Interesting. My wife believes we have the same issue on our car. Our paint color is black. I haven't had a chance to wash it and take a close look into it yet. I will do so this weekend and post any observations here.
HELP: Significant paint defects upon delivery - Options?
I picked my Solterra in April, all smiles and happiness after many speed bumps like the rest of us pre-order folks. And then yet another punch in the gut when I pulled into my garage to admire the beautiful red paint and Solterra lines. There were at least 9 areas of very obvious paint defects!!!!!!!!!
I was first thinking these were hard water spots, yet they will not come off with a wash and all prior hard water spot I've had with prior cars always did. The round defects may be bird poop etching and I've had some of those in decades past. Regardless, the Subaru dealer and/or Subaru corporate really screwed up delivering me this car.
The Dealer of course offered to correct them via "clay bar" or other things like that. I have a huge concern since this echoes of my new 2015 Camry XLE with beautiful maroon paint. The Toyota dealer made a bunch of mistakes on my first service, so they offered to detail my car. Stupidly and reluctantly I said yes. My worst fears came true when I got it back with the entire car covered in rotary tool swirl marks. After several attempts to lie to me, the Toyota dealer offered to buff them out, but the rotary tool marks were just another thing they did to damage my car and I decided to quit before things got even worse.
OK, back to the Solterra. The Subaru dealer offered to correct the paint which is essentially taking off a thin layer of the clear coat.
1. What are your thoughts on paint correction?
2. Should I demand a ceramic coat afterwards to add back a level of paint protection after they remover clear coat? Also, what is the reality of ceramic coat since it is hard to get around all the 'advertisements'?
3. Any other advice?
BTW, I HATE this! I should have gotten a new Solterra without these very bad paint defects. I'm not one of those very picky people and this is beyond my ability to just live with.
![Automotive tail & brake light Land vehicle Vehicle Car Automotive lighting]()
![Automotive tail & brake light Land vehicle Vehicle Car Automotive lighting]()
![Vehicle Hood Automotive lighting Automotive design Car]()
![Automotive lighting Motor vehicle Hood Automotive design Orange]()
I was first thinking these were hard water spots, yet they will not come off with a wash and all prior hard water spot I've had with prior cars always did. The round defects may be bird poop etching and I've had some of those in decades past. Regardless, the Subaru dealer and/or Subaru corporate really screwed up delivering me this car.
The Dealer of course offered to correct them via "clay bar" or other things like that. I have a huge concern since this echoes of my new 2015 Camry XLE with beautiful maroon paint. The Toyota dealer made a bunch of mistakes on my first service, so they offered to detail my car. Stupidly and reluctantly I said yes. My worst fears came true when I got it back with the entire car covered in rotary tool swirl marks. After several attempts to lie to me, the Toyota dealer offered to buff them out, but the rotary tool marks were just another thing they did to damage my car and I decided to quit before things got even worse.
OK, back to the Solterra. The Subaru dealer offered to correct the paint which is essentially taking off a thin layer of the clear coat.
1. What are your thoughts on paint correction?
2. Should I demand a ceramic coat afterwards to add back a level of paint protection after they remover clear coat? Also, what is the reality of ceramic coat since it is hard to get around all the 'advertisements'?
3. Any other advice?
BTW, I HATE this! I should have gotten a new Solterra without these very bad paint defects. I'm not one of those very picky people and this is beyond my ability to just live with.
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I washed it for the first time last night during a rainstorm (yes strange to do, but the water won't dry and leave hard water spots here in Arizona). This morning I looked at in detail in the sun. Oh my are there a bunch of salt or hard water etchings. I strongly believe it happened during transit since there is a clear etching vs no etching line on the front fenders where they put that white plastic.
If you zoom in on the spots, you can clearly see the line to the left of the sun reflection.
![Tire Wheel Car Vehicle Automotive tire]()
If you zoom in on the spots, you can clearly see the line to the left of the sun reflection.
Fellow Solterra owners, I'm totally floored that Subaru would allow any Solterra to be delivered with defective paint this bad. I sent my dealer a more detailed description than I wrote here, so I'll let the Forum know that the etchings are all over most horizontal surface except the hood and glass roof. But of course the hood has multiple bird poop etchings.
I totally feel duped since there is no way the dealer could have missed these defects during their delivery inspection. I bet they were hoping I would not notice, but I did after I tried to admire my Solterra baby in the garage. It also feel that I am making all the sacrifices to make the paint right with the dealer offering to 'wet sand' the clear coat. I requested the dealer apply a good-will ceramic coating to increase the paint protection to at least what it should have been at delivery. Still no answer after only 12 hours. I want to handle this in an amicable way, though I kind of thinking I should start going on the offensive.
Earlier, I did get a case number opened via Subaru Corporate. This is very crappy of Subaru and the dealer. A super bad new car honeymoon.
Attachments
@grandizer52 took a lot of photos of Solterras in the Japan port. I tried to link the Forum topic below, so hopefully it worked. I'm glad you mentioned that since I was doubting myself about how those etching occurred. Now that I see the photos of where the film is applied, I am absolutely certain the etchings occurred during transit since all but one of the etchings are on the areas not covered by the white film. I can even see a distinct line of etching vs no etching on the small part of the metal hood that is not covered by the film. Even that triangular shaped film toward the mirror clearly shows no etching.
Thank you @n6nl since I believe you provided the smoking gun!
www.solterraforum.com
![Wheel Car Vehicle Tire Sky]()
Thank you @n6nl since I believe you provided the smoking gun!
Watching the Fleet Depart
Aloha, and greetings Pilots, Steve Here in Yokosuka japan. I work here and every AM I see the huge fleet of Left hand drives departing for new homes in the US. I really want to like the car, but has a few short comings as far as range and charge speed, add to CCS vs Chademo (here) I currently...
www.solterraforum.com
I don't have a photo of my car before the white film came off, but I do have this show from right after it came off. The dirt is from transporting in the Midwest in winter. I have not noticed any paint issues.
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