Paint quailty

Well after 2 hours at Irvine Subaru debating with the Subaru regional manager I feel I may have to take it to the next level.

1. I dropped off my car on tuesday this week to have them address the excessivly dull paint job that my legacy got from the factory.

2. Picked up the car yesterday after it was wet sanded polished and waxed. It doesnt look any better. Service manager agreed it looks bad so he said lets meet with the regional manger tommorrow and he can make the next move.

3. Today I met with the regional manager and we compared my cars poor quality paint job to the other on the lot. Other than the white and the silver they all look bad to me.

So he goes on trying to tell me that people pay good money for cars with a flat finish. Like the prodrive acura at the SEMA show and the audi tt. I said "but I didnt pay 30k for a car with a dull finish" . He said maybe Subaru doesnt want the car to be glossy. WHAT!!!!! That makes no sense at all.

I have had 3 Subarus in the last 3 years. I love the cars and the customer service I have recieved over the years, but this line of BS was too much.

Subaru need to step up the quality if they want to keep me and my family as loyal customers.

I will be writing a formal letter to SOA informing them of the statements made by the regional manger along with my intentions of heading up a class action lawsuit If my needs are not met. I know after reading all of the complaints about poor quality paint that I will not be alone in this.

The only things that will resolve this is Subaru taking back the car and giving me the same car in silver or white (those are the only 2 colors that dont show the obvious poor paint quality) or refunding me the purchase price of the car.

I will keep you all posted

That's pretty dumb of him to try and make it out like it's cool. Good luck getting it resolved.

 

Reminds me of the service advisor at my subbie dealership. I showed him my trunk was sticking out a bit farther than the rear fender/tail lights. We even checked other cars on the lot and they were all lined up flush. He told me I could bring it in and have them adjust it, but he thought it looked better because the top of the trunk lined up against the rear window better.?.? So when I got home, I just adjusted the trunk myself.

Wow. I hope you get everything sorted out. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

Still no call from Subaru.

may be i'm missing something. Are you saying it's just your car that is dull compared ot other legacy's of the same color or are u saying that all colors (except silver and white) are poor?

 

I didnt think the black or red or atlantic were dull. The regal was kinda dull.

Now u are only complaining on the finish right or are you saying that the paint is too thin.

Cuz if thats the case i'm gonna double-time it on getting the 3m clear protection on my silver LGT

what color do u have again?

They all looked dull. Just the Silver and white dont show it as much. At Dusk is when you can see it the most. I have a garnet red sedan. It still looked bad even after the dealer wet sanded, polished and waxed the whole car. My biggest gripe is that no matter what I do to the finish of my car it will never look better than it is now. Very disappointing.

I put in another call to the dealer today. No word yet for SOA. As far as thin paint no chips yet after 6700 So Cal freeway miles.

I've got a complaint about the paint chips. I haven't driven anywhere that would cause more than usual debris in the way, but the front of my Legacy has more chips in 3 weeks than my Acura got in 5 years. The paint is incredibly fragile.

I've got a complaint about the paint chips. I haven't driven anywhere that would cause more than usual debris in the way, but the front of my Legacy has more chips in 3 weeks than my Acura got in 5 years. The paint is incredibly fragile.

 

Strange. If you check NASOIC there is not a single complaint about poor or soft paint. Everyone PRAISES the paint durability on the new Legacys.

The paint on my 2001 impreza 2.5rs was incredibly thin. You could see it just looking at a chip in the impreza compared to a chip in my S-10. Paint is the only thing Chevy can get right. I got a terrible door ding on my Impreza. I started to buff it out just with polishing compound and I started to get a thin spot! I heard that they use to paint cars thin because paint was more expensive in Japan. These are made in the USA though so I don't know what the excuse is now.

Maybe they aren't as nitpicky about paint as I am.

I have no problem with the thickness of the paint.

My problem is the poor quality of the finish. It is dull.

Ok, late new years resolution. I will NEVER, EVER , read warranty claims section again unless I have an actual complaint myself. NOTHING wrong with the gloss on my Black 05. I own a lexus GX470, traded in a BMW for the 05 GT, before that 2 Acura's and a host of others in the last 10 years, and the paint on the 05 is on par so far. EEK GAD...feel free to roast me since I won't be returning to this thread

So my car was wet sanded and polished. A month later I got a check for $1500 to keep me a loyal Subaru customer.

I guess I am pleased with the outcome.

Thanks SOA

I don't understand. When you bought the car was the paint dull to you? If so, you knew what you were getting into. Why didn't you just buy a white/silver? Something is missing, or I'm misunderstanding. From what I've read, I don't see why they would give you money to keep you happy.

