General Dodgy paintwork

[Nickgilbert]

I bought a new bordeaux 500 in December. To date I've got 70+ chips in the paintwork. I'm wondering if anyone else has had problems with the paint.

I'm a careful driver (I usually drive vintage cars - my other car is an immaculate 1966 Morris Traveller). And the chips are all over the car - bonnet. doors. side panels, door frame etc. So the paint seems way too soft and, annoyingly, there's white primer under the dark red bordeaux paint.

I reckon there's no easy way to fix it. Fiat are about to inspect it but I'm expecting them to try and wriggle out of it. Anyone got any advice?

 

[p6baseunit]

I bought a new bordeaux 500 in December. To date I've got 70+ chips in the paintwork. I'm wondering if anyone else has had problems with the paint.

I'm a careful driver (I usually drive vintage cars - my other car is an immaculate 1966 Morris Traveller). And the chips are all over the car - bonnet. doors. side panels, door frame etc. So the paint seems way too soft and, annoyingly, there's white primer under the dark red bordeaux paint.

I reckon there's no easy way to fix it. Fiat are about to inspect it but I'm expecting them to try and wriggle out of it. Anyone got any advice?

Nope that sounds crazy! How many miles have you done...? Our Twinair has around 37K miles now and probably 10 or so touched in stone chips. We picked up the car in Jan 2014 and got a large stonechip on the side of the bonnet, which was really annoying. Other than this, nothing more than you would expect over the years.

The 1.2 convertible with 18K miles on probably has 3 stone chips! Both cars have driven across Europe.

 

[chris3234]

Definitely doesn't sound right
I've got a 09 with 53k on it
Apart from a large patch caused by a clot jacking the car up on the sills
And some scrapes along two corner's caused by some poor driver only about 15 or so chips mainly around the doors

Nothing like you have had

 

[muttleysdad]

Only time I've ever known of something like this was when somebody used a jet wash to clean their drive too near the car.

 

[Nickgilbert]

Only time I've ever known of something like this was when somebody used a jet wash to clean their drive too near the car.

Nothing like that. 4K driven on A roads mostly. I'm hoping Fiat just hold their hands up but I guess I'll have to prepare for a fight. It's our first new car (like I say I'm a classic car user normally) and it's really spoilt our pleasure in a new car.

And it's all over - both sides, front and back.

 

[alexGS]

It does sound like a case for the FIAT dealer to have the option of repairing or replacing the car. Though wear and tear isn’t covered under warranty, it does sound unreasonable that it would suffer so much wear in a few months - unless you’re a roadworks site manager and regularly follow the spreading-truck etc.

For your interest, paint chips not because it is soft, but because it is hard (to resist scratching). The thin and brittle surface cannot absorb the impact of a stone, so the paint chips off. Paint protection film is a soft vinyl skin attached to the surface - that doesn’t chip. Resprayed paint (i.e. paint applied in the aftermarket) tends to be softer than factory paint, so doesn’t chip as much, but scratches more easily. Also, thicker paint tends to create bigger chips. Chips in the factory paint are usually very small because the paint is thin.

Anyway, your paint may have had a slightly faulty mix, making it very hard, or a pause in production meaning the primer layer had cured slightly more than optimal for adhesion of the paint. These are just guesses but I hope you get it resolved to your satisfaction.

-Alex

 

[Twinkletwinklelittlestar]

I had a Toyota iq in purple that did the same - chips all over the front mostly due to the council/highways investing in lose chipping. I honestly don’t think these dark cars chip more, it just with the white primer every chip shows up so much more. I made a point after that of buying a white 500 so the inevitable chips wouldn’t show up so much. Old cars (such as your moggie and my old Saab) have nice lead paint that’s as tough as old boots so nowhere near the chipping problems of these inferior but non-toxic modern paints.

 

[Nickgilbert]

That reminds me I had the extra coat they sell to protect the paint put on when I bought it. It's all a bit of a mess really.

 

[Nickgilbert]

Thanks for your replies. They will help me sound intelligent when I talk to Fiat about it.

I've just gone round and marked all the chips on photos. There are 66!

 

[jrkitching]

That reminds me I had the extra coat they sell to protect the paint put on when I bought it. It's all a bit of a mess really.

Those paint protection systems make zero difference to the paint's ability to resist stone chipping.



Fiats in general, and 500's in particular, are known for being prone to stone chipping, with the red colours being the worst. This issue has been periodically reported here basically since the car launched; if you search the forum you'll find lots of posts & threads about it.

 

[306maxi]

Thanks for your replies. They will help me sound intelligent when I talk to Fiat about it.

I've just gone round and marked all the chips on photos. There are 66!

what size chips are we talking about?

My 500 has hundreds if not thousands on the side panels. Being that it’s white and the primer is white, you don’t really see them. Now if you’ve got red paint and the primer is white, it’s a whole different story...

 

[Nickgilbert]

what size chips are we talking about?

My 500 has hundreds if not thousands on the side panels. Being that it’s white and the primer is white, you don’t really see them. Now if you’ve got red paint and the primer is white, it’s a whole different story...

I've looked at dozens of Fiats (and other cars) and cannot see chips like these. They vary from about 3mm to 10mm. They are very unsightly and you wouldn't want your car covered with these especially at 3 months old.

 

[chris3234]

I've looked at dozens of Fiats (and other cars) and cannot see chips like these. They vary from about 3mm to 10mm. They are very unsightly and you wouldn't want your car covered with these especially at 3 months old.

Agreed mines got maybe 15 chips on the cat 6 or them have likely been caused by people trapping the belt in the door
Then there's about 5 on the front of the car the rest are spread around

 

[306maxi]

I've looked at dozens of Fiats (and other cars) and cannot see chips like these. They vary from about 3mm to 10mm. They are very unsightly and you wouldn't want your car covered with these especially at 3 months old.

That is bad. Most of mine are smaller than 1mm

 

[gar074]

I've looked at dozens of Fiats (and other cars) and cannot see chips like these. They vary from about 3mm to 10mm.

That's not a chip, it's a crater.

Something very wrong here.