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I need to preface this by stating that I live in Central PA and the local municipalities use a BUTT LOAD of anti-skid during the winter... so that being said... I picked up my Macan in November and noticed throughout the winter what appeared to be severe stone chipping on the rocker panels and "blades". We have also noticed paint "bubbling" on the front fender where the hood meets the fenders. My detailer looked at the rocker panels and said it not like anything he's ever seen before... A local body shop scratched his head as well.. We're headed to the Porsche dealer on Saturday, it's a 2 hour drive from here... We don't have this issue with my wife's Panamera nor with any other vehicle we have ever owned... Someone mentioned that the "brine" they use might have damaged the paint.. But why not my wife's Panamera? Why just the Macan? Anyone have any thoughts?
I find the Macan paint VERY soft. My trickle charger cord left light scratches on the paint and I have used it on all of my cars for at least 10 years without any problems.
The recommendation for protecting your vehicle from rust damage is to do what you can to wash off that residue from road salt and brine shortly after each snow storm, or at least once a week during the winter months.
The mechanics and the car wash manager also say that getting a wax treatment is worth it as well.
We got mixed opinions about upgraded car wash packages that include an undercarriage wash. Hagen says the problem they see is that the underside of your vehicle just gets dirty again as soon as you drive out.
The bubbling sure makes me think you have some type of corrosion going on underneath the paint? Not good! This is Porsche's "cheap" car so it does make one wonder if corners were cut in corrosion inhibitors on the body. I hope not but time will tell with these cars. Post a picture.
No issues on my wife's Macan, it's white and been parked outside all winter long. I wash it when it is above freezing and that's just a pressure washer with snow foam to get the salt off.
I'm not a Porsche fan boy by any means cuz I'm new to the brand, but I get irritated when people claim that the company goes through all kinds of effort to make sure it's entry level car is built cheap. My background is quality. In quality, you learn from your mistakes and create a more and more robust process. As your process becomes more robust, you make less mistakes hence the savings. Having two different processes for rust prevention would result in bad products not only in the cheap sector but also in the expensive sector because of errors. Your best bet is to have one process that can be applied consistently and repeatedly without errors. Cars have a different life span not because of the build but because of the environments they live in and/or - I'm sorry to say - because of their owners. Plain and simple.
I'm not a Porsche fan boy by any means cuz I'm new to the brand, but I get irritated when people claim that the company goes through all kinds of effort to make sure it's entry level car is built cheap. My background is quality. In quality, you learn from your mistakes and create a more and more robust process. As your process becomes more robust, you make less mistakes hence the savings. Having two different processes for rust prevention would result in bad products not only in the cheap sector but also in the expensive sector because of errors. Your best bet is to have one process that can be applied consistently and repeatedly without errors. Cars have a different life span not because of the build but because of the environments they live in and/or - I'm sorry to say - because of their owners. Plain and simple.
Not just you. There are standards for quality and they definitely shouldn't vary per model basis. If there are quality issues, it should affect the entire brand (unless they were manufactured at different sites, methods, etc.).
Bottomline - Please don't associate Macan "issues" to "cheapest Porsche." Plus, Boxster is the cheapest model.
Here are a couple images of the issues… According to the body shop (and numerous other forums online) that looked at it, the hood rubs when you open and close it… Easy fix… The brine issue is something all together different. My wife has a 2014 Panamera 4, same color as the Macan and has NO issues with the brine… As far as washing it off after every storm, living in the northeast, It would get washed several times a day… IMHO, factory paint should have no issues dealing with something that numerous states use every winter…Puzzling… Even Porsche's "cheapest" car, as some of you put it, I would HOPE that any $90K automobile, euro or domestic, would not have these sort of issues. we have owned pretty much EVERY euro out there and have had ZERO problems with the brine… until now...
I'm not a Porsche fan boy by any means cuz I'm new to the brand, but I get irritated when people claim that the company goes through all kinds of effort to make sure it's entry level car is built cheap. My background is quality. In quality, you learn from your mistakes and create a more and more robust process. As your process becomes more robust, you make less mistakes hence the savings. Having two different processes for rust prevention would result in bad products not only in the cheap sector but also in the expensive sector because of errors. Your best bet is to have one process that can be applied consistently and repeatedly without errors. Cars have a different life span not because of the build but because of the environments they live in and/or - I'm sorry to say - because of their owners. Plain and simple.
Indeed. Anyone who thinks the "cheap" car is built to a lower quality spec has no idea about how streamlined mass manufacturing in the auto business works. These cars are built to equal quality codes, they have to be, otherwise the company is a mess.
Varying quality between models has to do with other things. O/P's issue is the first I've seen on any Macan board with paint issues. Individual models of all types will have unlucky aspects, unfortunately.
And the Macan is far from the "cheap" model as well. It's actually more expensive than the Boxster now (which is the same basic vehicle as the Cayman). And the Cayenne's were always about $5K cheaper than the Macan is now, to start, until this year when the Macan came out. So the Macan effectively has risen the "entry" price for Porsche, compared to the Cayenne previously.
Just an update. The paint chipping at the tops of the front fenders near the hood turned out to be a very common issue thus far on these critters. Hood adjustment! The rear corners of the hood rubbed on the fenders when it's was raised and lowered. Lovely! The other paint isdues appear to be caused by The car being driven thru wet concrete. Really? The testing in the substance turned out to be consultant with concrete. Odd. Who pours concrete in PA in December? PennDOT, that's who! So, lucky us, a top to bottom respray is now in order... Again... Lovely!
Just an update. The paint chipping at the tops of the front fenders near the hood turned out to be a very common issue thus far on these critters. Hood adjustment! The rear corners of the hood rubbed on the fenders when it's was raised and lowered. Lovely! The other paint isdues appear to be caused by The car being driven thru wet concrete. Really? The testing in the substance turned out to be consultant with concrete. Odd. Who pours concrete in PA in December? PennDOT, that's who! So, lucky us, a top to bottom respray is now in order... Again... Lovely!