Hate my new car because of the paintwork
Discussion
Hi PH,
Bought a 2 year old approved used Mazda from a dealer about 6 weeks ago. At the time I inspected the car and noticed one of the rear doors looked like it had previously been repaired but wasn't 100%. I agreed to buy the car anyway because it didn't look that bad and I figure no used car is going to be perfect.
Paid a deposit and that evening received a call from the dealer saying they'd like to put it through their bodyshop to re-paint the door and make it better. I hesitated but ultimately gave them the go ahead as it was a main dealer, so surely the quality of the work would be good, right? (ho ho ho)
Collected the car a week later and inspected it. The door looked pretty good apart from 2 tiny pin holes in the paintwork. I didn't want to walk away and lose the car and my deposit over 2 pin holes, so I took the car and touched them up myself.
Fast forward 3 weeks and I noticed that in the process of blending the door they have presumably also painted the rear quarter panel, but without removing the rear quarter panel glass. So now the new paint has kind of "stuck" the window rubber down into the paint and I suspect will be a point of failure in the future. I don't know why it took me 3 weeks to notice this, but there you go.
Another couple of weeks later and I noticed 2 more pin holes in the paint. Whether I missed these originally or whether they appeared out of nowhere I don't know. I touched them up, but today have found another one! They are incredibly small but go right down to the metal.
Also, now that the weather has turned, when it's cold out, under certain lighting the door looks like someone has polished it with a brillo pad.
I have been stewing over this for weeks now and I'm growing to hate the car, and especially myself for buying it. Perhaps I should add that everything else about it appears to be mint mechanically and interior wise. I'm toying with the idea of just selling it at a loss and going back to my old car which I still have but that was becoming a liability in terms of reliability. I would probably anger the missus in the process too.
Sorry, I needed to get this off my chest. Please tell me what you think I should do.
Thanks,
Bought a 2 year old approved used Mazda from a dealer about 6 weeks ago. At the time I inspected the car and noticed one of the rear doors looked like it had previously been repaired but wasn't 100%. I agreed to buy the car anyway because it didn't look that bad and I figure no used car is going to be perfect.
Paid a deposit and that evening received a call from the dealer saying they'd like to put it through their bodyshop to re-paint the door and make it better. I hesitated but ultimately gave them the go ahead as it was a main dealer, so surely the quality of the work would be good, right? (ho ho ho)
Collected the car a week later and inspected it. The door looked pretty good apart from 2 tiny pin holes in the paintwork. I didn't want to walk away and lose the car and my deposit over 2 pin holes, so I took the car and touched them up myself.
Fast forward 3 weeks and I noticed that in the process of blending the door they have presumably also painted the rear quarter panel, but without removing the rear quarter panel glass. So now the new paint has kind of "stuck" the window rubber down into the paint and I suspect will be a point of failure in the future. I don't know why it took me 3 weeks to notice this, but there you go.
Another couple of weeks later and I noticed 2 more pin holes in the paint. Whether I missed these originally or whether they appeared out of nowhere I don't know. I touched them up, but today have found another one! They are incredibly small but go right down to the metal.
Also, now that the weather has turned, when it's cold out, under certain lighting the door looks like someone has polished it with a brillo pad.
I have been stewing over this for weeks now and I'm growing to hate the car, and especially myself for buying it. Perhaps I should add that everything else about it appears to be mint mechanically and interior wise. I'm toying with the idea of just selling it at a loss and going back to my old car which I still have but that was becoming a liability in terms of reliability. I would probably anger the missus in the process too.
Sorry, I needed to get this off my chest. Please tell me what you think I should do.
Thanks,
I've done the same thing recently in a private sale. Went to view the car really late. It's a pearl white colour and the offside passenger looks like it's been resprayed at some point. Up close it wasn't evident but from a distance you can see the contrast between the driver door. Was annoying to me for a while to the point I gave it to my mother to replace her aging Jazz. Fortunately it was only a £3k hatch and it's mechanically fine so she's happy.
I have had the same thing in the past. I bought a £3K Renault Laguna years ago and when I got home realised that one of the rear doors had been resprayed and looked a different colour at certain angles from a distance.
My first expensive to me car (£10K in 1997), the first time I washed it I noticed overspray and further investigation revealed the front wing had been sprayed, I even found some masking tape on the cill.
Both times I immediately lost interest in the car and hated them both. With the £10K car, it utterly ruined the experience for me and I could not wait until the three year finance was up so I could get shot of it.
My currently semi shed has had the bumper resprayed at some point. I realised this from the photos, but the rest of the car was immaculate so I still bought it. Even now three years later it does annoy me when I look at it sometimes.
