Living with a McLaren 650s Spider as an (almost) daily
Discussion
Just by looking at it, it does look like the worst design ever.
I cannot reproduce either leak with several minutes with the hose. It's supposed to rain heavily overnight, so I'll see what happens. I would prefer to have the car over Christmas - even if they provide a McLaren courtesy car - so if it seems leak free in the morning, I'll delay taking it back.
Will stick a towel / paper on top of the door card overnight.
ETA: when sitting in the car, even in light rain I can see the drips forming at the seal. Passenger side is fine so it obviously is possible to make it leak free.
How much water has dropped near the climate controls is anybody's guess.
It will have to go back on Monday.
I cannot reproduce either leak with several minutes with the hose. It's supposed to rain heavily overnight, so I'll see what happens. I would prefer to have the car over Christmas - even if they provide a McLaren courtesy car - so if it seems leak free in the morning, I'll delay taking it back.
Will stick a towel / paper on top of the door card overnight.
ETA: when sitting in the car, even in light rain I can see the drips forming at the seal. Passenger side is fine so it obviously is possible to make it leak free.
How much water has dropped near the climate controls is anybody's guess.
It will have to go back on Monday.
Edited by davek_964 on Saturday 21st December 14:06
I will order something to treat the seals.
Having said that, it really looks like it's mostly bad design where the top of the quarter window meets the main seal on the car. This is always going to be a weak point. (Passenger side does leak here too it turns out).
Since it drips down the inside of the window, I guess it does at least stay outside the membrane in the door, and is no longer dripping on the climate unit.
I really would prefer to keep the car over Christmas, but it depends on the conversation I have with Ascot tomorrow.
Having said that, it really looks like it's mostly bad design where the top of the quarter window meets the main seal on the car. This is always going to be a weak point. (Passenger side does leak here too it turns out).
Since it drips down the inside of the window, I guess it does at least stay outside the membrane in the door, and is no longer dripping on the climate unit.
I really would prefer to keep the car over Christmas, but it depends on the conversation I have with Ascot tomorrow.
I might try that!
I've played around with it today and warmed a couple of the seals at the point it leaks then adjusted them.
It seems much improved, but time will tell.
I've taken the car out several times today, just for the drive and enjoyed it a lot. I will talk to Ascot tomorrow but it's unlikely I'll give them the car until new year.
I've played around with it today and warmed a couple of the seals at the point it leaks then adjusted them.
It seems much improved, but time will tell.
I've taken the car out several times today, just for the drive and enjoyed it a lot. I will talk to Ascot tomorrow but it's unlikely I'll give them the car until new year.
Slight adjustment of the seals seems to have cured the leak - I'll take it back to Ascot in the new year if it doesn't last.
Chucked the turkey in the oven early today, and then took the car out for 100 mile drive. Sunny weather and virtually no cars for the entire 90 minutes. Roads were not as dry as I expected - and even if they had been, the car was telling me it was only a few degrees above freezing - but it was a fabulous drive. There are definitely worse ways to start Christmas morning.
I intended to take more photos - but was having so much fun I didn't want to stop again!
Chucked the turkey in the oven early today, and then took the car out for 100 mile drive. Sunny weather and virtually no cars for the entire 90 minutes. Roads were not as dry as I expected - and even if they had been, the car was telling me it was only a few degrees above freezing - but it was a fabulous drive. There are definitely worse ways to start Christmas morning.
I intended to take more photos - but was having so much fun I didn't want to stop again!
A final update for this year. Car will go back to Ascot next week - although I have improved the leak, it still isn't watertight and needs to be sorted next week. There are a couple of other issues I'll get them to check while it's there, but nothing particularly serious.
I'm going to update this thread much less in the new year, and I think it's worth summarising my ownership experience so far.
It's clear from this thread that my car has had its fair share of niggling problems - mostly electrical. As an owner, it's much worse than I expected, and extremely irritating. Regardless of how technically advanced the car is, how wonderful it's supposed to be to drive, how fast it is etc etc. - expecting the windows to go up when I want them to, and not then lower themselves halfway occasionally - isn't exactly rocket science. And for me, it taints the ownership experience a bit.
That view appears not to go down well with some owners. I've certainly upset at least one on the owners group it seems. My car is apparently so wonderful at other things that I should shrug off such issues - they are trivial to the point of not worth mentioning. I'm not sure what the threshold is for problems that are not acceptable - but it seems that it's more than the issues I have.
