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Red - Bumper color does not match body, service refused
- Thread starter NosTr4D4m
- Start date
The 3rd picture is the easiest to see the difference. The bumper color is a darker shade. This is not a new problem, it started around mid summer last year. It appears on Pearl White and Red Model 3 as those are the only colors that are multicoated and harder to match. I have not see it on the forum for a while... I thought they fixed that production problem.
Lesson learned. Don’t accept a car with noticeable paint defects. Only option now is to return it and reorder under a different account
When we took delivery of our pearl white, in Marine del Ray, CA, was simple for me to just go out on the lot, find my VIN and check out the car. It was perfect. But, when I went inside and -- just as a "test" -- asked the sales rep to check out the car, he said... sure, after you sign all the papers. Real cute.
Norway cars are being delivered with the compact mud flaps installed on the front.
The car I am getting this week has the front bumper looking a darker shade in the artificial lighting with a camera phone. Definitely that combo will exaggerate color/shade difference. But I had someone go check in out in person, and he told me it looks fine in person and only that way on the photos.
The Tesla rep said the car was built on Oct 16, and he's very familiar with the car and even though it's a demo with 250 miles on it, it has never had any paint work. It didn't look like any paint work was done to my friend, so that adds up.
I have seen other pics online of a mismatch in photos. See attached. The first 3 are my car, and the other 2 are found online.
Anyone else notice the difference in shade for their front bumper in photos in artificial light that are like the pics below?
The Tesla rep said the car was built on Oct 16, and he's very familiar with the car and even though it's a demo with 250 miles on it, it has never had any paint work. It didn't look like any paint work was done to my friend, so that adds up.
I have seen other pics online of a mismatch in photos. See attached. The first 3 are my car, and the other 2 are found online.
Anyone else notice the difference in shade for their front bumper in photos in artificial light that are like the pics below?
Attachments
Yep, got that. Had someone go look in person. But my question was if other red M3 owners have noticed the same effect in pictures compared to the ones I posted?
guys, the color difference is very clear, also in the pictures posted by TLLMRRJ. Unless your screens are really dark - then you can't see it. In real life, it's the same - not one person who saw it did not notice it. Its almost a month since we received our Red with different color bumpers, and I still can't get use to it - it's very visible. My wife and I were too hyped to get the car that day, and I really feel we did a big mistake accepting it with this color defect. But also we were told that tesla would fix unless they will categorize it as an "acceptable" defect. Which is what they did.
It's even more visible in pictures, which is very sad, as I would like to take some nice pictures of otherwise superb car.
Returning the car in Denmark was never an option for me without loosing 3,000$. Tesla knows it and they play this card very well.
It's even more visible in pictures, which is very sad, as I would like to take some nice pictures of otherwise superb car.
Returning the car in Denmark was never an option for me without loosing 3,000$. Tesla knows it and they play this card very well.
By the way, here's another red one that is just now leaving the factory with the mismatched bumper.
If they are not even bothering to change their paint process to get the match back to what it's been on other cars, I can image they don't want to pay to fix the problem. Mine is from Oct 18 build. So that's a lot of bumpers to change since then already, and counting.
Wait for Post 933 to show up when loading the page:
Pic of your Model 3.......RIGHT NOW!
If they are not even bothering to change their paint process to get the match back to what it's been on other cars, I can image they don't want to pay to fix the problem. Mine is from Oct 18 build. So that's a lot of bumpers to change since then already, and counting.
Wait for Post 933 to show up when loading the page:
Pic of your Model 3.......RIGHT NOW!
This won't make you feel any better, but I received an SMS from a 3rd party paint shop asking me to schedule an appointment, triggered on behalf of Tesla Norway.
I hadn't planned on taking care of this myself until later. I like that they're proactive about it! (Of course, I don't know when the paint shop is ready and how long they'll take....)
These were items identified during delivery (late December) that were the typical odd paint bumps, etc. Much more minor issues than an entire bumper being off-color!
I hadn't planned on taking care of this myself until later. I like that they're proactive about it! (Of course, I don't know when the paint shop is ready and how long they'll take....)
These were items identified during delivery (late December) that were the typical odd paint bumps, etc. Much more minor issues than an entire bumper being off-color!
That's kind of a captain obvious statement there. The bigger issue is the people painting the bumpers are sometimes pulling the wrong color paint off the shelf. Tesla has multiple shades of red, and they must have had some left over Signature Red that was mislabeled.
Tesla Model 3 Latest Footages: 'Signature Red', Red & White showing wooden trim on dash
My car is in the service center. I only put in for the front bumper in the app, and it was approved for repair. I didn’t want to push my luck by asking for both bumpers in the app. Seems that was a good strategy because I got a lot of talk when bringing up the rear bumper about how the color won’t ever be the same on different materials. I am sure that’s the stock excuse when they are denying paint mismatch claims. I just nodded so the front would still be repaired.
The front bumper is really what bothers me, so I will be happy if they fix that match. The lines of the rear bumper cutouts make it less noticeable.
And honestly, my whole car is uneven colored if you study it really closely in photos. Photos accentuate the issue. So I can’t recommend to anyone to spend $2k extra to roll the dice to see if they had a good day in the paint shop when your red car went through. Some red M3’s are perfect though.
Other colors like blue, black and grey seem to be good. I know white has had issues too.
He didn’t say how they plan to fix it, but said it would be ready later today or tomorrow.
More to come...
The front bumper is really what bothers me, so I will be happy if they fix that match. The lines of the rear bumper cutouts make it less noticeable.
And honestly, my whole car is uneven colored if you study it really closely in photos. Photos accentuate the issue. So I can’t recommend to anyone to spend $2k extra to roll the dice to see if they had a good day in the paint shop when your red car went through. Some red M3’s are perfect though.
Other colors like blue, black and grey seem to be good. I know white has had issues too.
He didn’t say how they plan to fix it, but said it would be ready later today or tomorrow.
More to come...
Last edited:
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
Metalflake multi coat paints are really hard to perfectly match. Even change due to angle of view.
If the car looks good in normal light, to a human eye, then that is acceptable. If it only looks varied in photographs little can be done.
If the car looks good in normal light, to a human eye, then that is acceptable. If it only looks varied in photographs little can be done.
It’s not easy to do right, but it’s one of the things that separates the men from the boys in car manufacturing.
Yes I have the same mud flaps, now standard issue in Canada. Note that there is an optional second larger part also provided, which is flexible, but has limited ground clearance. So I did not install that part.
They are free for existing owners that got a car before they came with it.
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