I agree with joeyjojoe....was it dull when you pulled off the lot??? If it was why did you take delivery that way? SOA gave you the $1500 to pacify you. If it became signifantly more dull after delivery than there must obviously be a problem. From the Garnet Red cars I have seen they do not appear to be bright in color. I presume that is why they call it Garnet Red and not Torch Red or something along that line. If you want to get a shiny glossy finish try Zaino Bros. products.

No product you put on your paint is going to make it glossy if the paint is dull. If the paint was dull on your particular car then that is one thing. I don't think our paint is dull at all. Maybe a little more orange peel than I'd like, and its certianly softer than I'd like, but overall its par for paint.

My white satin pearl is very glossy. I work for a Mercedes Benz dealer. My paint is on par for all the new Benzes except the Maybach.

I had the car for a few months before I noticed the defects in the paint.

The 1500 was a gesture to a loyal customer. The issues with the paint were deeper than just the orangepeel. There was grinder marks deep in the metal on the rear pillars from removing the slag from the welding process. you can see the circles from the grinder under the paint.

I had a WRX wagon and an STI and the paint on both of them was amazing. I just wanted the same quality I had on may last 2 subies. I was pleased that SOA stepped up and took care of a loyal customer.

Personally I wouldn't have taken the $1500. That won't be enough to fix the problem. They should have offered a solution rather than buying you off.

AMEN to that...they are always trying to throw $$ around...

 

Personally I wouldn't have taken the $1500. That won't be enough to fix the problem. They should have offered a solution rather than buying you off.

I hate when someone tries to spin things with the, "It's better this way" approach. I had a garage built, and happened to be out of town the day they put it up (the slab had been down for a week). They built the mirror image of the garage we designed! The storage space was away from the house and the service door, meaning I would have to carry everything over my cars to store it! After the usual pinball game up to a somewhat-high-level-manager...

 

"It's better this way, you'll save money on paving the driveway."

"You pave the driveway and we'll call it even."

"That's redicuous."

"Then please fix it so it matches the plans."

"I've seen the plans, they could be interpreted in different ways."

"Only if you drew them from below, referenced my neighbors house, and confused North and South. And I think a small-claims court would agree."

"Wow! There's no need to make threats. You should have noticed the problem when they put in the slab, the lag bolts were in wrong for a whole week."

"OK, you're probably right. I'll only charge you $5,000 dollars (the balance left on the garage) for being the project manager."

"You can't do that!"

"If it's my fault, I must be on the payroll..."

 

The argument went on for week. They ended up doing a crappy job fixing it and I sent them part of the remaining balance along with a bill for every moment I spent on the phone, in the garage, and otherwise dealing with the problem. Totalled almost $2,000. They threatened to sue me for the difference, but when I had my "attorney" contact them, they left it alone. (Didn't mention that my "attorney" is my Mommy, who goes by her maiden name and hasn't practiced in years, but she is an attorney.)

 

Sorry for the off-topic rant, but it seems like this guy went to the same school of management as your Subie Regional Manager.

a solid paint job probably costs around 5g's

I agree with joeyjojoe....was it dull when you pulled off the lot??? If it was why did you take delivery that way? SOA gave you the $1500 to pacify you. If it became signifantly more dull after delivery than there must obviously be a problem. From the Garnet Red cars I have seen they do not appear to be bright in color. I presume that is why they call it Garnet Red and not Torch Red or something along that line. If you want to get a shiny glossy finish try Zaino Bros. products.

 

You are correct in your assesment of Garnet Red.

 

Mine is very dark (I wouldn't say dull) in non-direct sun conditions. However, when the sun is out, the metallic flakes really pick up, and it looks awesome. I call it "vein red" in low light conditions and "artery red" in the sun.

 

Rob

I have heard that on most sedans you can see weld/metal imperfections on rear pillar. I can see it faintly on my silver car.

5G for a paint job? good greif are you entering it into shows? I was quoted 10 for a truck but that IS a show truck and it has really bad rust on the firewall and places like that, these cars are immaculate so they shouldn't be that expensive!

 

I was actually searching for zaino so thats how I came across this thread.. as you can imagine I'm looking for zaino because I dont beleive my car is shiny enough, I went out and ran my hand across the paint.. its not smooth at all, like its never been waxed yet the water beads better than any car in the parking lots when it rains every single day here in the apparent NEW rainforests of georgia..

 

my paint doesn't look shiny to me either, cars white, I've seen a few guys here on the forum that have taken pics of theirs and they look great, but it could be camera angles putting more reflection on their paint than mine.

 

I just had the opportunity today, it stopped raining for about 4 hours so I was able to wash it take some pics and quickly garage it.. it was thundering for the hour or so that I was working on it. Let me know what you think, I've attached a picture, does this appear dull to you?

 

also if you could get some pics of your ride on here I'm sure people could help you a lot more.. but imo just from talking about it.. I would have taken the car to a professional paint/body shop a long time ago to get their opinion and used that as a talking point to my dealer.