I do accept that this is how the car is. I hope that by Spring, the car will have a few less issues - although I suspect I'll have to learn to live with some (or sell the car), I don't particularly like it, but it is what it is. I am aware that there are cars that are problem free - I am even aware of owners who've had multiple cars that are problem free - but I also know that I am not alone in having issues. What the percentage is I don't know, but my feeling is that you're lucky to get a problem free car as opposed to being unlucky to have a car with issues.
Overall though, it is still an impressive car. It's a long time since I've owned a car that I will take out simply for a drive. I did do it sometimes with the Ferrari but not as much as I do with the McLaren. And as I've mentioned before, this is a problem - in my 4 months of ownership it's spent about 1 month at Ascot but I've still done just over 3k miles. This isn't great - it's winter and I'm averaging 1k a month when the car is not at Ascot - and I can only hit 12k over the year without voiding the warranty. Somehow I need to use the car less so that I have more miles available in summer.
Ultimately I guess that's what shows I how really feel about the car - I want to keep using it. I would be much much happier if it was problem free, and I still don't know what I will decide to do in Spring. But the issues are usually fairly minor and more of an irritation than anything else.
I will still update the thread, but it will be less often. Apart from anything else, I think my new years resolution is to spend signficantly less time on here.
I'm going to update this thread much less in the new year, and I think it's worth summarising my ownership experience so far.
It's clear from this thread that my car has had its fair share of niggling problems - mostly electrical. As an owner, it's much worse than I expected, and extremely irritating. Regardless of how technically advanced the car is, how wonderful it's supposed to be to drive, how fast it is etc etc. - expecting the windows to go up when I want them to, and not then lower themselves halfway occasionally - isn't exactly rocket science. And for me, it taints the ownership experience a bit.
That view appears not to go down well with some owners. I've certainly upset at least one on the owners group it seems. My car is apparently so wonderful at other things that I should shrug off such issues - they are trivial to the point of not worth mentioning. I'm not sure what the threshold is for problems that are not acceptable - but it seems that it's more than the issues I have.
I do accept that this is how the car is. I hope that by Spring, the car will have a few less issues - although I suspect I'll have to learn to live with some (or sell the car), I don't particularly like it, but it is what it is. I am aware that there are cars that are problem free - I am even aware of owners who've had multiple cars that are problem free - but I also know that I am not alone in having issues. What the percentage is I don't know, but my feeling is that you're lucky to get a problem free car as opposed to being unlucky to have a car with issues.
Overall though, it is still an impressive car. It's a long time since I've owned a car that I will take out simply for a drive. I did do it sometimes with the Ferrari but not as much as I do with the McLaren. And as I've mentioned before, this is a problem - in my 4 months of ownership it's spent about 1 month at Ascot but I've still done just over 3k miles. This isn't great - it's winter and I'm averaging 1k a month when the car is not at Ascot - and I can only hit 12k over the year without voiding the warranty. Somehow I need to use the car less so that I have more miles available in summer.
Ultimately I guess that's what shows I how really feel about the car - I want to keep using it. I would be much much happier if it was problem free, and I still don't know what I will decide to do in Spring. But the issues are usually fairly minor and more of an irritation than anything else.
I will still update the thread, but it will be less often. Apart from anything else, I think my new years resolution is to spend signficantly less time on here.
I'm not sure that retro fixes would be practical for some things - the climate controls for the 650 are on the door, and I don't think it would be very easy to put them somewhere else on a finished car. However - making them a bit more waterproof wouldn't be a bad idea!
In Ascot's defence - there have been a couple of things which have taken more than one attempt to fix - and the climate issue was particularly annoying because they absolutely should have checked for a leak properly. But some of my issues are intermittent, and (since I work in an industry where we have to deal with customers finding faults) - I am well aware how hard it can be to fix something that happens occasionally, and that you can't reproduce.
The latest issue with the leak is that - without taking the car back to Ascot - it's now watertight. Quite why, I have no idea - but even in the monsoon we had in the last couple of days, the car is bone dry inside. Maybe the new seal had to settle (it was noticeably harder to close the door when I got the car back, but isn't now), or my messing about with the seal helped. But either way, I cancelled the booking at Ascot - there is currently nothing it needs to go back for.