My OCD ruins second hand cars for me, I like everything I own to be perfect. One of the reasons I continally look at getting a new car, but then I remember I would be paranoid about leaving it anywhere and would be massively annoyed the first time it got damaged.
Can't win really, and virtually all second hand cars have had paint.
My first expensive to me car (£10K in 1997), the first time I washed it I noticed overspray and further investigation revealed the front wing had been sprayed, I even found some masking tape on the cill.
Both times I immediately lost interest in the car and hated them both. With the £10K car, it utterly ruined the experience for me and I could not wait until the three year finance was up so I could get shot of it.
My currently semi shed has had the bumper resprayed at some point. I realised this from the photos, but the rest of the car was immaculate so I still bought it. Even now three years later it does annoy me when I look at it sometimes.
My OCD ruins second hand cars for me, I like everything I own to be perfect. One of the reasons I continally look at getting a new car, but then I remember I would be paranoid about leaving it anywhere and would be massively annoyed the first time it got damaged.
Can't win really, and virtually all second hand cars have had paint.
ADJimbo said:
I think you need to ring the Mazda dealer you bought the car from, tell them what you ve told us here, and then see what they say?
Yeah I've thought about it. However I suspect they will say it's cosmetic. Even on the remotely slim chance that they agree to do anything with it, I'm not sure it would be worth the risk of them potentially butchering it further.ThingsBehindTheSun said:
I have had the same thing in the past. I bought a £3K Renault Laguna years ago and when I got home realised that one of the rear doors had been resprayed and looked a different colour at certain angles from a distance.
My first expensive to me car (£10K in 1997), the first time I washed it I noticed overspray and further investigation revealed the front wing had been sprayed, I even found some masking tape on the cill.
Both times I immediately lost interest in the car and hated them both. With the £10K car, it utterly ruined the experience for me and I could not wait until the three year finance was up so I could get shot of it.
Yeah this is how I feel. The car was over £20k and I bought in cash so was hoping to keep it for 10+ years. I've not even had it 10 weeks and if someone nicked it off the driveway I would be glad.My first expensive to me car (£10K in 1997), the first time I washed it I noticed overspray and further investigation revealed the front wing had been sprayed, I even found some masking tape on the cill.
Both times I immediately lost interest in the car and hated them both. With the £10K car, it utterly ruined the experience for me and I could not wait until the three year finance was up so I could get shot of it.
Bad luck it happens. I have had both buyers remorse and committed self inflicted repair errors in the past and I ve sold stuff on in disgust for an immediate loss before.
Now my kids have the skills to pretty much damage all my wife and I s worldly goods (without intention or malice) I believe I m long since cured.
Now my kids have the skills to pretty much damage all my wife and I s worldly goods (without intention or malice) I believe I m long since cured.
andyalan10 said:
I know almost nothing about painting cars, but surely the best approach is to take it to a professional detailer or well regarded bodyshop and say "What do you think?".
The options of "Sell it" or "Take it back to the place that botched it before" seem rather less attractive.
Yeah I had considered taking it to a bodyshop and at least finding out the cost to have it done properly. My concern is that it'll be thousands (rather than hundreds) to do it properly and I then have the hassle and gamble of hoping they do a proper job that doesn't start to look terrible after a month. What I really don't want to do now is chuck good money after bad.The options of "Sell it" or "Take it back to the place that botched it before" seem rather less attractive.
Crazy4557 said:
As above, spend some money on a repaint elsewhere, it ll be cheaper than the loss selling it to a dealer and apart from this problem you re happy with it..
I'm not sure on the difference in loss but you might have a point, it's certainly worth investigating. And you're right, the car is beautiful apart from this annoying issue.First, you need to understand whether this was sold as a dealer as one of their 'approved' purchases?
Then if so go through the wording on their website or whatever paperwork you got with the car about the paint wording.
Firstly make the dealer aware and then raise the points from above research to get them to help you.
Alternatively, does the bodyshop come with a warranty on paint?
After this is exhausted, you can then consider taking it to a detailer. This is probably the easiest way, but will cost you, whereas the above may not.
It's probably better to do this than get rid of it. You could end up with an absolute lemon from elsewhere and the paintwork be fine.
Then if so go through the wording on their website or whatever paperwork you got with the car about the paint wording.
Firstly make the dealer aware and then raise the points from above research to get them to help you.
Alternatively, does the bodyshop come with a warranty on paint?
After this is exhausted, you can then consider taking it to a detailer. This is probably the easiest way, but will cost you, whereas the above may not.
It's probably better to do this than get rid of it. You could end up with an absolute lemon from elsewhere and the paintwork be fine.
SV_WDC said:
First, you need to understand whether this was sold as a dealer as one of their 'approved' purchases?
