I am currently in ARB with them and it seems that they are not going to entertain any of their words but it's not over yet and can't comment as of the outcome.
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Tesla Model 3 Delivery Damage and Paint Quality Issues
- Thread starter Jcpilot
- Start date
I am currently in ARB with them and it seems that they are not going to entertain any of their words but it's not over yet and can't comment as of the outcome.
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
There is no "industry standard" for production cars. Some have much better paint quality than others. I have had several Jeeps with much worse paint quality than my Tesla.
The production standard for USA vehicle production is to multi submerged dip prep to the vehicles prior to paint, then paint with industry supplied primers and paints. They are applied in supplier sourced multi million dollar paint booths that are controlled by local State regulators as to permitted emissions. Paint is applied by robotic electro guns and heat cured. Quality control people then inspect the vehicles and rework where necessary.
Sometimes you will get better paintwork coming out of different Chevrolet plants, even with the same equipment. Often depends of the quality of workmanship in each individual plant.
If you have a commercial quality paint depth measuring device (not an eBay cheapie) you will often see different depths of paint in different areas of the cars. This can vary from vehicle to vehicle and day to day. Paint booths are constantly being measured and adjusted depending on production variations.
Your car looks to have issues, but close enough inspections, under very bright light and high definition photography can find flaws in most any production vehicle. These are not show quality expensive paint jobs, but from lines producing over 1,000 cars weekly. (sometimes 3,000 cars weekly)
Forever American cars have had traditional Monday or Friday build complaints. They just are not all that great, expecially compared to the best Japanese or European high end vehicles (which have problems of their own)
Only thing you can really do is get the delivery specialist to note any paint/assembley quality issues, and take it to your friendly local service facility for correction. Lots of good reports from owners getting issues cleared up, but others are still disgruntled even after repairs.
My personal example is my new Model X. I had an oil type discoloration on my drivers side paint, and a chrome piece that stuck out. Got it noted by my delivery specialist. When I got home I was able to get rid of the oil stain with car wash soap, and was able to fix the ill fitting chrome trim piece with a wack from the palm of my hand.
I am sure if I crawled underneath my car or looked closely with bright lights into crevases and corners I would find other issues, but in my case I decided to just not look. Love my Tesla.
The production standard for USA vehicle production is to multi submerged dip prep to the vehicles prior to paint, then paint with industry supplied primers and paints. They are applied in supplier sourced multi million dollar paint booths that are controlled by local State regulators as to permitted emissions. Paint is applied by robotic electro guns and heat cured. Quality control people then inspect the vehicles and rework where necessary.
Sometimes you will get better paintwork coming out of different Chevrolet plants, even with the same equipment. Often depends of the quality of workmanship in each individual plant.
If you have a commercial quality paint depth measuring device (not an eBay cheapie) you will often see different depths of paint in different areas of the cars. This can vary from vehicle to vehicle and day to day. Paint booths are constantly being measured and adjusted depending on production variations.
Your car looks to have issues, but close enough inspections, under very bright light and high definition photography can find flaws in most any production vehicle. These are not show quality expensive paint jobs, but from lines producing over 1,000 cars weekly. (sometimes 3,000 cars weekly)
Forever American cars have had traditional Monday or Friday build complaints. They just are not all that great, expecially compared to the best Japanese or European high end vehicles (which have problems of their own)
Only thing you can really do is get the delivery specialist to note any paint/assembley quality issues, and take it to your friendly local service facility for correction. Lots of good reports from owners getting issues cleared up, but others are still disgruntled even after repairs.
My personal example is my new Model X. I had an oil type discoloration on my drivers side paint, and a chrome piece that stuck out. Got it noted by my delivery specialist. When I got home I was able to get rid of the oil stain with car wash soap, and was able to fix the ill fitting chrome trim piece with a wack from the palm of my hand.
I am sure if I crawled underneath my car or looked closely with bright lights into crevases and corners I would find other issues, but in my case I decided to just not look. Love my Tesla.
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That's terrible. No way in hell id be ok with that.
I don't understand the people here questioning his motives when it's clear as day the paint quality is absolutely terrible even for a $20,000 car, never mind a 50,000 one.
Now you know why they switched to White. Hope I'm not waiting all this time for similar crap. Living in the salt bath that is Ontario, that won't last.
I don't understand the people here questioning his motives when it's clear as day the paint quality is absolutely terrible even for a $20,000 car, never mind a 50,000 one.
Now you know why they switched to White. Hope I'm not waiting all this time for similar crap. Living in the salt bath that is Ontario, that won't last.
That's your problem. Tesla bucks just about every industry standard and is doing an awesome job at it.
If you want the quality of a Ford, buy a Ford.
Being worse than every manufacturer selling in the US is nothing to be proud of and normalizing their shortcomings helps no one. It's an embarrassingly bad paint job and should be called out. 20-30 microns is ecoat only and will have real world consequences because it's not remotely enough to protect the body.
The wheel arches not being fully covered is absolutely stunning.
The wheel arches not being fully covered is absolutely stunning.