In fact, in recent weeks the car is finally beginning to behave itself. I no longer feel that something will break pretty much every time I get in it - so it seems that I am eventually reaching the point where the car is working. Most of my issues have been pretty minor anyway, so I have high hopes that - if I've not already achieved it - I'm very close to having a mostly problem free car.
Ironically - when I started my Cayenne on Monday morning, it told me it was low on oil - I really couldn't be bothered to sort that out in the dark at 6am, so used the 650. By coincidence - given the weather - somebody at work said : I bet I know which car you didn't use today! Well, actually...........
Seems the Cayenne is even better at throwing up issues than the 650 - having told me the oil was low, when I got home to top it up - it decided that was a good time for the bonnet catch to sieze too..........
I took the car out at the weekend a couple of times - and particularly on Sunday drove it very hard on dry roads. Not the fastest I've driven it, but certainly the hardest I've cornered since buying it. The capabilities of the car really are impressive.
The real problem I have with the car now, is the same one I've had all along. I want to drive it more than the warranty will allow. I'm forcing myself to avoid using it for work during the week now - despite wanting to use it every day, these are miles I'd much rather save for later in the year - at least daylight, even if not dry and sunny. I've done ~3,300 miles since buying the car in August - I'd like to reach at least the end of February with the total still under 4K - I really would like some proper icy weather, with salty roads - and even a bit of snow - to make that easier!
At the moment, it means my plans to use the car as a semi-daily car just aren't working because I've used it far more than I expected anyway. But hopefully, when we get to ~April, that will change again.
In Ascot's defence - there have been a couple of things which have taken more than one attempt to fix - and the climate issue was particularly annoying because they absolutely should have checked for a leak properly. But some of my issues are intermittent, and (since I work in an industry where we have to deal with customers finding faults) - I am well aware how hard it can be to fix something that happens occasionally, and that you can't reproduce.
The latest issue with the leak is that - without taking the car back to Ascot - it's now watertight. Quite why, I have no idea - but even in the monsoon we had in the last couple of days, the car is bone dry inside. Maybe the new seal had to settle (it was noticeably harder to close the door when I got the car back, but isn't now), or my messing about with the seal helped. But either way, I cancelled the booking at Ascot - there is currently nothing it needs to go back for.
In fact, in recent weeks the car is finally beginning to behave itself. I no longer feel that something will break pretty much every time I get in it - so it seems that I am eventually reaching the point where the car is working. Most of my issues have been pretty minor anyway, so I have high hopes that - if I've not already achieved it - I'm very close to having a mostly problem free car.
Ironically - when I started my Cayenne on Monday morning, it told me it was low on oil - I really couldn't be bothered to sort that out in the dark at 6am, so used the 650. By coincidence - given the weather - somebody at work said : I bet I know which car you didn't use today! Well, actually...........
Seems the Cayenne is even better at throwing up issues than the 650 - having told me the oil was low, when I got home to top it up - it decided that was a good time for the bonnet catch to sieze too..........
I took the car out at the weekend a couple of times - and particularly on Sunday drove it very hard on dry roads. Not the fastest I've driven it, but certainly the hardest I've cornered since buying it. The capabilities of the car really are impressive.
The real problem I have with the car now, is the same one I've had all along. I want to drive it more than the warranty will allow. I'm forcing myself to avoid using it for work during the week now - despite wanting to use it every day, these are miles I'd much rather save for later in the year - at least daylight, even if not dry and sunny. I've done ~3,300 miles since buying the car in August - I'd like to reach at least the end of February with the total still under 4K - I really would like some proper icy weather, with salty roads - and even a bit of snow - to make that easier!
At the moment, it means my plans to use the car as a semi-daily car just aren't working because I've used it far more than I expected anyway. But hopefully, when we get to ~April, that will change again.
PompeyReece said:
To solve the mileage vs warranty issue, you could always buy two 650's? :-)
I think I've mentioned before, but although it says "12k a year" - the warranty certificate actually shows that it's warrantied as long as the mileage remains below 60k this year, and 72k next year.I just have a feeling that if the engine went pop, doing more than 12k in a single year might result in me having to pay!
A good weekend with the car - sunny weather really doesn't help to keep the mileage down.
Gave it a clean on Saturday, and the VO paint really does sparkle in the sunshine - and attracts lots of positive attention. Was walking back to it from M&S, and was asked by a guy whether he could take some pics before I left.
