22992

Well...I have what looks like a piece of dirt under my paint, and I'm in the early phases of this, but already getting the dealer runaround...."No way that could happen at the factory" "Maybe purchasing dealer will do a goodwill repair" "not covered under warranty" etc. I can say that I 100% believe this is a factory defect, as there are no other signs of a repair in the area done at port or at the dealer. The paint is very uniform around the defect. I know it's rare, but has anyone else had a paint defect? Usually when this happens to my cars I use the nuclear approach. BBB Complaints for all dealers, Request an investigation by the Ohio attorney general consumer protection agency, File for arbitration. get an attorney and blast the manufacturer on every social media platform I can find to anyone who will listen....but this is Porsche, I really like the car, and I really don't want to burn the bridge unless I absolutely need to. Any advice for how to get the dealer to swing my way without doing irreparable harm to my dealer relationships?

Jimmy-D

Post some pictures. Hard to understand what the defect looks like by imagining

jk96

When I bought my 2012 Cayenne, I realized that there were numerical marking on the hood in the 4 corners. The dealer tried to wash off these numbers, but it became evident that they were under the paint. They repainted the hood under warranty and gave me no problems.

22992

My camera doesn't pick it up. Not sure if that's because of lighting or the metallic paint, but it disappears in photos. It looks like small raised bump, almost like a pimple a little larger than the tip of a pen. It is sticking above the surface. You can feel it as you move your finger across. I have a fair amount of experience with paint jobs from other projects, and it looks exactly like someone painted over some debris, There are no discernable defect "edges" like you would see after a touch up. What I'm really interested in is seeing if others had had any paint issues and how they go about getting it fixed.

JiminyGl!ck

You must be a lot of fun at parties.

22992

lol...for the record I would much prefer people and companies to voluntarily live up to their obligations....I just haven't had many dealers do that. Really hoping to not have to go that route here.

rhr992c4s

It definitely happens. I have a dust nib in driver side rear quarter. It is easier to spot in indoor garage light , not very visible in sunlight. I think repainting it would have been worse, so I chose to live with it. At no time did the dealer say it couldn’t happen at the factory, they agreed it was a factory defect. A paint meter will be able to tell you if the panel was repainted, and if it wasn’t repainted, then factory defect is the only explanation.

drcollie

While I'm pretty confident this didn't happen at the factory, vehicles from all importers get minor damage in shipment and most all carmakers have a Port of Entry repair facility that does minor fixes before going onto the Dealer. Rather than "going nuclear", which rarely works well, simply ask your dealer if your car had a Port of Entry Repair. They will have a record of it, and you may have had a minor repair on your vehicle. I have had this happen on a BMW M3 back in 1995 myself. Then the question becomes "how bad is it?" Sure they will fix it. And they will buy the car back from you as well (good luck getting another). You don't want too much paint on the car, it tends to chip when it gets to be more then 7 mils. If too thick, then it gets a full sand-down and back you go to a larger repaint area. Your first step is to get a paint thickness gauge and see what the thickness is in the area of the dirt. You don't say where this is located, however paint will be thicker on horizontal areas (hood, roof) than on the sides. Measure the paint near the dirt spec, then another place on the same surface and see what it is. If you are getting say 6 mil near the dirt spec, and 4 mil in a similar area, then you know its been repainted. From there, it gets to negotiations if it bugs you. Maybe you can get a couple of years free service, or a Porsche farkle, that sort of thing.

2/3's of your post is the retribution you intend to take. Man, you gotta chill out - that's no way to live.

22992

I understand I can be wrong and that it could be port repair, but thoughts on why a port repair would not be covered under the warranty? Because that is basically what they told me. Warranty won't cover it because it was a port repair, they know it was a port repair because Porsche has impeccable QA/QC. No joke, that's what they said.

rhr992c4s

I think it’s possible and probable it is a factory defect. Dust nibs happen, usually they are caught and corrected at factory with sanding and polishing clear coat. My car has a factory dust nib defect, paint meter says it wasn’t repainted. Why question if it is a port repair, get a detailer to put a meter on the paint, it will be obvious.