Then if so go through the wording on their website or whatever paperwork you got with the car about the paint wording.
Firstly make the dealer aware and then raise the points from above research to get them to help you.
Alternatively, does the bodyshop come with a warranty on paint?
After this is exhausted, you can then consider taking it to a detailer. This is probably the easiest way, but will cost you, whereas the above may not.
It's probably better to do this than get rid of it. You could end up with an absolute lemon from elsewhere and the paintwork be fine.
Thanks. It was sold as an approved purchase. However my understanding is that your consumer rights (which trump any kind of warranty) say the vehicle must be "fit for purpose" and of reasonable quality. Sadly cosmetic issues don't really count because they don't make the car unsafe or affect its ability to get you from A to B, and "reasonable quality" of paintwork on a 2 year old car with 20k miles is somewhat subjective.Then if so go through the wording on their website or whatever paperwork you got with the car about the paint wording.
Firstly make the dealer aware and then raise the points from above research to get them to help you.
Alternatively, does the bodyshop come with a warranty on paint?
After this is exhausted, you can then consider taking it to a detailer. This is probably the easiest way, but will cost you, whereas the above may not.
It's probably better to do this than get rid of it. You could end up with an absolute lemon from elsewhere and the paintwork be fine.
I believe the approved used warranty does not include paintwork, according to the info I have.
I doubt very much the work that was done is covered by any kind of warranty by the bodyshop (whoever the dealer used) as looking at the quality of it now, I suspect it was a "do us a favour and make this car look as good as possible for £200" type of job. What I don't understand is why the dealer offered to paint the car after I had already agreed to buy it. I don't think I will ever know the answer to that.
You are right about swapping it for a lemon with perfect paint. I could go from the frying pan into the fire. I just wish I had chosen more carefully in the first place.
Maxym said:
Get a professional detailer to touch in the blemishes and polish the painted areas to match the rest of the car.
I'm not sure whether or not that would work. Funnily enough the colour match, which is what I was initially worried about, is actually okay. The main issues seem to be that fact it looks like it's been polished with a brillo pad. This definitely seems to have gotten more prominent over time so I suspect it had a strong glaze put over the top. I tried to gently polish a very small patch by hand with no improvement so I am not sure if the scratches are under the laquer, or if it needs polishing with a stronger compound. The other issue is the painting around the rear quarter panel window rubber which I don't think a detailer will be able to do anything about now.As well as that there are the pin holes, and if you wanted to be really critical there is also trash in the paint with 2 or 3 small runs and general orange peel / uneveness, but I admit you do have to get your nose pretty close and under the right lighting to see those things.
Edited by MrCarrot on Wednesday 3rd December 00:21
There aren’t any photos, but the pinholes will either be pinholes in any filler underneath, or the material shrinking back if it was laid on wet and now the solvent has evaporated, or simply some dirt particles in the lacquer.
The ‘Brillo’ effect is probably them trying to polish it off and get it out the door before the paint has hardened.
It can usually be rectified by getting a bodyshop or a brave detailer to sand it right back with 1000 or 1500 grit before then bringing it back to a proper shine. The problem doing it on someone else’s work is that if you came to me I wouldnt know how much clearcoat they have put on and how much room I’ve got to play with before I burn through, even if I used a paint gauge I wouldnt know how much of the depth was original paintwork and how much was the repair on the top.
I dont think a detailer would want to cut the paint back that far, but it’s fairly standard stuff for a bodyshop that deals with custom work and understands paint, not just accident repairs.
In relation to around the quarter panel glass, that wouldnt be taken out for smart repair, are you saying there is overspray on the trim around the glass or you’ve got a built up edge on the panel adjacent to the window edge? Again, I’m only going off your description but it sounds like it could certainly be made ‘better’.
I imagine they got a Smart repairer in who did the repair around the back of the forecourt, its fairly standard practise for a dealership, they pay on volume not quality and in return you get this.
The ‘Brillo’ effect is probably them trying to polish it off and get it out the door before the paint has hardened.
It can usually be rectified by getting a bodyshop or a brave detailer to sand it right back with 1000 or 1500 grit before then bringing it back to a proper shine. The problem doing it on someone else’s work is that if you came to me I wouldnt know how much clearcoat they have put on and how much room I’ve got to play with before I burn through, even if I used a paint gauge I wouldnt know how much of the depth was original paintwork and how much was the repair on the top.
I dont think a detailer would want to cut the paint back that far, but it’s fairly standard stuff for a bodyshop that deals with custom work and understands paint, not just accident repairs.