On Sunday, I took it down to Brighton - with a passenger who has never been in anything faster than a Corsa. Her first language is not English, and her vocabulary is conversational rather than fluent - but she appeared to know ways of saying "you're going too fast / slow down / I'm going to die" that I've never heard before
Was a great trip though - and she was a lot more relaxed on the way back. Which just goes to show that the best way to address your fears is to face them
ETA : On the subject of extending the miles - to be honest, given that the 12k limit is about 3 times what I was doing with the cars it replaced - I think it's good to have some kind of limit, even if it's one I would be able to move!
Gave it a clean on Saturday, and the VO paint really does sparkle in the sunshine - and attracts lots of positive attention. Was walking back to it from M&S, and was asked by a guy whether he could take some pics before I left.
On Sunday, I took it down to Brighton - with a passenger who has never been in anything faster than a Corsa. Her first language is not English, and her vocabulary is conversational rather than fluent - but she appeared to know ways of saying "you're going too fast / slow down / I'm going to die" that I've never heard before
Was a great trip though - and she was a lot more relaxed on the way back. Which just goes to show that the best way to address your fears is to face them
ETA : On the subject of extending the miles - to be honest, given that the 12k limit is about 3 times what I was doing with the cars it replaced - I think it's good to have some kind of limit, even if it's one I would be able to move!
The car has continued to be (mostly) problem free for the last few weeks, and it makes owning it a much more positive experience. The windows do play up occasionally (go almost fully up then lower to half way) but it's pretty rare. The other issues - even the ones that happened several times - seem to have disappeared. The car just works - finally.
One thing I've mentioned several times before is that I prefer the steering on the 360. The steering ratio is clearly different between the cars and for the same turning circle, the (smaller) steering wheel on the 650 needs to turn much more than the 360. Apparently, the McLarens have the best steering in the world ever - but personally, I prefer the 360.
To make the 650 optimal, I got the alignment done yesterday. This hasn't made much difference to how much effort it takes to turn in, but it has significantly affected the feel of the car as you corner. On long / fast corners, once the steering is already turned - it feels like even small adjustments make a big difference to the line the car is taking. On tighter corners, it now feels like there is much more grip at the front, and almost as if the car is being pulled around the bend. A vast improvement.
When I bought the car, one of the things that made me hesitant was the lack of true manual. I really really didn't want flappy paddles - but for the kind of cars I was looking at, there was no manual choice.
In fact - 6 months later - I no longer miss it. In fact, not only do I not miss it - if I use the 360 it seems like an unnecessary complication. I think this is probably partly because I use the 650 as more than an occasional car, and also because my other "daily" is an automatic Cayenne - so I get very little opportunity to drive a real manual car these days. Rather than a treat when I do, it now feels a bit like a chore. I'm as surprised as anybody by this. It has made me realise that it is time to sell the 360 - I just don't find I want to use it much these days.
A common criticism of McLarens (and most turbo cars) is the lack of noise - and it's something I missed when I bought it. Compared to the Ferrari, it's practically electric-car silent.
In reality though, it's not - and everything is relative. If you get out of an NA Ferrari (or similar) the 650 is disappointing - but 6 months later, without the immediate transition - I quite like it. If the roof or rear window is down, it sounds sporty (and in fact, the general public have commented on the noise it makes) and I don't really miss it being louder anymore.
I'm going to struggle to keep the mileage below 11k by the end of this month - I think I only have about 100 miles to go. But hopefully, some winter weather will mean I don't go too far over.
I am beginning to really love the car, and still look forward to driving it. In fact, on Thursday evening I was really looking forward to a decent run for the alignment - despite the fact that it was going to be cold, dark and rush hour!
Hopefully, Spring is not too far away - I think it will get even more use then.
One thing I've mentioned several times before is that I prefer the steering on the 360. The steering ratio is clearly different between the cars and for the same turning circle, the (smaller) steering wheel on the 650 needs to turn much more than the 360. Apparently, the McLarens have the best steering in the world ever - but personally, I prefer the 360.
To make the 650 optimal, I got the alignment done yesterday. This hasn't made much difference to how much effort it takes to turn in, but it has significantly affected the feel of the car as you corner. On long / fast corners, once the steering is already turned - it feels like even small adjustments make a big difference to the line the car is taking. On tighter corners, it now feels like there is much more grip at the front, and almost as if the car is being pulled around the bend. A vast improvement.
When I bought the car, one of the things that made me hesitant was the lack of true manual. I really really didn't want flappy paddles - but for the kind of cars I was looking at, there was no manual choice.
