the area down to remove all loose paint. Prep it and find an auto paint shop that can do rattle can touch up paint. Spray the area down and put mud flaps on it. It will never be seen.
Be glad you don't have to deal with this....
2017 Tacoma, garage kept until day I took delivery of my M3P. Nine months in the sun 24/7 from March until noticed in November. Now I have to fight with Toyota to get my truck repainted. Its a known issue.
Day of Tesla delivery

November

 

[stopcrazypp]

Tesla covers this when it happens within a few weeks of delivery. When it is a defect that's about the amount of time poor adhesion shows up, and huge sections will peel off.

Your car is so full of grime however, it's not really clear what we are looking at. If I'm understanding correctly, you are talking about the leading edge where the plastic wheel well cover is. If that is the case, I can totally see small chips happening there and if there is liquid/corrosion that works its way in, it may peel off eventually. Given the car is a 2019 Model, it's been through a couple seasons, so I can see why they would balk at covering it.

 

[chuckecheeseli]

I posted in another Model 3 paint thread below, with photo, but I had lots of paint wear off from my rocker panels after the first winter. I took it to the service center and was told that Tesla almost universally does not provide warranty service on paint issues, since that's on the outside of the car and subject to whatever degree of abuse the owner wants to throw at it.

Model 3 paint wearing off

Can you please explain what the arbitration process is. I have similar paint issues with my Model 3 in the wheel well area on both sides. Hopefully, this will be covered by warranty and doesn’t have to go to arbitration Looking at your pictures closer, it appears that there is PPF on the rocker...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[804son]

That looks like general Road grime, Mag Chloride, salt, dirt. There's no distinguishing any kind of damage from all the dirt. Also one of those pictures is exclusively the inside of the wheel well. Which is plastic, NOT painted.

 

[vogz]

@afadeev This is not unique to Tesla, and it has nothing to do with "paint quality". There aren't many manufacturers that will cover wear and tear to your paint. Many have corrosion warranties, but they typically won't honor them unless the panel is completely rusted through.

My previous car was an Audi S4 and it had front fender paint peeling issues. Audi did NOT want to cover it as the said it was wear and tear. It was very common on B8 A4/S4 models.

Official b8 s4 front fender paint chip memo to aoc/aoa

First and foremost, please do not post if you are not contributing. This needs to remain as focused as possible if we're to end up with a useful product. No cross-talk and no thread jacking please. There are other threads to bemoan this issue, this thread is for photos and information ONLY...

www.audizine.com

As has been stated before, fix it before it gets worse and get some splash guards to keep it front happening again.

 

[Copes]

Hi all,
What I had thought was something I ran over (paint?) is actually paint degradation. I also have chipping paint in both wheel wells. See pics. This is a 2020 M3 LR+ with 58k. Anyone in US successfully had this issue remedied by Tesla?

 

[nate704]

Hi all,
What I had thought was something I ran over (paint?) is actually paint degradation. I also have chipping paint in both wheel wells. See pics. This is a 2020 M3 LR+ with 58k. Anyone in US successfully had this issue remedied by Tesla?

If you hit something and damage the metal, it will rust. This is not paint degradation.

 

[heavyD]

If you hit something and damage the metal, it will rust. This is not paint degradation.

That's abrasion from road debris that has worn through the paint as the pattern of wear is pretty clear as it's down to primer all around. The soft/thin paint isn't up to the task on these cars for people that drive parts of the world that sand roads in the winter or drive on gravel as the paint will simply disintegrate over time. Mud flaps should be mandatory for people that drive in areas like this (note that Tesla includes mud flaps for Canadian cars because of this).

 

[804son]

Looks like a dent in the rusted area to me.

 

[nate704]

That's abrasion from road debris that has worn through the paint as the pattern of wear is pretty clear as it's down to primer all around. The soft/thin paint isn't up to the task on these cars for people that drive parts of the world that sand roads in the winter or drive on gravel as the paint will simply disintegrate over time. Mud flaps should be mandatory for people that drive in areas like this (note that Tesla includes mud flaps for Canadian cars because of this).

if you don't see the dent/damage in the picture, I don't know what to tell you.

 

[heavyD]

if you don't see the dent/damage in the picture, I don't know what to tell you.

Exactly. You don't know.