It should be covered by warranty if it bothers you, regardless of factory or port repair , but assuming you have factory paint … you may be better off leaving it alone.

drcollie

Well, its maybe not a warranty repair per se, but its most certainly a Quality Control New Car issue. It all comes down to negotiations. If if really bugs you, then Porsche NA is not (generally) going to crank you off on a simple fix like a spec of dirt. That's easy for them to fix, why upset a customer for a small fix? You may have to step it up beyond the Dealer and go to your area Porsche Field Rep, then make an appointment to meet him at the dealership and show him the flaw. It's pretty hard to deny you when you are standing in front of them, especially if you are chill but firm. I own a retail furniture store myself and I never deny a customer a minor fix / repair, if I'm selling them a $ 5,000 leather sofa and the rear leg has a chip in it, I can replace that for $ 20. Why even get everyone worked up over that, its bad business. That small dirt spec is small potatoes, just like that rear leg is to me.

When my BMW E36 M3 issue surfaced, it was because I had three deeper rock chips in the hood. I have a friend that owns a body shop and he said "that's not factory" and told me when there is too much thickness of paint in an area of the car, they tend to chip. So he pulled out a paint gauge and measured it and I had never seen a paint gauge up until then. Sure enough, there was an extra 3 mil of paint on the hood near the Roundel emblem. The local BMW dealer i bought it from sort of shrugged and said it was a POE Repair under $ 500 so they didn't have to disclose it, so I went to BMW NA. After all - it was their repair, not the dealer At that time (late 1995) the E36 M3 was the hottest car on the Market so they offered 1) to buy it back for price paid - I didn't want that because I could not get another 2) Full repaint of the hood from bare metal having my body shop do it 3) $ 1,000 rebate. I went for # 2 and it was done with no further drama.

Now I want to see this dirt spec in person...lol....It could possibly be wet-sanded out by someone who knows their craft well, depending on where it is located. 5,000 grit micro sandpaper can do amazing things. Good luck.

doug_999

Have you called Porsche NA? When my BMW dealer didn't listen (or Mini or Acura) - a quick call often got things in motion - and the dealer was never "upset". I've done it with defective windshields, fixes I shouldn't have had to pay for, oh and a new clutch Start with the mfg....

22992

I did end up getting Porsche NA Involved this afternoon after calling the servicing dealer back asking for clarification on the warranty parameters. At which point they denied my request for an appointment, saying it wasn’t needed and referred me to an independent Porsche certified auto body. They told me to treat the body shop as the Porsche dealer and the independent shop may be able to file the warranty claim. Sounded off to me, so I contacted Porsche NA. The dealer did agree to take another look at it off the books, but would not schedule an official appointment to get everything in the system and documented.

PHX

Did you order this car and just picked it up? Are you the first owner? Assuming you are and maybe you said so and I missed it.

Post a video of the booboo with you running a piece of paper over it and how it 'bumps' the paper. Where is it on the body?

Take it to the Porsche certified body shop as requested by the dealer and just chat and see what they say, it might bode well in your favor too.

I that's nonsense about the appointment run around. Are you working with your selling salesman or someone else?

22992

1st owner, 2022 with 1k miles. I bought the car at a dealer a little while away, as my local is small and does not get many allocations, so the dealer I’m working with is not the place I bought the car.

Defect is on the hood. Right in line with the top of the Porsche crest, between that and the drivers headlight. It’s small, but due to the location, very noticeable, but only at certain angles. If it were elsewhere I would probably let it go.

I think from here on out I’m going to take some
good advice from this thread, have my detail check the paint thickness, talk to the body shop and get Porsche NA involved. We’ll see how it goes. Thanks all.