In fact - 6 months later - I no longer miss it. In fact, not only do I not miss it - if I use the 360 it seems like an unnecessary complication. I think this is probably partly because I use the 650 as more than an occasional car, and also because my other "daily" is an automatic Cayenne - so I get very little opportunity to drive a real manual car these days. Rather than a treat when I do, it now feels a bit like a chore. I'm as surprised as anybody by this. It has made me realise that it is time to sell the 360 - I just don't find I want to use it much these days.
A common criticism of McLarens (and most turbo cars) is the lack of noise - and it's something I missed when I bought it. Compared to the Ferrari, it's practically electric-car silent.
In reality though, it's not - and everything is relative. If you get out of an NA Ferrari (or similar) the 650 is disappointing - but 6 months later, without the immediate transition - I quite like it. If the roof or rear window is down, it sounds sporty (and in fact, the general public have commented on the noise it makes) and I don't really miss it being louder anymore.
I'm going to struggle to keep the mileage below 11k by the end of this month - I think I only have about 100 miles to go. But hopefully, some winter weather will mean I don't go too far over.
I am beginning to really love the car, and still look forward to driving it. In fact, on Thursday evening I was really looking forward to a decent run for the alignment - despite the fact that it was going to be cold, dark and rush hour!
Hopefully, Spring is not too far away - I think it will get even more use then.
Edited by davek_964 on Saturday 8th February 14:09
When I updated the thread at the weekend, there was one issue with the car I was concerned about but wanted to see what the conclusion was before including the details here. And now it has :
Over the last month or so, I've been concerned with the paintwork on my car. Under bright sunlight, it looks perfect - and I think the photos I added a few days ago look good.
However, very often the bonnet looks noticeably darker than the front bumper / wings - particularly if the light is not bright. It even shows up in some photos. The bonnet is the most obvious, but if you look closely at the car it's not the only panel - the roof lid looks darker than the engine cover (I've been told it's actually the engine cover which doesn't match, not the roof lid), and there is a very slight mismatch between the passenger door and the rear wing.
It has been difficult to be sure there is a genuine problem, because Volcano colours do change significantly under different lighting. But the fact that the bonnet almost always looks darker convinced me that it wasn't right - if it had just been the case that it looked slightly different to the bumper / wings, I would have put it down to shifting colours under light angles.
I mailed Ascot about this last week - my assumption was that panels had been replaced / painted under warranty due to the common bubbling / corrosion issues and that was the cause. Ascot said that they have no record of any bodywork warranty claims on the car, and did not do any painting as part of pre-sales prep. The issue simply seems to be due to fading (I don't believe it's a result of accident repairs - it can only be repaired in McLaren approved bodyshops so there would be a record, and it wouldn't explain random panels like the engine cover).
On the way back from getting my geo done on Friday, I stopped at Ascot so that they could take a look. They took photos of the areas I was concerned about, and said they would raise a claim on McLaren.
Confirmation received today that McLaren client services will provide goodwill to resolve this. I've spoken to the paintshop, who say they will repaint the entire front of the car, plus the LHS to the rear wing, plus the engine covers. Car will be collected by covered transporter and returned to me the same way - and will take about 15 working days. I'll have to decide whether to delay until after Goodwood V-power breakfast club since the car is booked into that.
A big thumbs up to McLaren - my car should come back cosmetically perfect. I know the brand gets a lot of negative press on here - albeit usually from the same half a dozen people - but my ownership experience seems to be improving the longer I have the car. I'm currently very happy.
Over the last month or so, I've been concerned with the paintwork on my car. Under bright sunlight, it looks perfect - and I think the photos I added a few days ago look good.
However, very often the bonnet looks noticeably darker than the front bumper / wings - particularly if the light is not bright. It even shows up in some photos. The bonnet is the most obvious, but if you look closely at the car it's not the only panel - the roof lid looks darker than the engine cover (I've been told it's actually the engine cover which doesn't match, not the roof lid), and there is a very slight mismatch between the passenger door and the rear wing.
It has been difficult to be sure there is a genuine problem, because Volcano colours do change significantly under different lighting. But the fact that the bonnet almost always looks darker convinced me that it wasn't right - if it had just been the case that it looked slightly different to the bumper / wings, I would have put it down to shifting colours under light angles.
