So, why does Tesla have such a hard time painting cars?

[gilscales]

Oh boy - Gil I don’t think I have the energy to undo 58 years of “conservative” conditioning. Your first source is FUD and this Merc News source is an opinion piece. Is your next source going to be Drudge Report or InfoWars/Alex Jones?

I’d suggest either putting forth a reasoned logical argument and/or provide a set of primary sources (maybe some census/ACS data, DOT econ stats, peer reviewed journal articles, etc) rather than online blogs or opinion hacks.

Not a full 58 years as my father was a lifelong Democrat, he worked hard every day believing that they had his best interest in mind, it was not until he passed at the age of 66 (when I was 25) that I had to take a hard look at things for myself, so only 33 years of "conditioning"

As mainstream media moves farther left daily and once trusted news sources (CNN, MSNBC) Anchors espouse their hatred for this administration and everyone associated with it (or just not with them) and scream RACIST! to anyone who questions them then I would have to say the "conditioning" is coming from the left.

Maybe I should stop watching CNN and MSNBC to see the other views as it really only points out the mass hypocrisy.

 

[StellarRat]

Please! I'm wishing that I'd never started this thread. I was supposed to be a thread about how cars are painted and why Tesla is struggling with this. It's devolved into a political argument about CA and god knows what else. If I wanted to argue politics I wouldn't do it here! Moderator please lock this!

 

[gilscales]

Please! I'm wishing that I'd never started this thread. I was supposed to be a thread about how cars are painted and why Tesla is struggling with this. It's devolved into a political argument about CA and god knows what else. If I wanted to argue politics I wouldn't do it here! Moderator please lock this!

You are absolutely correct, my apologies, this should not have happened and I will stop this for my part now, sorry

 

[MXWing]

Please! I'm wishing that I'd never started this thread. I was supposed to be a thread about how cars are painted and why Tesla is struggling with this. It's devolved into a political argument about CA and god knows what else. If I wanted to argue politics I wouldn't do it here! Moderator please lock this!

It didn’t help I trolled your post within the first 3 replies and I apologize for that.

Normally I get a few disagrees from unhappy people who don’t share humor on the same topic and life goes on.

Thread sadly became a microcosm of societal divides that we see everyday.

And you still don’t have an answer to your question because all we have are conflicting theories and no authoritative confirmations!

 

[gilscales]

Just for curiosity I did a search for BMW water based paint and found a lot of complaints about how inferior their newer cars paint was when people were comparing say their 15 or 20 year old BMW, then I ran across this

://www.bmwusfactory.com/manufacturing/production-process/paint-shop/

I'm not comparing the two but i'm sure Tesla has nothing of this scale with a 4 mile line for painting and people are still complaining about their cars paint on BMW forums

I admit I have not even examined the paint on my car, I did not even notice that the color of the bumpers are slightly off from the color on the body panels until reading a thread here.

It does seem from reading a little that there is much more to a top quality paint line than Tesla has put into theirs and maybe in the future they will have the means and ability to do what needs to be done to compete with the best on this front.

I have some small issues with the car that others might find more off putting than myself, I guess it comes down to my enjoyment of the car and its ultimate drivability, it is for me the best balance of sporty handling with enough comfort to be a daily driver and I am forever sold on the electric powertrain in my vehicle (this is my first) so much so that I convinced my brother in law to order a new 3 (he had to one up me though and get the P3D+) I am happy he did and hope more of these awesome clean cars make there way to new happy owners like myself, I see a lot more every day now so there is hope and with future competition things will only get better!

 

[rainforest]

Looks like this thread has gone off the rails, but I’m just posting a pic of my hood with the clear coat dimples, or dust nibs, pointed out for the service centre. Is this normal?

 

[MXWing]

Looks like this thread has gone off the rails, but I’m just posting a pic of my hood with the clear coat dimples, or dust nibs, pointed out for the service centre. Is this normal?

View attachment 341791

Tesla is going to give you a solid white hood from a 2016 era Model S cut down to size as the remedy.

I had only 4 pieces of tape and I had expert help to confirm the issues. Tesla is having a harder and harder time as production gets even faster.

