paint warranty???

[woodsball_delight]

I'm curious, my side mirrors the paint seems to have no clearcoat left what so ever and are very dull compared to the rest of the car. Does Mazda cover any of this or am I on my own to make them not look like crap

[cwp_sedan]

If it's a defect, yes. If it's from wear and tear, you are SOL.

[woodsball_delight]

Yeah, I'm just not sure how its evaluated... both my side mirrors have this issue... the rest of the car is fine

[Cab0oze]

You could give it a try, but good luck.... getting paint covered under warranty is next to impossible with any car. My gf's yellow G5 has the same mirror issue, and ive seen hundreds of other cars too. Speaking of my gf's car, its a pontiac and the paint has a serious defect - if you so much as tap it with your fingernails itll flake off and just leave primer underneath. After a lot of fighting with various dealerships and many calls to GM customer service 1 year after purchase, the issue was never resolved =/

[bluemazda3]

You could give it a try, but good luck.... getting paint covered under warranty is next to impossible with any car. My gf's yellow G5 has the same mirror issue, and ive seen hundreds of other cars too. Speaking of my gf's car, its a pontiac and the paint has a serious defect - if you so much as tap it with your fingernails itll flake off and just leave primer underneath. After a lot of fighting with various dealerships and many calls to GM customer service 1 year after purchase, the issue was never resolved =/

thats just plain not right...

[zakman]

i have the same problem and the dealer told me its normal for the type of plastic they have on the mirrors. what ever, all i no is the paint is bad and the rest of the car is like new... i baby my car more then one should lol.

[woodsball_delight]

thats stupid... looks like absolute ass on my black mica.

[Thrizzl3]

attempt to paint them yourself?

[The Wolf]

CF mirrors. Done. :p

[Booter22]

if i remember correctly paint is covered for 3 years - perforation is covered for 5

[Fack_Dude]

Paint warranty....... forget paint warranty....tell mazda to stop using cheap paint........:complain:complain

[Booter22]

Paint warranty....... forget paint warranty....tell mazda to stop using cheap paint........:complain:complain

Mazda has really high paint quality believe it or not. they just dont have luck with the rust in the rear fenders. but then again a lot of the cars that are rusting are 4-6 years old. on my old focus which i had in 05 which was an 02 had rust on the lower front fenders and later grew to inside the rear doors and on the hatch like the rest of them.

honda civics are known for rust on the rear wheel wells as well, not that the paint quality on any of these 3 cars is poor when new. the fact that we use salt on our roads in the winter does not help at all and contributes to rust in every vehicle.

best thing to do is rust proof every year or every other year as the product states and cross your fingers.

One good thing i have learned along the years is you can not prevent rust. you can only hope to slow it down.

[amorak]

Mazda has really high paint quality believe it or not. they just dont have luck with the rust in the rear fenders. but then again a lot of the cars that are rusting are 4-6 years old. on my old focus which i had in 05 which was an 02 had rust on the lower front fenders and later grew to inside the rear doors and on the hatch like the rest of them.

honda civics are known for rust on the rear wheel wells as well, not that the paint quality on any of these 3 cars is poor when new. the fact that we use salt on our roads in the winter does not help at all and contributes to rust in every vehicle.

best thing to do is rust proof every year or every other year as the product states and cross your fingers.

One good thing i have learned along the years is you can not prevent rust. you can only hope to slow it down.

WTF are you talkin' about Willis - Mazda's metallic paint is regarded as the worst in the industry and there are many ongoing lawsuits against them, including one I will be filing, for the unacceptable quality of their paint.

[cwp_sedan]

WTF are you talkin' about Willis - Mazda's metallic paint is regarded as the worst in the industry and there are many ongoing lawsuits against them, including one I will be filing, for the unacceptable quality of their paint.

+1

If you talk to many detailers they will tell you that the paint on the 3 is very thin.

I have more stone chips on my car in 4 years than my old car had in 10!

[DualSoul]

^ Maybe it's such a high quality that they can't afford to use more of it...

[XTOTHEL]

It does seem like the case that Mazda 3s have very thin layer of paint. On our 6 year old Toyota, there are less chips than my 3 (it has chips on the hood, bumper, around a wheel well)

Also the chips on our Toyota are shaped like if the paint was eggshell (sharp edges, pointy). On my 3, the chips are almost like if you plasti-dipped something and that was scratched....maybe I should take some pictures lol.

[greaves82]

The paint on my 2004 Grand am never chipped as easy as the paint on my mazda3

[Fack_Dude]

WTF are you talkin' about Willis - Mazda's metallic paint is regarded as the worst in the industry and there are many ongoing lawsuits against them, including one I will be filing, for the unacceptable quality of their paint.

Same with the Cosmic Blue paint for the speed 3 is also shit.......

[pacmann33]

The paint on my old 2001 Impala LS 3.8 was MUCH better than the Mazda paint. Actually...the paint on ANY car my family and my GF's family owns is much better. Lucky for me I take very good care of my vehicle's paint. I shudder to think at how most people's gen 2 Mazda's will look in a few years. Most people are just terrible to their paint. I just wish my extra attention to detail with paint care lead to a car that looked better than it's age suggests, not on par.

[The Wolf]

I don't think it's the actual paint that's bad, just that Mazda skimped on the application. Mazda has some of the most vibrant, deep colours on vehicles today... it just is applied way too thin.

but then again, I'm no expert, I just know what I see.

