| tfrain |
I've posted on here before about some of the small issues with my pilot. I bought the truck expecting I might get some of the problems mentioned and I got a few, but they are not too bad.
That being said, the paint swirl on the hood bugs me. You can clearly see that it was done with a polisher because one part is circular, and then there are these lines that you can see reflecting through the clearcoat. You can only see it under artificial light, such as in my garage or under lights at the gaspump. In addition, I have a pretty big paint defect in the door jamb by the hinge, back door passenger side. For this defect, the dealer (in St. Louis, MO) gave me an extra $250 off the truck for me to get it fixed myself.
I also have a small paint chip that was caused by the gas door having a little piece of the door bent out too much - it grabbed a little bit of the surround and chipped off a spot about 1/8 inch.
Here is the thing - I DO NOT want my hood repainted. I know it will look fine and they'll have someone do a good job, but I don't want to be without the car for that long, and just want to keep the factory paint on it so it will continue to match over time, is baked in, etc.
I would like to get the door jamb fixed, however, but don't know if my taking the $250 from the other dealer completely removed Honda's liability to fix that, or if it really covered in the warranty for the truck.
My questions for you folks are:
1. Do you think my local dealer (not the one I purchased from) would be willing to give me something in lieu of painting the hood? Say a cargo tray or all weather floormats? I would rather have that than a repainted hood. If not, do you think the dealer I purchased from would be willing to do that? I know honda has a budget for repaints and such, but wonder what they would do for me otherwise.
2. Do you think they will fix the door jamb paint under warranty even though I was given $250 for it?
Any opinions, comments, questions are appreciated! |
|
|
| dragoncoach |
| How long have you owned it? Swirls can usually be buffed out. If the Pilot is older than a few months, the dealer may buff it out free of charge but he isn't obligated to. Buffing is usually an easy and quick. As for the door jam, you accepted the money in lieu of them fixing it. So I think you may be out of luck with that request. Who knows, give it a try. Some dealers are more customer oriented than others. |
|
|
| Luwin1026 |
quote:
Originally posted by tfrain
My questions for you folks are:
1. Do you think my local dealer (not the one I purchased from) would be willing to give me something in lieu of painting the hood? Say a cargo tray or all weather floormats? I would rather have that than a repainted hood. If not, do you think the dealer I purchased from would be willing to do that? I know honda has a budget for repaints and such, but wonder what they would do for me otherwise.
2. Do you think they will fix the door jamb paint under warranty even though I was given $250 for it?
Any opinions, comments, questions are appreciated!
1) I think you will have a better chance with the dealer you originally purchased from as you have hopefully already established a relationship with them. With that being said, "freebies" or other goodies thrown in are usually something you ask for/negotiate at the time of sale. Not sure if you will have success using the hood swirl as leverage, but if it is your prerogative to try, then go for it.
2) If they had given you $250 off to fix it yourself, you can utilize that money and get it repaired if it's bothering you, or pocket it and live with it. You can try asking that it be fixed under warranty, as it probably wasn't noted that $250 off on your car deal is specifically in exchange for not being responsible to repairing that paint defect.
Sorry if these responses are not very definitive. A lot of the possible responses/actions taken is dependent on each individual dealer and oftentimes the relationship you have with the service department/sales advisor. |
|
|
| tfrain |
I've owned the car for about 2 months. The swirls are actually under the clearcoat. You can tell by the way they refract through the clearcoat. The circular area is clearly a little bit different color in that area - the clearcoat is perfect.
It isn't a huge deal, but I'll admit, it does kind of annoy me - I expect this from a domestic, but not from Honda. It's what I get for buying an american built foreign vehicle.
I was just hoping to get some feedback from someone who may have done something similiar.
Problem is that the dealer I bought from is 250 miles away (only ones that had color/model I wanted). I may call the salesman or sales manager and see what they'll do, but I will probably talk to the service manager at my local dealer when I go to have the paint chip near the gas door fixed as that should fall under warranty as faulty assembly caused it.
I may see if they will at least have my clearbra installed. I have the bra - maybe they'll pony up to have it put on for me in lieu of repainting the hood. It would seem to me that that would be cheaper for them. |
|
|
| jl_ss |
quote:
Originally posted by tfrain
It isn't a huge deal, but I'll admit, it does kind of annoy me - I expect this from a domestic, but not from Honda. It's what I get for buying an american built foreign vehicle.
