So, why does Tesla have such a hard time painting cars?

[rainforest]

Just want to let everyone know that the body shop was able to polish flat every single dust nib that is in this photo. They are completely gone. Most didn't even reveal a dirt spec.

In case anybody else has this problem, it can be fixed. I had a few large ones as well, and they get amplified when you try to XPEL wrap over them.

 

[super20g]

Just want to let everyone know that the body shop was able to polish flat every single dust nib that is in this photo. They are completely gone. Most didn't even reveal a dirt spec.

Might not be a bad idea to run a paint meter over it to see how much clear coat you have left on that panel.

 

[rainforest]

Might not be a bad idea to run a paint meter over it to see how much clear coat you have left on that panel.

Not necessary. It was just a paint correction that many people do. And I’m wrapping it in XPEL anyway as I type this.

 

[super20g]

Not necessary. It was just a paint correction that many people do. And I’m wrapping it in XPEL anyway as I type this.

I assumed the dust nibs you had were raised, where a polish would not remove them and they would need to sand. When people remove material from a panel, it makes me wonder how much finish is left to work with in the future. But sounds like you are good with it and wrapping anyways so all is well for you. Glad it came out acceptable for you.

 

[Reid]

I've never been on a car forum where participants didn't complain about their vehicle manufacturer's poor paint process/quality.

 

[Stirfelt]

Reid - I owner a Prius and examined the forum daily from 2010 until I became interested in a Tesla (about 1 1/2 ears ago). I can never recall a complaint about poor paint.

 

[djgarrett21]

I wish I was smart enough to do that. At the time it didn't look that bad but after I washed it, I started seething

Same. I've got some very large buff marks on a number of panels that I didn't notice until I had washed the car a few times. Thing is, I don't think I could have caught them at time of purchase no matter how close I looked. The paint was covered in a nice layer of wax (it looked great) and detailed well. Large buff areas weren't visible until the wax had washed off.

 

[Shizzrock]

Reid - I owner a Prius and examined the forum daily from 2010 until I became interested in a Tesla (about 1 1/2 ears ago). I can never recall a complaint about poor paint.

Most forums will complain about "soft paint", not missing paint and fisheyes with dirt under the clearcoat lol

 

[Daniel in SD]

Reid - I owner a Prius and examined the forum daily from 2010 until I became interested in a Tesla (about 1 1/2 ears ago). I can never recall a complaint about poor paint.

Do a google search for "prius soft paint". haha. Or you can search for any manufacturer soft paint and find millions of hits.
But yeah, Tesla is on a whole other level in terms of paint problems.

 

[rainforest]

I assumed the dust nibs you had were raised, where a polish would not remove them and they would need to sand. When people remove material from a panel, it makes me wonder how much finish is left to work with in the future. But sounds like you are good with it and wrapping anyways so all is well for you. Glad it came out acceptable for you.

Yes they were sanded down. Sorry- I use polish and sand interchangeably.

In the future, my car might get totaled. I’ll worry about it then. Lol

 

[Reid]

Or "these crappy tree hugger eco water based paints suck compared to the old school oil-based paints".

 

[Stirfelt]

Or "these crappy tree hugger eco water based paints suck compared to the old school oil-based paints".

The paint chemistry MAY ... be some of the problem,
but that does not explain the voids .... where paint was not applied ....
or the streaks, bubbles, and other defects that are described by so many.

Paint defects SHOULD have been the absolute least of Tesla's assembly problems. The industry has been painting cars for well over a century.
Oh ya, it's pointed out that all cars have some paint issues.
Little console for the many owners on this and so many other threads.

 

[creativeguy]

Reid - I owner a Prius and examined the forum daily from 2010 until I became interested in a Tesla (about 1 1/2 ears ago). I can never recall a complaint about poor paint.

You can't compare Prius owners to Tesla owners. They have the same relationship as Andoid owners to iPhone owners. The same people who return countless iPhones for the tiniest issues are complaining about problems with the paint. I always buy metallic colors so even if there are imperfections, they don't bother me. Seems like white and red owners are screaming the most.

 

[dgo3]

I picked up my 103xx midnight silver last week, and after all the reports of problems, I spent a long time inspecting the paint at delivery. Coverage is perfect, and there weren't any obvious paint defects. I'm probably not the most picky about this, but a week later, I still haven't seen any problems. So maybe there's hope it's getting better...

 

[StellarRat]

Based on what I've read here so far. I think the biggest problems are caused by a dirty paint environment and improper prepping of the body to take paint. Dust nibs come from crap in the air and missing or deformed paint is usually from oil or something else on the surface you're trying to paint. At least that's been my experience with the little bit of painting I've had to do.

 

[StellarRat]

I picked up my 103xx midnight silver last week, and after all the reports of problems, I spent a long time inspecting the paint at delivery. Coverage is perfect, and there weren't any obvious paint defects. I'm probably not the most picky about this, but a week later, I still haven't seen any problems. So maybe there's hope it's getting better...

I found two tiny spots on my Midnight Silver paint. I didn't even notice them until I washed it for the first time. Because that's probably when you look at the paint with most attention. Anyway, honestly, I don't ever remember "inspecting" any car I've ever bought to that level for paint problems. Maybe they've all had some small imperfections and I never really noticed.

 

[zhu-]

I found two tiny spots on my Midnight Silver paint. I didn't even notice them until I washed it for the first time. Because that's probably when you look at the paint with most attention. Anyway, honestly, I don't ever remember "inspecting" any car I've ever bought to that level for paint problems. Maybe they've all had some small imperfections and I never really noticed.

I'm the same way. I had two leases before I bought my Model 3 and literally did not inspect anything on the cars. Just a walkaround to admire their beauty, signed some papers, and drove off. I probably would have done the exact same with the 3 but because of the stories and those checklists passed around of things to look for, I spent a few minutes more looking at my 3 and everything still looked fine to me - even the paint after hand washing.

I think because of the greater sense of community among Tesla owners, warnings have an exponential rippling effect. Both my previous cars, Mercedes C63 and C300, had problems much more severe than the vast majority of Model 3s I read about, but you very rarely hear about them on the news or even on the forums because there isn't an army of people hoping for Mercedes to die because they have nothing better to do or fear change. Tesla's mission and following can be a double-edged sword sometimes, but soon enough, they'll realize they're hoping against the inevitable.

 

[OCR1]

We took our car in for paint correction and ceramic coating. The owner of the shop pointed out all sorts of paint defects that I never noticed on delivery and probably never would have noticed if he hadn’t shown them to me. He was able to fix them before applying the ceramic coating and the car looks great.

One thing he did mention is that Tesla puts a heavy coating of wax on the cars prior to delivery to try and hide as many blemishes as possible. They have to strip it all off before they apply the ceramic coating so he suggested that in the future we ask them not to apply wax to the car prior to delivery. It will help to point out any paint blemishes and make it easier for them to correct them in the shop.