 

[EricUSC]

Looks like this thread has gone off the rails, but I’m just posting a pic of my hood with the clear coat dimples, or dust nibs, pointed out for the service centre. Is this normal?

View attachment 341791

I did the exact same thing and ran out of stickies on the last car I rejected. 2 of 4 cars I inspected looked like that throughout all panels. Some cars have much better paint than others but I haven't seen a perfect one yet. Quality is inconsistent.

 

[spurs10]

With dimples are they gonna have to repaint the whole panel? I just detailed the car myself and found maybe 4-6 on my car, I don’t want my car end up with 50% of repaint

 

[SoCalGuy]

Looks like this thread has gone off the rails, but I’m just posting a pic of my hood with the clear coat dimples, or dust nibs, pointed out for the service centre. Is this normal?

View attachment 341791

Are these color coded on purpose (ie are red stickers “must fix” and yellow “please fix”)?

 

[Shizzrock]

I did the exact same thing and ran out of stickies on the last car I rejected. 2 of 4 cars I inspected looked like that throughout all panels. Some cars have much better paint than others but I haven't seen a perfect one yet. Quality is inconsistent.

I wish I was smart enough to do that. At the time it didn't look that bad but after I washed it, I started seething

 

[rainforest]

Are these color coded on purpose (ie are red stickers “must fix” and yellow “please fix”)?

Smart! Yes you are right.

Some of the yellow ones are extremely small. I’m not even sure the body shop can see them. In reality, the panel doesn’t look that bad, but the nibs are definitely there.

 

[rainforest]

With dimples are they gonna have to repaint the whole panel? I just detailed the car myself and found maybe 4-6 on my car, I don’t want my car end up with 50% of repaint

I spoke to my car painter friend, and he said they could easily be polished flat. But if they have a spec of dust or black beneath the clear, you would still see it. On my hood, there are only 2 black specs.

The funny thing is that my Xpel guy wrapped my hood prior, and almost all the nibs were hidden by it except for 3 of them. He unwrapped it so I could polish them out.

 

[rainforest]

I did the exact same thing and ran out of stickies on the last car I rejected. 2 of 4 cars I inspected looked like that throughout all panels. Some cars have much better paint than others but I haven't seen a perfect one yet. Quality is inconsistent.

Even if I rejected the car, who’s to say that the next car wouldn’t have more? My Xpel installer said that every 3 he has wrapped has had these. Funny thing is that my X doesn’t even have one.

 

[EricUSC]

Even if I rejected the car, who’s to say that the next car wouldn’t have more? My Xpel installer said that every 3 he has wrapped has had these. Funny thing is that my X doesn’t even have one.

I have yet to see a Model 3 manufactured between Jun-Sep without fisheyes but some are definitely better than others. The goal is to prepare to reject every time until you get a car that is on the upper end of Tesla's quality spectrum. If more people do this, Tesla would have fixed the problem by now. I have looked over a few S and X cars in showrooms and none of them have fisheyes.

 

[Perry]

What are fisheyes?

 

[EricUSC]

What are fisheyes?

Bumps in the paint caused by contaminants embedded in the paint. They’re also referred to as paint blisters or paint bubbles.

 

[timk225]

I've seen the videos here on page 1 in this topic, and other robotic car painting videos, and it really annoys me that in a freshly painted car, there are still areas left in primer with no paint color on them. Always in hidden areas under the dash, in the trunk or wheel wells, etc. Just goes to show that car makers care more about CORPORATE PROFIT than doing a good job. The extra paint would provide more corrosion protection if nothing else.

 

[super20g]

Looks like this thread has gone off the rails, but I’m just posting a pic of my hood with the clear coat dimples, or dust nibs, pointed out for the service centre. Is this normal?

Looks like most every panel on my August build if I were to mark them. Came back from first run through the body shop in worse shape than it went to them in. Should be done for the 2nd round any day. Not expecting it to all be solved and will have to keep driving hours each way and having them repaint and repaint until they decide to offer a different VIN... Really annoying.

 

[rainforest]

Has anyone successfully had their paint nibs polished out? Or did it cause a hole in the paint?