I mailed Ascot about this last week - my assumption was that panels had been replaced / painted under warranty due to the common bubbling / corrosion issues and that was the cause. Ascot said that they have no record of any bodywork warranty claims on the car, and did not do any painting as part of pre-sales prep. The issue simply seems to be due to fading (I don't believe it's a result of accident repairs - it can only be repaired in McLaren approved bodyshops so there would be a record, and it wouldn't explain random panels like the engine cover).
On the way back from getting my geo done on Friday, I stopped at Ascot so that they could take a look. They took photos of the areas I was concerned about, and said they would raise a claim on McLaren.
Confirmation received today that McLaren client services will provide goodwill to resolve this. I've spoken to the paintshop, who say they will repaint the entire front of the car, plus the LHS to the rear wing, plus the engine covers. Car will be collected by covered transporter and returned to me the same way - and will take about 15 working days. I'll have to decide whether to delay until after Goodwood V-power breakfast club since the car is booked into that.
A big thumbs up to McLaren - my car should come back cosmetically perfect. I know the brand gets a lot of negative press on here - albeit usually from the same half a dozen people - but my ownership experience seems to be improving the longer I have the car. I'm currently very happy.
Car has continued to behave itself, apart from one glitch. Drove to Sainsbury's last weekend - when I got back in the car, the usual comfort entry message came up. I noticed an exclamation mark next to it, and thought : never noticed before that it shows an exclamation mark with that message.....
Of course, it doesn't! Once the seat was back in position, fuel flap latch error came up. Fuel filler still opened and closed fine - left the car locked for an hour when I got home and it's not happened since.
Couldn't resist the sunshine this morning and took the car out for a short run. When I got the geometry done at the start of the month, I was impressed with the difference but still unsure whether it was worth taking a day off for. Driving the car since - especially this morning - has convinced me it was. It no longer wants to run wide and even on cold roads, it's transformed the car. This morning hinted at just how good is going to be in summer.
There is something very odd about McLaren paint - or at least, the volcano orange paint on my car. For one thing, I seem to be picking up stone chips far more than any other car I've owned, and they all seem to be on the bonnet. But worse, in addition to the one I found about a month ago, today I noticed 3 new ones fairly close together. The problem is, all four of them result in a dark circle of paint around the chip, about 3mm in diameter. It's very odd and I've never had a car do this before:
Fortunately, tomorrow the car is being collected to be taken to the paint shop courtesy of McLaren. I'm unsure quite how much of the car will be painted, but I know at least the entire front end will be, so no more stone chips. I will spend March increasing the distance to the cars in front of me, since I'm clearly too close too often. But these chips have also convinced me that I will get PPF fitted once the paint has had a few weeks to cure.
I met the next Lewis Hamilton this morning when I stopped at Curry's. Guy asked if he could take pictures of the car with his kid next to it, so I let him sit in it while the wife took photos. Apparently, he's 7 and goes to petrol go karting when finances allow!
I'm not looking forward to most of March without the car - especially since I intend to limit use of the car in April until I have the PPF done. On the plus side, I've managed to keep the mileage down in February, and am about to hit 4k miles since my purchase (so a shade over 11k on the clock). March will be pretty much no miles and April should also be low - which leaves me more than enough miles between the start of May and the end of August.
Which is just as well, because I have quite a few car events booked!
Will update again - with some photos - once I have a nice new paint job.
Of course, it doesn't! Once the seat was back in position, fuel flap latch error came up. Fuel filler still opened and closed fine - left the car locked for an hour when I got home and it's not happened since.
Couldn't resist the sunshine this morning and took the car out for a short run. When I got the geometry done at the start of the month, I was impressed with the difference but still unsure whether it was worth taking a day off for. Driving the car since - especially this morning - has convinced me it was. It no longer wants to run wide and even on cold roads, it's transformed the car. This morning hinted at just how good is going to be in summer.
There is something very odd about McLaren paint - or at least, the volcano orange paint on my car. For one thing, I seem to be picking up stone chips far more than any other car I've owned, and they all seem to be on the bonnet. But worse, in addition to the one I found about a month ago, today I noticed 3 new ones fairly close together. The problem is, all four of them result in a dark circle of paint around the chip, about 3mm in diameter. It's very odd and I've never had a car do this before:
Fortunately, tomorrow the car is being collected to be taken to the paint shop courtesy of McLaren. I'm unsure quite how much of the car will be painted, but I know at least the entire front end will be, so no more stone chips. I will spend March increasing the distance to the cars in front of me, since I'm clearly too close too often. But these chips have also convinced me that I will get PPF fitted once the paint has had a few weeks to cure.
