Hi guys i hope i will found more of case related to our problem here
A bunch of us got together because we have the same damage on ours cars from rock chips.
Our vehicles are old from a month to several months,and every each one of them has exact damage on paint from rock chip or something else.
I onwed and drove several vehicles before and none have had so much damage even after 5 years of use.
Paint job on M3 is too soft and tends to even the smallest damage.
Of course Mazda can not guarantee and considers that it is our fault.
I'll repeat I have several vehicles and neither have damage on the paint like Mazda,my vhicles are old between 2 to 10 years and none of them has these type of damage on the paint, and my Mazda does not have 6 months.
To me this is not normal.
Those look pretty bad. My 14' S touring which is 1 yr old and has 15,000 miles has small chips on the bumper and the hood but nothing like that and certainly no bare metal showing. I follow the 2 sec rule when driving behind other vehicles guess that helped. My windshield has more damage than the body paint though.
Those do look pretty bad. I've had my mz3 since October 2013 and only have a few tiny chips. I actually thought it held up pretty well because I ran over some metal object on the freeway which shredded the driver side wheel well liner and scraped the front bumper a bit to where you can see the black. I don't follow cars too closely but there are times where I'm driving behind a truck carrying rocks or sand or whatever, I can hear it hitting my car and surprisingly it didn't mess up the paint when I went to check afterwards.
My previous car was a 2009 pontiac vibe gt, bought new as well. It's gotten so many rock chips it sometimes get caught on those microfiber towels or whatever I use to wipe the car. The car was black and the bumper underneath was also black so it wasn't too noticeable except for the hood where you can see metal. Car before that was a white 2002 maxima and it's got its fair share of chips, same with my honda.
That's why I can't say for sure how bad the paint on the mz3 is since I don't usually get hit by the same kind of road debris for each of my cars. As with any cars, there's always going to be some that'll get more dings than others. I see this on most forums I'm on. It's just something out of our control. Best thing to do is to get a clear bra first thing after purchasing the car.
Once something got stock on a car on lower part of rear fender. I decided not to bend just with a tip of my shoe very gently un-stick it, guess what? A clear coat scratch 2". Next example, I tried to open hood after washing a car with wipers up, very lightly touched wiper, guess what? A paint chipped to bare metal. There is no clear coat scratch, there is no prime under, just bare metal! Yes, the paint is very, very x 10 thin.
Mines a Mexico salamanca plant vehicle and I've owned it for about 6 months now, I had ice splashed from stupid driver's decided to drive through puddles in the winter, 3 inch thick sheets of ice surrounding my car that I had to peel away, etc. and it still is not as bad as your guys' cars. I also baby it, and drive pretty far behind others so, that may be why.
yes all cars are from japan,and we are from Europe, Croatia
For now this is how we stand:
Two white color
One snowflake mika
Two soul red
One dark blue
One Black
our number is growing with the owners that have this problem.
I have pay this car 36$k and i normaly expect that paint job will be superb for this price... guess not
Mine is made in Mexico and it has lots of rock chips on the hood and front bumper as well. Owned this car for a bit more 6 months now. I drive mostly highway.
Those chips and damages don't look like normal damages from rock chips. Normal wear and tear should leave tiny chips and not take chunks of your paint job off the bumper. If I were you, I'd definitely let the dealership know about it. If they don't they any responsibility or actions, then I'd try Mazda corporate. If all fails, I'd just suck it up for a repray and clear bra everything to prevent it from happening again.
we allready try mazda croatia and mazda euorope. they say that we dont know how to drive and that we drive to close to other car.
we say that the quality of paint is faulty and they deny it.
our goal know is to go with the bad reputation over the media.
I had arranged with out nation tv station to make reportage of this case.
so we can warn the future owners about this so they lose on sale as much as they can...
Mine was made in Japan and mine is bad too. A lot on front bumper and hood, a few on the sides and roof. I have had mine since March 2014. Lots of highway miles for work. Have to say though that it happened within a few months of having it.
I managed to get a chip in my lower door panel in the first week of ownership. So I had a ceramic coating added to the car as well as a clear bra. No new chips since then.
I thought I was the only one, glad to hear I am not. I bought my titanium color Mazda in January, waxed it 2 weeks ago and noticed several chips on the front bumper. This is my 7th car, I have had 3 Mitsubishi's that were known for terrible paint and clear coats, and they were not as bad as the chips I am getting now.
Has anyone measured the thichness of the paint with a paint thickness gauge. Surely that will tell you if it is thin or not . I've read about them on car detailing forums.
From what I understand that's fairly thick? I've watched several NYC AMMO videos on youtube and some of the vehicles he's wet sanding are down to 40-45 already.
I think in the 70+ especially 80 we're good, no?
My guess, is if the paint is that thick the undercoat they used to adhere the paint to the metal is complete crap
Guys is it possible that you in the United States can do some kind of group claim for the paint.
Because here at Mazda they say that they dont have a lot of complaints in the world and that we are the first, so please if you do this they will have to do somthing about that...
U can freely put more picture in this thred of your paint chip...
Thaks guys for support
I've complained about a bunch of stuff with my car, frankly I'm more upset about how bad some of the plastics are on the interior of the car. They're so soft I've managed to scratch with my fingernail.
Rant aside I have been slathering the fuck out of my car with turtle wax ice sealent and the rock chips have subsided for now.
I don't know if this is helping or not but it certainly couldn't hurt to seal the shit out of the front end with something
I afraid what can they offer is a free oil change for a trouble caused :frown2:
And regarding thickness, I don't know how good Forch is at reading thickness, but some cars get 50-150 in average (not very accurate numbers) and all depends on a panel. To my knowledge some gauges might end up in
(c. A.G.)
In our case thickness might meet certain standards but the quality of paint is below average which is obvious.
I am wondering if some paint are more fragile than other.
I have the titanium (brown) one.
Twice paint job for rust under warranty.
The varnish since very fragile, and I noticed a lot of chip on the drive and front passagers doors.
Is the quantity of paint is minimal to save weight? and $$$$?
Seems like they "cooked" something new to save on something, wherever it is on purpose to save on weight or money in conclusion the quality is very bad.
Also, not to forget to mention that metal is outrageously thin too.
I hope there is Mazda's Corporate Mole on this forum who will report to corporate office about an issue and let person who is responsible for a paint job and metal thickness "end up" respectfully:
The irritating thing about Mazda's tactics for trying to save weight is that in the end, it's not that much lighter than an equivalent Golf. And why the heck do the 18" wheels weigh 12kg a piece?!
My advice? Don't wax your car too often, cuz then that's when the paint quality really will piss you off.
I've got 20,000 miles on my 2014 and the front end is destroyed by tiny rock chips. There's a good reason for it though, there has been massive road work going on in my area and tiny rocks flying everywhere was unavoidable.
I honesty don't get bothered by it much. It's impossible to keep the front end rock chip free. If you drive on public roads, and park at Walmart, the car will get destroyed. Deal with it.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
2004 to 2020 Mazda 3 Forum and Mazdaspeed 3 Forums
619.2K posts
124.7K members
Since 2008
Come discuss all things Mazda 3 from the Mazda GT hatchback to Mazdaspeed, sedan and sport.