Peeling Clearcoat

[Järppä]

I just send picture's of my car to BMW.
Lets see what they say but i will assume that BMW say we won't repair it on guarantee, BMW has poorest customer service.

I have lacquer problems in front bumper, sideskirts, mirrors, door handels. You can see similarity? plastic parts

And what Dackelone says that BMW paint does not do that does not hold good.
Bumpers are painted subcontract what i have heard but allmost every manufacturer does this. Plastic parts are painted different place than car paint surface. You can see color difference in metal and plastic.

BMW lacquer is hard. I think that lacquer hardness causes this in plastic surface or after paint there has been too long time before lacquer has been outspread so there is poor grip for lacquer.

Here is one picture of my lacquer problems.

[Gimlet]

I have a similar issue just infront of the intercooler on the front bumper. Going to schedule an appt. next time the regional mgr is in town -

[mackeroni]

Bought a new 1988 Pontiac Grand Prix. Hot ticket in its day...Motor Trend Top Ten, etc. Anyway, after one week of ownership during the first hand wash, I discovered masking tape and overspray at bottom inside of the passenger side door. The door had been seriously damaged during transit and repaired. After several unproductive converstions with the dealer and a factory rep, I sued the dealer, GM and Pontiac and won an out of court settlement for $5,000 which I split with the lawyer. Then I sold that POS and swore to never buy another GM product in my life.

Moral of the story... If a car is sold as NEW... it must not have been repaired between the time it was manufactured and the time you take delivery. If it is, you are eligible to receive damages.

[AudiKiller]

damn bro that really sucks, Id be so pissed if I woke up one morning and saw that, but its good that youre keeping calm about it. I really hope they cover it for you man Id hate to see you have to pay for someone elses mistake out of your pocket. Good Luck.

[Järppä]

Last week i got invitation from BMW distributor to come paint surface examination.

I was there today and have to say that it is not looking good to get this problem solved whit the BMW, inspector find fault stone ships he was looking and find those of course because in here you cant avoid them + dirt goes under lacquer and causes this lacquer surface peeling off what he says
Now they send pictures and paint surface information of my car to the factory, they let me know what BMW says about it.

[Bimmer-Bob]

Yeah, I have a feeling they're going to try to avoid taking responsibility for this.

Still waiting to hear back from the dealer. I'm taking the car in for a coolant flush next week so I'm going to ask about it again. I'll post back here when I hear anything.

[Gimlet]

I took mine in and got much of the same...has it been repainted (no). "...due to rock chips.." - which I find hard to believe as mine is actually on the horizontal surface just infront of the intercooler, below the bumper. "high-pressure car wash" - negative, I hand wash only.

The regional took pictures to send off and I am waiting to hear back (this was almost a week ago now). I'll call by end of week if I've heard nothing back.

For me, it's in a less noticable area, but I still see it and am pained by knowing it is there. If anything, I can slap some ///M strips in vinyl over the damaged area and be done with it...not ideal, but a cheap fix if BMW doesn't settle-up. Will keep you all posted.

UPDATE - heard from my SA late last week and I have an appointment to take the car in for repairs on Wed. They are using a local shop, and evidently covering this repair through the dealership, not thru BMW NA. Fingers crossed this comes out good -

[Gimlet]

Update which deserves a new post - got my car back today and it looks great! They obviously stripped and painted the whole thing...it's flawless now, erasing 33k miles of wear and tear.

Huge props to Jackie Cooper BMW in Edmond, OK for making this happen! Hopefully you others experience some good luck as well.

[doublevanosrc]

Great to hear!!

[Bimmer-Bob]

Nice.

I was just at the dealer yesterday and forgot to bug them about this. Damn.

[bmw1racer]

Just noticed this thread.

My current 1994 E36 started doing this about five years ago at the upper rear corner of the passenger side: The clearcoat has broken, exposing the color layer.

Now the trunk, roof, and both front fenders are showing similar signs, but the clearcoat hasn't broken to expose the colorcoat underneath. It's clearly obvious that the two layers are separating.

Oddly, the hood shows absolutely no sign of this... Weird.

[bmw1racer]

Pics of what I was describing above:

Rear corner:


Trunk:


Front fender:


At first I thought it was the fading until I realized it was the clearcoat separating from the colorcoat...

[Järppä]

Originally Posted by Järppä

Last week i got invitation from BMW distributor to come paint surface examination.

I was there today and have to say that it is not looking good to get this problem solved whit the BMW, inspector find fault stone ships he was looking and find those of course because in here you cant avoid them + dirt goes under lacquer and causes this lacquer surface peeling off what he says
Now they send pictures and paint surface information of my car to the factory, they let me know what BMW says about it.

NO guarantee

Fuck you BMW very poor buhuu

BMW says stone chips are reason for the laquer peeling off, very very hard to believe because painters says different.

I have to say that BMW has worst guarantee systems when car is outside of the factory guarantee and we are still talking about manufacturing fault.

[Gimlet]

Sorry to hear Jarppa. A good paint shop might be able to help out and blend those areas with airbrushing...

[Järppä]

Originally Posted by Gimlet

Sorry to hear Jarppa. A good paint shop might be able to help out and blend those areas with airbrushing...

Thanks
These my laquer problems needs new paint and new laquer. I did wish that airbrushing is my savior but no.
Paint list:
Front bumper
Rear bumper
Mirror's
Door handels
Both sideskirts
All most every plastic piece where is paint.

[Bimmer-Bob]

Well, I finally got an answer from BMW on this. The solution they came up with doesn't thrill me, but I don't think I'm going to get anywhere close to as good of a deal anywhere else, so I conceded.

The regional guy (whatever his job title is) decided to cover 1/3 of the cost of a respray, let the dealer pick up another 1/3, and finally leave me responsible with the last 1/3 (apparently because there are rock chips on the bumper as well). So the bill would end up being $133, which is much less than a body shop would charge me to do the work.

I'm kind of peeved that I'm out of pocket at all on this, but honestly with waiting so long to get a response from them, plus hearing about other folks being told they were totally SOL, I guess I feel like this is better than I was expecting. Anyway, I'm taking the car in next month for it's annual inspection, and the brake pads will be due to be changed, so I'll probably have them do everything at once.

[Diver]

Originally Posted by doublevanosrc

BMW was sued for something similar to this during the 1990s, I think they will stand up and do what is right which is to repair under the warranty.

This was a very famous court case that came out of Alabama. The Plaintiff had actual damages that were less than $50,000 and received punitive damages of $5,000,000. The punitive damages were overturned on appeal and it went all the way to the US Supreme Court that said punitive damages had to be in a reasonable ratio to actual damages, usually not more than about 3 times actual, but there is some leeway to go higher.

I would hold out for a new bumper because painting over what is there is going to be difficult. My bumper sustained a minor ding on the first day I had the car and I am afraid to get it fixed because the new paint might look worse than the tiny ding.

[BFD99]

That sucks man, BMW just repainted my front bumper due the my clearcoat peeling in a spot about the size of two quarters. I have 49,000 miles and my primary warranty has expired but I'm into the extended warranty right now.