p0rt

Hi Guys,

A friend of mine has recently picked up a brand new WR blue wrx ppp (my05)

He is a little worried about a couple of things regarding the paintwork!

First off, the plastic unit that surrounds the foglights does not match the colour of the bumpers - Is this normal?

Secondly, when looking at the paint from certain angles it looks a little orange peely, every panel is like this. Towards the bottom of each door the orange peel effect seems to be a bit rough (all doors are the same)

Any help appreciated

[Davey]

Sounds like a typical Japanese/Far Eastern paint finish.

Seriously though, I've noticed alot of modern cars have really bad paint finishes, my opnion is its down to cost saving and the fact the paints have to be water based and tree-hugger friendly

p0rt

Thanks for the reply Davy!

Does anyone know if the fog light unit colour mismatch is normal?

Thanks

EVOLUTION

there are no issues with the paint work on mine at all, its consistantly crap all over. mine is also an 05 wrx and i am the only owner, so i know it has not been bumped.

Sounds to me like that car may have been bumped if there are mis matched colours and orangepeel affect on it. look inside the engine bay for further clues, or get it checked out at a good trustworthy body shop, they will be able to tell straight away


john

p0rt

The car is brand new!

The orange peel effect is on every single panel! I Don't think this is abnormal though (it's very minor), i have just looked at a few newish cars in the office car park and many seem very similar!

The foglight unit is the only thing that has a colour mismatch with the bumpers. Everything else is fine, the bumpers match the body etc etc

Is it not possible that the plastic used for the foglight units is a different material than the bumper resulting in the colour looking slightly different?

Thanks

[Davey]

IMHO you'll probably find the plastic on the fog lights is either a different compound or it had a different base colour to the rest of the bumper.. Check out the latest Ford Fucarses, the colour match on the bumpers is HORRIFIC, the base colour of the bumper was too dark and they did not use enough primer or even a clear primer.

Paul3446

If he's not happy I'd take it back to be sorted out, it's a brand new car under warranty, he shouldn't have to accept sub-standard paintwork.

If the other ones on the forecourt are better he's got a pretty good argument, if they're all the same he probably hasn't.

EVOLUTION

sounds to me like you know the answers mate, this isnt a very constructive post, but you should have noticed this before colection.

I have got a mate who works at a local Honda dealership, and the amount of BRAND NEW cars that require touch ups here and there is crazy. Dont pressume that because its brand new, it has never been damaged. the car could be years old mate, sat in a compound waiting for registration.

john

EVOLUTION

its wrong but the car wont be a brand new car if he has just got it, it will have been pre registered at best by the sounds of it, thus making it a second hand car, and therefore sold as seen.


john

[Davey]

You'll have a hard time trying to convince them the finish "isn't perfect", if there are obvious blemishes then ofcourse they will have to put them right (if its a new car), but if the overall finish just isn't as good as prestige brands then I think they will not really care, I assume you were given ample time to inspect the car before you took ownership?

p0rt

Hiya,

Nope, it is a brand new car!

It was probably one of the last my05 cars registered (they had a few blue and silver unregsitered ones in stock)! He is the first keeper and the car was registered about 1 week ago..

I don't know all the answers, i just checked other newish cars in the office car park to see what the finishes are like! I was really just asking if the foglight surround issue mentioned is something other owners have experienced. As Davey mentioned there are problems with the bumpers matching on new foucs st's, i'm sure other manufacturers also have these mismatch issues

Thanks for the feedback



Cheers

EVOLUTION

i dont mean to be funny mate, but if it was registeded a week ago, it would be a 55 reg plate.

it will have been a pre registeded car, granted, it will probably have delivery milage, but the garage will have been the first keeper im 90% sure of that if its an 05 reg and he's only had it a week.


john

p0rt

It is a 55 plate mate! He is the first keeper! The price he got was subject to the car being registered this month, rather than waiting for the 06 plate tomorrow!

Thanks

p0rt

They did have some 55 plate sti's in stock, these were pre registered to the dealer.

p0rt

Evolution, when i said my05 i meant it's the 05 model..i.e not the new generation wrx..

sorry if that caused any confusion

Thanks

EVOLUTION

ok then, well my mistake, but origional post it sounded like it was an 05 plate. sorry

aither way, compare it to others on the forecort, if its sub-standerd, reject it back, dont let them off with anything

john

swtmerce

Hi. I have an 03 plate and I have orange peel effect on all bottoms of doors. It also gets chipped very easily. I put this down to overall quality of the car. It doesn't compare at all to my old 98 Merc which had incredible paintwork. Also, I'm peeved at the wheels. They are unmarked in terms of kerbing but they are well pitted and the lacquer is peeling! Didn't get this on the Merc either!

[Davey]

Dont mistake the stone chip undercoat on the bottom of the doors with an orange peel finish.

phm

Mine's a 05 WRX PPP WR blue registered Aug 05 first owner - no problems with the car paintwork but I've got a prodrive spoiler fitted and I swear it looks a different colour BUT if I look at it from a different angle it looks the same. It's mainly in strong sunlight it looks lighter....My last scoob was prone to stone chips some 'ut rotten - not a strong point of subaru I guess!!

RON

Exactly what i was gonna say..... the bottom of the doors is sprayed with an underseal type stone chip stuff before being painted... hence the finish!!!

bugeyeandy

Yep my 01 reg is the same at the bottom of the doors. Protective paint finish to ward off the stonechips.
The rest is lighy orangy peel but no worse than any other mass produced car.

scooby jay

hello port you will find that certain plastic panels will look a diffrent shade this is mostly because some plastic parts are painted else where in a diffrent factory to the production line hence they might use a diffrent shade of colour
fords are a good example of this bumpers and petrol flaps spring to mind which look a completly diffrent colour sometimes this as, fords quote is an exceptable standard finish. you would be surprised as to some of the damage that gets re painted before a customer has driven it off the dealership forecourt, in my 6 years of working at a pdi centre i must of painted 100,s of new cars either factory repairs gone wrong or delivery damage by transporter drivers i must say having owned my scooby now for a year i do find the laquer scratches to easily for my liking as for the orange peel you will find most cars are like this