Paint defect on new car

[chrisbooth]

I have recently taken delivery of a new Scirocco reflex silver. I have noticed that there is a 4-5 cm diameter paint defect/blemish/shadow just forward of the fuel filler opening. I have to stress that this is only visible under certain light conditions, however it is a new car costing £25K. I have taken the car back to the dealer who have attempted to polish the paint, this has not worked as the problem appears to be under the lacquer coat. What has amazed me is that the dealer explained that on mass produced cars painted in a factory you can expect to have paint defects???. Do other forum members feel this is acceptable on a new car, or am I just being too fussy

Chris

[Andy-GTI]

Nope, it should get sorted, i had a blemish in the base coat on my Polo bootlid, it was taken in and sorted no question.

Car in question was a darkish metallic silver so hid it quite well, but you could defo see it when looked for.

[Nobby]

I've got a very slight high spot on the rear corner of the bonnet around where the hinge is attached (like a dent from the inside if you like)

It's just noticable (I used to work in accident repair so I notice this kind of thing)

To be honest, I will mention it when I go for the first service, but I prefer to keep this slight imperfection than to have it repaired

A slight blemish is certainly less noticable than a repair no matter how well it is done

When you sell the car, a repair is a repair, and any buyer will question what's underneath, even though you know it's nothing serious

[chrisbooth]

Nice to hear from people in France

Chris

[Nobby]

In France but not French !

[littleyellowspider]

I had a similar incident on a Porsche Cayman S. About a 4cm square lighter patch on the nearside corner of the rear bumper. Nobody else knew it was there and struggled to see it when I pointed it out to them.

But, I knew, and wasn't happy. It finally got sorted because it simply shouldn't happen. And it shouldn't happen on a £25k car let alone a £50k car. Get it sorted, and don't stop until it has been.

Incidentally, the Cayman S was Seal Grey (fairly light grey), so maybe it's an issue with shades of silver.

Good luck

[maisbitt]

Metallics and Pearlescent paints are extremely hard to colour match to the original finish. I had a new Polo about 8 years ago that had a dent on the front wing wheel arch, and the dent had a perfect paint finish (Diamond Black Pearlescent) - obviously dented prior to painting at the factory. The dealership had missed it on their PDI, and it was so subtle, I didn't notice it until I washed my car for the first time.

The dealership agreed that it had been there at delivery and repaired it. The repair was flawless, except in slightly overcast conditions you could see the patch of paint a slightly darker shade than the rest of the car.

If you can't get a perfect match then you'll need the whole affected panel sprayed. You won't notice the ever so slight tint shade variation on 1 completely painted panel when compared to another, but you may see the difference on a small patch of a panel that has been touched in.

Seems like yours has been scratched or dented and has been repaired "in-house" before you ever got the car. There's no way that colour variations like this are normal on a car that hasn't been retouched.

Get them to sort it, it's not acceptable if you can see the colour difference. If it wasn't picked up by the dealership at the PDI then maybe they'll have to cover the cost themselves - that could be why they're trying to fob you off.

[alanstead]

I'm gutted! just had the car in my garage and noticed on the passenger side rear wing that theres a rough patch of laquer. only had the car a week, you cant see it outside, but under the strip lights its quite noticeable, looks like a piss poor respray job. Gonna phone the dealers tomorrow and kick up hell. Not acceptable on a brand new factory specced car I've waited 15 weeks for.