I slowly had my blue 3P nearly completely repainted after delivery. Such was the quality of the job done at the factory. I never had that on a new car and was going to refuse it. But then I decided I strongly prefer to have my car painted by someone I know and trust, than sending one back for another made by the same people with the same tools, processes and QC.
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Tesla Paint is Horrible 2023 Model S
- Thread starter Overwatch
- Start date
K.I.T.T.23
Member
Wholy... Overwatch, thank you for the post. As I have said in nearly all my posts, I just ordered my Plaid... and I would likely have had rose colored glasses on during delivery. Now I will not. Paying $140k for a car I expect quality, and like other posters said; some small issues are easy to fix, that is no issue. But a hair?! No sir... Elon will be taking that one back. I will go over the car with a fine tooth comb. I am happy to say "nope" if it is excessive.
any other advice from some Tesla vets? Key things to look for? I bought a used Model 3 a couple years ago, It had some minor issues, but it wasn't bad, and my wife's car was wrapped so we didn't really pay much attention to the paint (it was white).
lowtek
Active Member
Tesla sucks at paint. I wonder how much of their issue is California's restrictions on painting?
TesslaBull
Member
What is meant by having the car "wrapped"....is that the cars I see that are dull like they are primered but not painted? Seems I've seen a couple of really dull Teslas like that.
aerodyne
2 of 3 EV's - Defect Free!
Look under the front and back and sides of the car. I had scrapes in 6 places.
As I have said in nearly all my posts, I just ordered my Plaid... and I would likely have had rose colored glasses on during delivery. Now I will not. Paying $140k for a car I expect quality, and like other posters said; some small issues are easy to fix, that is no issue. But a hair?! No sir... Elon will be taking that one back. I will go over the car with a fine tooth comb. I am happy to say "nope" if it is excessive.
any other advice from some Tesla vets? Key things to look for? I bought a used Model 3 a couple years ago, It had some minor issues, but it wasn't bad, and my wife's car was wrapped so we didn't really pay much attention to the paint (it was white).
K.I.T.T.23
Member
A wrap is when a thin vinyl film is applied to the vehicle, the purpose is to either protect the paint (a clear wrap, slightly thicker vinyl) or change the color (a wrap of a different color)
For example, my wife's Model Y is white, but we wrapped it with a purple/black vinyl film, so the vehicle appears purple.
Typically, this is much cheaper than a paint job and can be removed. The wrap will last for 3-5 years.
SabrToothSqrl
Active Member
the paint on my wife's 2005 Mazda Tribute was 10x better than the paint on my 2019 X. Also the door handles on the mazda were 100x better than anything tesla has.
lowtek
Active Member
Different paint and environmental requirements back then.
vcor
Tech Specialist
California uses the same paint and processes that the rest of the USA and Europe uses. Back 25 years ago or so, there were problems with the reformulated paints required by California (and even earlier, Europe). These were resolved over several years, long before Tesla existed, For many years now. I'm not sure anyone uses the old processes that were toxic for workers and the environment.
That doesn't mean Tesla or any company is perfect, but it has nothing to do with California production or EPA restrictions.
K.I.T.T.23
Member
Such an odd comparison.
How are classic door handles better? More wind resistance is a problem, retractable or pop-out handles are ideal for vehicles that require low drag designs... Kind-a like saying a horse and buggy is so much better than a gas/electric car.
And the paint, yep, it is an issue. 10x on a vehicle that is 15 years older though? but of a stretch.
Unfortunately some of the recommendations are moot. He has to deal with what he has. F/W/I/W, on my delivery, there were so many paint issues I rejected the car and said I'll wait for a new one w/o flaws. In two days they redirected someone else's car to me and I was happy. Though now I think about it they may have just buffed the defects out of another bad car and I wouldn't know. 4 1/2 years later the paint still looks great.
lowtek
Active Member
Anybody with red notice and additional durability with the multi-coat or is the multi-coat the same thickness of a single coat?
vcor
Tech Specialist
My understanding is the color coats (on any car) are thin and somewhat fragile. Adding color coats doesn't improve durability. It's the clear coat that is critical for durability. Here's the coating structure used in cars today: Paint and Coatings – TeslaTap
K.I.T.T.23
Member
I am not a paint guy, but I was a mechanic back in the '90s... dating myself (as if my profile name doesn't), but I remember the clearcoat issues with GM and other brands back then and the exposed color coats were soft, once exposed, a new clear coat wouldn't cut it, the paint needed to be stripped and a new color coat and clear coat would need to be applied.
I have been fortunate and my 2021+ MSLR has decent paint, fit and finish. However, I have yet to scan any forum for any car where enthusiasts did not complain about how soft the paint was or how much orange peel etc. was present, be it MB, BMW, Porsche, Audi..... Having owned those brands myself, I don't think their paint was materially better than my MSLR (both M cars and AMGs I've owned, while decent, have left much to be desired in terms of paint quality). That said, the OPs experience is entirely unacceptable, especially for a car at this price point.
aerodyne
2 of 3 EV's - Defect Free!
It's pretty thin on mine, see sig.
So thin the color chip product barely hides the substrate.
Don't have a paint thickness gauge, but I'd say 3-5 mills?
One of the few parts I didn't yet have repainted on my 2020 3P is the front bumper. Without considering stone chips (this car saw at least 60k miles of highway driving, those are to be expected), the paint simply "wore". It now resembles a very thin layer of spray can paint and it rubs off if I brush it with my jeans by walking too closely to it in a parking garage. I'll try to upload a picture later, it is interesting to see!
Modern paint is indeed not as hard wearing as on older cars. Just last week I had two 5-mm stone chips appear on the hood of my Mini Clubman after a very uneventful drive. These things never happened to my older cars...
Modern paint is indeed not as hard wearing as on older cars. Just last week I had two 5-mm stone chips appear on the hood of my Mini Clubman after a very uneventful drive. These things never happened to my older cars...
italian bread
Member
Wondering if the energy savings from lower air resistance is worth the energy costs that owners expend to defrost frozen door handles?