[Takumi616]

I think we could all agree on this forum that mazda paint isn't the best! end of story..... :chuckle

[Cab0oze]

I don't think it's the actual paint that's bad, just that Mazda skimped on the application. Mazda has some of the most vibrant, deep colours on vehicles today... it just is applied way too thin.
I'd agree with that. I love the mazda colors... but hate that my 96 geo tracker looked better after 12 years than my mazda does after 2

[derekl]

Only had my car for a year. So many chips =/
Dunno how i got one on the roof.
But i do love how my CWP is in the sunlight =D

[XTOTHEL]

wonder if there's somewhere we can complain to to get the car repainted...

[Spectuning]

My 2004 is rusting bad - worse than my 1999 civic

[zzz3]

WTF are you talkin' about Willis - Mazda's metallic paint is regarded as the worst in the industry and there are many ongoing lawsuits against them, including one I will be filing, for the unacceptable quality of their paint.

+9000 its like water colour paint or something lol.

my 2010 chips so easily. when seche was wrapping my roof we noticed rust (4mm in diameter) near the front :s. i can't wait to see what other surprises are in store for me...

[FreshTHREE]

I'm curious, my side mirrors the paint seems to have no clearcoat left what so ever and are very dull compared to the rest of the car. Does Mazda cover any of this or am I on my own to make them not look like crap

The paint on your mirrors are fine. The reason why they look dull is because of speed. In high speeds, air becomes heavy and acts as sand paper. Over time, air cuts your clearcoat on your mirrors giving it that dull look. Same goes for your front bumper. Your front bumper, headlights, fog lights and mirrors are the the only parts of your car that gets hit the hardest. Which is the reason why headlights dull out and same as every otter part. I did the best I could to describe myself lol

Now as far as getting the shine up, I can do this or if you have pride in yourself then somehow get these products:

3M 2000 water sand paper, 3M 3000 trizac water discs, Farècla g3, g10. A good polisher ( I use the mokita one ) a wool pad, g mop sponge and a black finishing pad.

Instructions: water sand lightly with the 2000 grit ( with a lot of water. Never let it dry) then use the 3000 disc and sand off the 2000 grit scratches ( the more water you use, te easier it is so keep it wet). Then wipe off and polish the mirror with the g3 and wool pad. ( rpm should be no higher than 2k if your not used to usin this machine). Wipe off and throw on sponge pad with the same g3. Up the speed to 2.5k. Always moving and meet staying in one spot for longer than a second. If your unsure how much heat your generating then spray some water. If it's smoking, your generating too much heat. Let it cool off. Once the mirror is shined up, throw on the black pad and g10. Polish the mirror at 3k rpm. ( if your car is white or a light silver, you can skip this step. Once done, use a good wax, let it sit for about 5 mins and wipe off using a microfiber cloth. Your done. Not very good at tutorials but I hope this helps :)

[woodsball_delight]

The paint was not fine... The rest of my car is fine along with the front end. The paint is just shit and there is clearly issues with these cars.

I got my mirrors repainted for free along with my lip when i sent it in...

[sarujo]

27k km's on my 2010 (made April 2010) celestial blue and the chips are very disappointing considering this car was made in Japan! :( *shakes head* I clay and wax a couple times/year and try to avoid trucks on the hwy, but the numbers keep growing! I will likely pass on Mazda for my next car.


Only had my car for a year. So many chips =/
Dunno how i got one on the roof.
But i do love how my CWP is in the sunlight =D

[r4BBiT]

27k km's on my 2010 (made April 2010) celestial blue and the chips are very disappointing considering this car was made in Japan! :( *shakes head* I clay and wax a couple times/year and try to avoid trucks on the hwy, but the numbers keep growing! I will likely pass on Mazda for my next car.

same here, this is my first and last Mazda...the quality is just not there :\

[MTherrien]

I have the same issue with my 2010 Mazda 3 - bought in March 2010 in crystal white and i'm getting tons of stone chips everywhere - it's been really frustrating and i'm really disappointed. Drove a '97 civic, well, since '97 and it barely had any paint chips when it died on me.

[vinnierap]

^ Maybe it's such a high quality that they can't afford to use more of it...

lmao.....+1

[peterm15]

Washed my car today after only 2 weeks. ( I usually do a quick was every few days with a good one once a month) I must have found 50+ paint chips, mostly on the doors. There not small either. Most are the size of the end of a pen. There so noticeable I'm debating about getting a repaint rather than touch ups.
Thin paint is for sure, it will cost good money to fix.

[Coaster]

I have a 2004 GT that I've owned since new & yes it does have a lot of stone chips. It has more scrapes & dings from jerks in parking lots though. I not as peeved as I used to be though since I talked to the President of the company that I used to work for. He owned an Aston Martin DB9 and his main complaint was the "crappy" paint, he said it would chip if you breathed on it. So whether it costs 25K or 250K you can still get crappy paint. I just wish I could do what he did to solve it, he traded the Aston in for a Lambo

[mat_GTI-R]

I had the rear window removed and the hatch repainted due to a small rust spot bubbling up between the window and hatch..... impossible to reach and clearly rust starting from under the paint. All under waranty btw. Car is a 3 2010, approx. 25 000km

rustproofed twice already.... very disapointing :(

[aris]

I had the rear window removed and the hatch repainted due to a small rust spot bubbling up between the window and hatch..... impossible to reach and clearly rust starting from under the paint. All under waranty btw. Car is a 3 2010, approx. 25 000km

rustproofed twice already.... very disapointing :(

yikes even the 2010 are rusting..not good :(