Honda has a history of lousy paint quality - especially silver. My Chevy has a better paint job than our Pilot. But even our MDX paint quality was poor with numerous defects. You would expect that their "luxury" division would have even better paint quality - but it is about the same. People put up with it in return for reliability. |
|
|
| kuota |
quote:
Originally posted by tfrain
I've owned the car for about 2 months. The swirls are actually under the clearcoat. You can tell by the way they refract through the clearcoat. The circular area is clearly a little bit different color in that area - the clearcoat is perfect.
I am curious to see a picture of the swirl mark you have on the hood as this is the first time I've heard of a swirl mark under the clearcoat.
I suggest not to bring it back to the dealer for swirl removal as it may exacerbate the problem. They will try to use a rotary to buff when you can use a dual-action polisher combined with the right DACP polish to safely remove the swirl mark. I suggest that you search for a reputable detailer in your area to check the defect.
I recently detailed my 06 Nighthawk Pearl Black Pilot and was able to remove Dealer-installed swirls marks. ;) I will try to post a picture of the before and after shots. |
|
|
| tfrain |
quote:
Originally posted by kuota
I am curious to see a picture of the swirl mark you have on the hood as this is the first time I've heard of a swirl mark under the clearcoat.
I suggest not to bring it back to the dealer for swirl removal as it may exacerbate the problem. They will try to use a rotary to buff when you can use a dual-action polisher combined with the right DACP polish to safely remove the swirl mark. I suggest that you search for a reputable detailer in your area to check the defect.
I recently detailed my 06 Nighthawk Pearl Black Pilot and was able to remove Dealer-installed swirls marks. ;) I will try to post a picture of the before and after shots.
I'll try and get a picture of it. |
|
|
| ThePilotster |
Below is a link & quote from what happened to me last year... many folks have the paint problem.. they repainted mine w/ lifetime warranty.
http://www.hondapilot.org/forums/sh...&threadid=15401
quote:
Originally posted by ThePilotster
Picked up a new Pilot 2 days ago. When it's outside, everything looks great! Get it in the parking garage at work today and the difference in lighting reveals the hood looks like a no talent kid with a buffer, went wild on 2 areas of the hood. Brought it to the dealer, and they found that it's well under the clear coat and is a factory defect.
They said they will repaint it...
I'm not overly joyed with this as re painting is never the same as factory paint. I asked for a new hood from another car & they said they can't, as they have vin numbers on them.
Then I ask for a new car, and the dealer says this matter is between me and Honda:rolleyes:
What should I do? anyone else have issues like this. I know that they can paint it and make it look great, but it's never the same .. I have in the past traded cars that have been damaged!
I paid for a new vehicle, not one that's been (partially) re painted.
Any suggestions from others that may have had similar issues would be appreciated....Thanks!
|
|
|
| tfrain |
Yeah, I was the last post on that thread -
I'm just really leery of them repainting it. I'd rather have them put on my clearbra. I'm going to see if they'll do that instead. I would think that would be cheaper.
Can you even tell the difference in your paint? |
|
|
| jl_ss |
quote:
Originally posted by tfrain
Yeah, I was the last post on that thread -
I'm just really leery of them repainting it. I'd rather have them put on my clearbra. I'm going to see if they'll do that instead. I would think that would be cheaper.
Can you even tell the difference in your paint?
The key is the body shop. With a good body shop, it'll be very hard to tell any repairs were done - with a lousy one it will be very obvious. Honda will be paying for any repainting, not the dealer - you are not required to use a shop that the dealer refers you to. Our local Honda dealer uses one of the best body shops around and I wouldn't hesitate to use them. On the other hand, the dealer we bought from in CT, referred people to the cheapest place possible to minimize cost for Honda. If you decide to have it repainted, then do the legwork yourself to find the best body shop in the area.
I had a discussion with our local Acura rep about paint problems with our MDX and she said that Honda/Acura knows they don't have the best paint quality and they have a huge budget for after sales repainting to make up for it. Obviously they have decided that it is cheaper to fix the problems after sales rather than improve the quality for the paint line/process. |
|
|
|