Keep in mind that you are on a Tesla forum frequented mainly by enthusiasts/supporters. In the "real world," you are correct, and a vehicle with such a poor paint job should not have been accepted.
90% of what Tesla does is far and beyond what any other manufacturer does. Does anyone else support over the air updates?
Tesla also has to paint in Ca, which has a number of laws that keeps them from using the same type of paint as in Michigan and other states. Sure, the paint may not be as thick as some manufacturers, but there are a lot of Teslas on the road that look a lot better after years than some of the Detroit vehicles!
First of all, why are you changing the subject to things where Tesla excels? When I'm posting about paint that is not to the same level as other manufacturers with the same class and price point. Not to mention the 2 areas of damage ie. Hood and pass Door Jamb. Within my family, they have many other AMERICAN vehicles that don't exhibit the same issues and they are not looking like a rundown POS.
If you see ecoat there is functionally no paint. It's not acceptable and is probably a lot of the reason that there's been complaining about gravel damage. It's an incredibly big deal and Tesla needs to hear it. It's not a competition with anyone else because it's flat out wrong.
If they are content with their paint process failures to the point that an average person can notice, that's a big deal. It's the first impression on a premium vehicle. It should be an absolutely top priority and the fact that it's been going on for a while is a huge concern.
Also lol at having to paint in CA because I didn't know their regulations said VOCs are ok as long as you only paint 99% of the car.
Let Tesla know they need to do better and they eventually will.
super20g
Member
OP, you posted on a Tesla fanatics board. They'll tear you up for questioning the quality of this car that was delivered straight from the uterus of their god. It could have came from the factory missing doors and they would still be giving you hell.
My Teslas had *sugar* quality and service to match. Didn't take long for the koolaid to wear off.
Good luck with the arb case. Thanks for not rolling over like evidently these guys are fine with. *sugar* doesn't get better if people don't point out obvious problems and hold companies accountable...
I thought Elon said these things were supposed to be getting so dialed in that you couldn't tell them apart because the build quality was all that and a bag of chips?
My Teslas had *sugar* quality and service to match. Didn't take long for the koolaid to wear off.
Good luck with the arb case. Thanks for not rolling over like evidently these guys are fine with. *sugar* doesn't get better if people don't point out obvious problems and hold companies accountable...
I thought Elon said these things were supposed to be getting so dialed in that you couldn't tell them apart because the build quality was all that and a bag of chips?
This is not a Tesla fanatics boards. It is for the most part a forum for enthusiasts. But there is plenty of commentary on the challenges one faces in trying to purchase and sometime service a Tesla vehicle.
That being said, no car company is perfect, and any manufacturer can produce a car with defects. Most of the time the dealers have a pre delivery inspection process to catch these things. Tesla does not. That means you have to do this inspection yourself and reject a car that does not meet your expectations.
Just the smallest amount of research on this forum would give people a heads up to be aware of this and take a proactive approach to ensuring they get a car in good condition and don’t become a “statistic”.
Where you will see people get chastised here is when they blindly go to pick up their car, rush through the process without even looking at the car for more than a minute or two, and then discover all sorts of problems after it is too late to do anything about that. Then they proceed to post a rant about how horrible Tesla is. So rather than taking the time to research the proper way to successfully purchase a Tesla and keeping the process within their control, they point the blame at Tesla, and the forum members who did their homework and had a better experience as a result.
There is no excuse for not properly taking the time to research any major purchase. This is not exclusive to Tesla vehicles. But instead of spending an hour up front to learn what they need to know, they waste countless hours of time after delivery writing negative posts and blaming everyone but themselves for the predicament they find themselves in.
Tesla is far from perfect. Their sales and delivery process needs a major overhaul. Their service centers are over worked. We all know this. We are here because we have done our homework and determined that in spite of this, the cars they produce are worth the effort. And so we accept the compromise that means great car, not always great service.
Gizmo35
Member
I wouldnt accept that paint job on a car repaired at a body shop. I love my car for many reasons but it is clearly not perfect. There are a lot of people here defending ridiculous things and I dont understand the loyalty. You can still enjoy the product while pointing out the short comings.
I had a few minor paint issues for my red car... but... I'm not missing paint on panels or door bottoms... or... I'm not sure what I'm looking at... but my DA went around with me, taking pics and you documenting specific issues and when I dropped by the service center a few weeks ago to see if I could get an earlier appointment, she could pull up the entire list of things on my due bill that needed to be addressed. I may or may not have them fix them all though, maybe just the noticeable things. So... it doesn't seem like I'll have to fight with Tesla? My actual appointment is tomorrow, so... we'll see.
I wish you luck! =T
I wish you luck! =T
I've bought over 20 cars in my lifetime including over 5 new and I never once thought to look under the car and inspect every inch of paint. it's a weird anomaly that people buying Teslas seem to do. I've never heard anyone else talk about panel gaps being off 3cm or paint thickness with any other brand. Seems odd to me. Not sure what the problem is in your pictures, besides some light spraying in areas you never really see, looks alright. Sorry to hear this is bothering you so much.
super20g
Member
I don't quite think I would be happy with that build quality at full price... If some are good and others are bad, I'll take a good one if the price is the same.
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