Nothwithstanding the fact the paintwork on my MY00 impreza (15K m) is diabolically bad I was somewhat surprised to find an area of paint missing on the front spoiler just inside the driver's side wheel area.

http://www.stopstart.btinternet.co.uk/crap_paint1.JPG

Does anyone have any idea what could have caused this? I have never used any form of caustic (or otherwise) wheel cleaner as I have gold alloys and thought it might strip them. I have not driven into anything that might have buckled the spoiler and "popped" the paint off. I don't use a jetwasher on the car as it is so chipped that a jetwasher would probably just lift the paint off.
Could it just be that the paint is rubbish (well, I know that) and is just falling off????

Simon

This normally happens on painted plastic when it has been resprayed without the correct plastic addative in the paint which allows the paint to flex. It could also happen when the plastic hasn't been 'keyed' properly before being sprayed.

If you are the second owner it has probably had the bumper resprayed, if not then a bit of a mystery, although I have heard of new cars having paintwork done prior to being sold due to accidents during transportation etc.

Maybe this will shed some light on it.

Daz

Daz is right, cars have been sold "as new" from "reputable main dealers" but have in fact visited a bodyshop prior to its first sale due to "damage in transit"
:(
Matthew

Thanks guys - I'd knew there'd be folk on here that knew what was going on!

Surprise, surprise I have had the car from "new"........dealership will be receiving a visit tomorrow :(

Thanks again.

PS. as an aside, I'd taken the car into my dealer a few weeks ago to complain about the state of the front spoiler (before this latest paint failure) as it seemed as though even slightly bulky air molecules were taking chips out of the paintwork. I was given a pat on the head by IM and told to run along and stop bothering them. I shall be revisiting them with slightly more force this time :D

[Edited by SimonH - 10/21/2001 10:22:31 PM]

I can also confirm that dealers have been known to replace bumpers on brand new cars as I witnessed this last time I took my girlfriends car in for a service (Not a Subaru).

While I was parking in the dealers car park I drove past the area where they prepare the new cars and saw them taking off a rear bumper, makes you wonder what else they do to our "new" cars before we pick them up!!

Well well. It would appear that the paintwork on our Imprezas is warrantied against defect for ONE year. How old is my car? 13 months old. Are they interested? Are they B*ll****!

Shan't be placing that advance order for my Euro STi now.

JD Power my arse.

Simon I would NOT let that go. 1 month out of warranty - they must be joking.

I would be assembling a little hut, placards and an empty oil barrel with a fire in it - RIGHT OUTSIDE THEIR DOOR. I day negative PR like this could cost them a lot more in custom than a cost price re-spray.

D

A few yaers ago i was wiring a BMW garage local to where i live, they had a red BMW, brand new in bits, upon asking them what it was doing in bits, i got the reply ( along with a few sniggers) that their less than competent deleivery driver had actually had it fall off the side of the transporter!! ... now how true this was i dont know, but there was certainly alot of it that was missing, aparently awaiting new parts :(

A mate of mine who works in the body shop of a main dealer (not Subaru) claims that many new cars are repaired prior to sale.

Apparently customers are entitled to ask for the 'delivery inspection sheet' (not sure if this is the correct name?) which shows if the vehicle had been damaged & repaired.

Jon

Calmed down slightly now.

Warranty man still stands by his 12 month paint guarantee: reason being that I could've dinged the car, had it resprayed cheapo somewhere and then be claiming on the warranty for a full panel respray off IM. Hmmm. My response was that the 7 years worth of stone chips on the bumper (not bad for 13 months driving :rolleyes: ) wouldn't be there if I'd had the bumper resprayed somewhere....

Other interesting thing is that all my stone chips on the front of the bumper show up as white chips - i.e. the undercoat is showing up. You'll notice in the photo above there is no sign of any white undercoat.... The bumper is plain black plastic before being treated. Using my incredible powers of deduction I'd suggest that parts of the bumper do not have any undercoat.... Really shoddy workmanship anyone?

The matter's with my supplying dealer at the moment who are speaking to IM. I'll let you know how quickly they tell me to knob off :(