I met the next Lewis Hamilton this morning when I stopped at Curry's. Guy asked if he could take pictures of the car with his kid next to it, so I let him sit in it while the wife took photos. Apparently, he's 7 and goes to petrol go karting when finances allow!
I'm not looking forward to most of March without the car - especially since I intend to limit use of the car in April until I have the PPF done. On the plus side, I've managed to keep the mileage down in February, and am about to hit 4k miles since my purchase (so a shade over 11k on the clock). March will be pretty much no miles and April should also be low - which leaves me more than enough miles between the start of May and the end of August.
Which is just as well, because I have quite a few car events booked!
Will update again - with some photos - once I have a nice new paint job.
Minor update - even though I don't currently have the car.
It was collected by the bodyshop (M&A) on Mon 2nd March. Unfortunately, a few days later they told me that they could not match the volcano paint - they have 7 different shades (to cope with fading) but using their colour cards they could not get a match they were happy with. They had therefore concluded that they would need to paint the entire car, and had started removing panels.
Since McLaren were footing the bill I asked whether they'd informed them - I was told that was in hand, but that M&A were confident it would be covered since there really wasn't any other solution if they wanted a happy customer.
Confirmation today that McLaren will pay for the entire car to be repainted. Absolutely astounding customer service and far more than I expected.
I try to be as objective as possible on this thread - and I guess it's clear that I've been a lot happier with the car from December to start of March since it had finally begun to be 99% problem free.
I'm not sure I guarantee the same objectivity when I get the car back (currently estimated 3rd April) - I'm feeling a bit like a McLaren fanboy right now
It was collected by the bodyshop (M&A) on Mon 2nd March. Unfortunately, a few days later they told me that they could not match the volcano paint - they have 7 different shades (to cope with fading) but using their colour cards they could not get a match they were happy with. They had therefore concluded that they would need to paint the entire car, and had started removing panels.
Since McLaren were footing the bill I asked whether they'd informed them - I was told that was in hand, but that M&A were confident it would be covered since there really wasn't any other solution if they wanted a happy customer.
Confirmation today that McLaren will pay for the entire car to be repainted. Absolutely astounding customer service and far more than I expected.
I try to be as objective as possible on this thread - and I guess it's clear that I've been a lot happier with the car from December to start of March since it had finally begun to be 99% problem free.
I'm not sure I guarantee the same objectivity when I get the car back (currently estimated 3rd April) - I'm feeling a bit like a McLaren fanboy right now
Crazy4557 said:
Get me one too!
Amazing response by McLaren but then what else could they do? A friend has just had a few panels replaced and painted on a Volcano Orange 570S and they matched the colour without problems, maybe the earlier cars are a particular challenge.
A different McLaren bodyshop told me that the paint formulation had changed for volcano colours, and the later formulation was far less prone to fade.Amazing response by McLaren but then what else could they do? A friend has just had a few panels replaced and painted on a Volcano Orange 570S and they matched the colour without problems, maybe the earlier cars are a particular challenge.
IMI A said:
Apologies for thread hijack with a german imposter but I'm so happy with the results with mine. Embarrassing the amount of admiring glances a 13 year old banger gets so I keep her looking used
One word of advice I would not PPF for 6 months unless it goes through the exact process at factory. Paint release gasses even after its hardened and dry. I waited 3 months but wasn't using car anyway.
I do like 997 turbos - remind me of the older 911 turbos. Remember reading your threads on the Porsche forum when I had my 996 turbo.One word of advice I would not PPF for 6 months unless it goes through the exact process at factory. Paint release gasses even after its hardened and dry. I waited 3 months but wasn't using car anyway.
6 months? By then I think I'll have too many chips! From the research I did online, ~30 days seemed to be the max most people recommended? I'm still not 100% sure I want PPF, although I feel I really do need it at the front. Maybe I should start driving backwards everywhere.....
911Thrasher said:
devil's advocate: could it be that Mac read this and follows your posts...and from there on make sure they behave/act accordingly regarding your issues?
I guess anything is possible, although I have no reason to believe that's the case.But just in case :
My 650 is crap. It's hard to say a good word about it in fact - I used to have an old Ford Fiesta and that was better in every way. I think I'd be happy if McLaren would swap it for a 675LT or 720 Spider though.
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