I've had my MY00 (red mica) for about 4 months now and the amount of paint chips on the front spoiler and bonnet is in my opinion excessive.
In my last scoob MY98 (reddish blue) I did have a few stone chips but that car had done 36,000 and one track day.
I was just wondering if anybody had taken their cars back to the dealers with similar problems and what sort of responses they got.

Graham

 

dude..the responce that That I got was...'did you fly through a dust cloud?'
I had/have got vey small miniscule spec's all around the rounded corner's of my Front spoiler...And I do not know where they came from....But I do know that they appeared very recently even though the car had only been pottering around The city centre....so your guess is as good as mine??....any More responces from any one else would be grate....who knows it may be a faulty batch of paint....

 

I'm getting a 15k service done shortly ..

I'm gonna complain about the DBM paintwork .... had a stone chip guy have an afternoon at it and cleared them all but 2.5k later and it's just as bad again ... so yes I'm complaining ... If I get no joy I'll complain direct to Subaru UK.

For the record it now has more stone damage than the wifeys 8yr "round the clock" fiesta.... depressing really.

K

 

There are many reasons why this problem occurs.

Firstly like all modern cars, the Subaru comes out of the factory using water based paints. Whilst these give a good quality finish, and vastly reduce the amount of environmentally damaging gasses given off, they do have one major problem. They are "softer" than traditional paints, and are more prone to chipping. This is why older cars are less prone to the problem. Some colours (particlarly dark metallics), seem to be softer than other colours, or more prone to chipping.

Secondly, much of the frontal area of an Impreza is a vertical painted surface, unlike other cars which have vast expanses of black plastic, and angled valences. Any small stones which do hit the front of the car, have less chance of doing any damage if they bounce off at an angle.

Also, the average Impreza spends much of it's life travelling at higher speeds than other cars on the road. The higher the impact speed between gravel and painted surface, the more damage it will do.

Solutions:

1) Get the car lacquered or treated when new.
2) Buy some of the Armourfend stuff, and apply to susceptible areas (front bumper and leading edge of bonnet) to prevent the worst of the damage.
3) If your car is already damaged, get the parts re-sprayed. Expensive, and just as likely to happen again once you drive your car away.
4) Leave it as it is. As long as the chips aren't all the way through to the bare metal, no rust will set in (the front bumper is plastic anyway!). Use a coloured wax, or one of those crayons you can get from Halfords to hide 90% of the damage, so at least it isn't obvious. If you ever come to sell the car, you can alwys opt for option 3 to return the car to showroom condition.

Option 4 has the advantage of letting you enjoy the car, on the track, on country roads , driving as part of a group etc, without worrying about getting the odd stone chip at the front.

 

munna - the front of my car is the same as you have described on your car...

Kev - will you let me know how you get on.

John - Thanks for your advice/comments, you can take a look for yourself on the Tour D'Ecosse

Graham


[This message has been edited by moz.g (edited 12 August 2000).]

 

Hi moz, I have a MY2000 turbo in dark mica (blue) just done 6400 miles, I encounted a council lorry carring stone chippings for roads on a hump back bridge three months ago. 23 stone chips in one go, not a happy puppy. Claimed from council for a new respay front end and managed to get the cash from there insurance. However I'am reluctant to have it respayed, colour match etc, You shouldnt have to respay a 8 month old car with this sort of mileage. Just come back from a trip to Fort William (Scotland) great run but just more than doubled the stone chip count.
Graham[/B][/QUOTE]