In relation to around the quarter panel glass, that wouldnt be taken out for smart repair, are you saying there is overspray on the trim around the glass or you’ve got a built up edge on the panel adjacent to the window edge? Again, I’m only going off your description but it sounds like it could certainly be made ‘better’.
I imagine they got a Smart repairer in who did the repair around the back of the forecourt, its fairly standard practise for a dealership, they pay on volume not quality and in return you get this.
DaveF-SkinnysAutos said:
There aren t any photos, but the pinholes will either be pinholes in any filler underneath, or the material shrinking back if it was laid on wet and now the solvent has evaporated, or simply some dirt particles in the lacquer.
The Brillo effect is probably them trying to polish it off and get it out the door before the paint has hardened.
It can usually be rectified by getting a bodyshop or a brave detailer to sand it right back with 1000 or 1500 grit before then bringing it back to a proper shine. The problem doing it on someone else s work is that if you came to me I wouldnt know how much clearcoat they have put on and how much room I ve got to play with before I burn through, even if I used a paint gauge I wouldnt know how much of the depth was original paintwork and how much was the repair on the top.
I dont think a detailer would want to cut the paint back that far, but it s fairly standard stuff for a bodyshop that deals with custom work and understands paint, not just accident repairs.
In relation to around the quarter panel glass, that wouldnt be taken out for smart repair, are you saying there is overspray on the trim around the glass or you ve got a built up edge on the panel adjacent to the window edge? Again, I m only going off your description but it sounds like it could certainly be made better .
I imagine they got a Smart repairer in who did the repair around the back of the forecourt, its fairly standard practise for a dealership, they pay on volume not quality and in return you get this.
Hi Dave, some of the pin holes are in random places, they aren't grouped together, so I suspect it was done in a rush or there were contaminants in the paint. However I'm not an expert so can't be sure. There aren't dozens and dozens of them - at least not yet. I've touched in around 4 and probably found another 2 or 3.The Brillo effect is probably them trying to polish it off and get it out the door before the paint has hardened.
It can usually be rectified by getting a bodyshop or a brave detailer to sand it right back with 1000 or 1500 grit before then bringing it back to a proper shine. The problem doing it on someone else s work is that if you came to me I wouldnt know how much clearcoat they have put on and how much room I ve got to play with before I burn through, even if I used a paint gauge I wouldnt know how much of the depth was original paintwork and how much was the repair on the top.
I dont think a detailer would want to cut the paint back that far, but it s fairly standard stuff for a bodyshop that deals with custom work and understands paint, not just accident repairs.
In relation to around the quarter panel glass, that wouldnt be taken out for smart repair, are you saying there is overspray on the trim around the glass or you ve got a built up edge on the panel adjacent to the window edge? Again, I m only going off your description but it sounds like it could certainly be made better .
I imagine they got a Smart repairer in who did the repair around the back of the forecourt, its fairly standard practise for a dealership, they pay on volume not quality and in return you get this.
Regarding the quarter panel glass, on the opposite side you can slightly lift the rubber up with your finger nail around the edge. Furthermore, if you push firmly on the rubber it kind of flexes inward ever so slightly. On the repaired side, you can't lift the rubber and it doesn't move because it's stuck into the edge of the paintwork. Basically it has been masked around rather than removed. Whilst I'm not going to do this, if I were to pick away at the edge of the rubber it would possibly break free from the paint but I imagine would leave a broken or cumbly edge that might then peel in the future.
I don't understand why the brillo effect has become more prominent recently, unless it's the cold weather and condensation more readily sitting inside the scratches, or I've just become better at seeing it, or they applied a strong glaze/wax that has since washed off. There is also some clouding on the driver's door - I don't know if this is again another dodgy repair with moisture trapped under the paint or whether they've gone overboard polishing it and started to burn through the clear.
I'm seriously thinking of visiting a few bodyshops to try and find out what my options are but I suspect it's not going to be cheap.
Edited by MrCarrot on Wednesday 3rd December 10:38
Edited by MrCarrot on Wednesday 3rd December 10:40
Edited by MrCarrot on Wednesday 3rd December 10:41
CMTMB said:
You have nothing to lose by contacting the dealer to explain the issue. They might surprise you and offer to put it right.
I advised this first out of the blocks. The OP seems adamant that they wont be covering the alleged poor paint repair, but has not even had the conversation with them to fact find.
OP - have that conversation with the Dealer to garner their opinion on the best route forwards. You might be happy with their response, you might not.
If you’re unhappy then email Jeremy Thomson at Mazda on jthomson@mazdaeur.com and ask for his input and they’ll then sort the issue out to your satisfaction.
You’ll then be able to enjoy your new car.
Whilst Mazda make good cars, they don’t have a crystal ball. Pick up the phone or send them an email.
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