# paint problem 2010 mazda 6, its too soft!!!



## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Hi all,
Im after some advice on a problem i have with my new(to me ) car.

I recently bought a 2010 "60plate" mazda 6 sport estate in stormy blue metallic on the recommendation of a friend and a very good test drive.

All is good with the car apart from one problem........ The paint work.

It seems the paint on the particualr colour is really soft and not up to standard.

the front end of the car, so bonnet , bumper and front wings are literally sandblasted with stonechips and marks. The rest of the car is covered in paint chips and marks. it seems the paint is really soft and just not good enough.

to put it into perspective the car I traded in for this car was an 06 vectra ( so 4 years older) and it was in much better condtion bodywork wise.

my friends mazda 6 is the same age but a "10 plate" but in white, put them side by side and you would swear my car is 7 or 8 years older.

I have tried to polish the car as best as i can but you simply have to brush lightly past it and the paint marks.

Do I have any recourse with mazda about this??

The paint is meant to last a cars life time but this will need a front end respray in a year or so??

pics..............


















































































what do you think??

thanks

steve


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## bigmc (Mar 22, 2010)

Not a chance of getting anywhere with mazda imo, you could try though. What about opti-coat 2 or opti guard to protect it a bit more??


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

bigmc said:


> Not a chance of getting anywhere with mazda imo, you could try though. What about opti-coat 2 or opti guard to protect it a bit more??


Do you think as its still under mazda warranty It would give me a bit more leverage??


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## bigmc (Mar 22, 2010)

Maybe, what does the paint/bodywork warranty say in the T&Cs?


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

bigmc said:


> Maybe, what does the paint/bodywork warranty say in the T&Cs?


doh ....

it says damage caused by stone chips etc is excluded from the warranty.

surely if compared to another mazda of the same age/mileage mine looks a lot worse shows there is a problem with this specific colour??


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

renton said:


> doh ....
> 
> it says damage caused by stone chips etc is excluded from the warranty.
> 
> surely if compared to another mazda of the same age/mileage mine looks a lot worse shows there is a problem with this specific colour??


Nothing wrong with the colour... the previous owner was a t1t that tailgated people...

:thumb:


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

The Cueball said:


> Nothing wrong with the colour... the previous owner was a t1t that tailgated people...
> 
> :thumb:


I wish that was true but having looked around the internet it seems a lot of folk are having problems with this colour !!

heres one for starters......

http://www.mazda6forums.co.uk/newforum/index.php?topic=907.0


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Are you sure you are picking more marks up, and NOT that they were already there but hidden and now they are becoming visable? It happens all the time. Perhaps get the front end sprayed and have some of the new generation clear sheild stuff fitted. An initial outlay yes, but solves the problem permanently


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

and another.......

http://www.mx-5.com/Forum/Room/Topic/?topicId=14491


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

stangalang said:


> Are you sure you are picking more marks up, and NOT that they were already there but hidden and now they are becoming visable? It happens all the time. Perhaps get the front end sprayed and have some of the new generation clear sheild stuff fitted. An initial outlay yes, but solves the problem permanently


I understand what you are saying but should it be acceptable to find this amount of chips on a 60 plate car.

And yes Im finding more and more all the time.


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

renton said:


> I wish that was true but having looked around the internet it seems a lot of folk are having problems with this colour !!
> 
> heres one for starters......
> 
> http://www.mazda6forums.co.uk/newforum/index.php?topic=907.0


Sorry, still don't buy it... :lol:

That link had like 3 people in it! 

Mazdas are poor quality... esp paint and alloys... my wheels were shot and it had rust on it as well (2004) but no stone chips, 'cause I don't tailgate.... I've never seen a car with a load of chips like that where the reason isn't driving to close to others....

Not saying you are wrong, just saying I have never seen that many chips and the paint to be the cause... 

Anyway, they can be dealt with quite quickly using this method:

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=217520

:thumb:


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

http://www.rx8club.com/trouble-shooting-95/paint-adhesion-problems-anyone-104927/


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## lobotomy (Jun 23, 2006)

I went to view a 59 Plate MAZDA6 Sport estate in the same colour recently. And yes, I found exactly the same thing. Every panel had a scuff of some sort. The front end looked sandblasted (_especially the parking sensors_). It really put me off.


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## ShiningScotsman (Jun 20, 2012)

As a bit of a Mazda fan I have had a few and the following things contribute to the condition of your car

1) The colour is lovely but shows up every little blemish
2) The shape of the front end of the 6 is vulnerable to pretty much anything that is thrown up from the road - very different to your vectra for instance
3) As mentioned Mazda paint especially the newer cars is notoriously soft and very easily damaged.

I would absolutely pursue Mazda given the age of the car...the paintwork comes with a 6 year guarantee.
Be prepared to make a lot of noise and be consistent and vigorous with your pursuit of a solution from the dealer because they will do everything they can not to take any responsibility.

I would do this and exhaust this avenue first before anything else - had something similar with a 59 plate MX5....took lots of calls and emails but after 3 months they fixed it.

Best of luck


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

ShiningScotsman said:


> As a bit of a Mazda fan I have had a few and the following things contribute to the condition of your car
> 
> 1) The colour is lovely but shows up every little blemish
> 2) The shape of the front end of the 6 is vulnerable to pretty much anything that is thrown up from the road - very different to your vectra for instance
> ...


Whats the best way to approach mazda then bud as in the warranty it says paintwork defects caused by stone chips are not covered??

its a lovely motor but the more i clean it the more i start to think ive made a mistake!!

I dont want to take it to the dealer I bought it from as they were next to useless with the prep of it !!

any hints and tips on how to approach mazda would be great!


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## renton (Nov 27, 2005)

Bumpy bump.

I dont want to go into mazda kicking and screaming so if anyone has had to deal with a dealer over a similar issue and can give me some pointers i would very much appreciate it !!:thumb:


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## ShiningScotsman (Jun 20, 2012)

Hi again Renton....if I had my time again I would approach things differently to get a speedier outcome as I had a similar problem with my Sisters Suzuki Swift with Reg Vardy so here is what I did.

Rather than spend all of the time and effort messing around with dealership managers and customer service who have basic rebuttals for this type of thing I would find out who the UK head of Mazda Customer Care is.

I found the name of the head of the UK customer service and a few associated names through making some phone calls. 
I drafted and email and sent it by letter to every name I could find at this level (5 people in total) one of them turned out to be the guys PA as well.

I made sure the letter was detailed and that they understood that I was not going to be fobbed off and reassured them at the end of the letter that if I did not get a satisfactory and timely outcome I would pursue this with fulll vigour through any course necessary until I was satisfied.

Now I know I sound like a bit of a Victor Meldrew there but in my experience these high ranking people dont have the time nor do they want the hassle of 1 customers gripe but they also cannot ignore it. 
They often pass it onto some one else to "make the unsatisfied customer go away" and in this case the PA contacted my sister directly - booked the car in for a bonnet respray - she got £100 of M&S vouchers and a sheepish apologetic call from the branch manager of where she bought the car.

Now it did take me some effort to locate the names but I sent the emails off at 2pm on a Friday afternoon and this was resolved and booked in by 5pm.

Not saying it works everytime but it did for me and taught me that my own 3 months of heartache with the dealer for my own car needent have been necessary if I had taken my complaint to someone who had the autonomy to get things done with one instruction.

My letter if I was in your case would be around feeling that the paintwork on the particular car is not up to an acceptable standard for the age and what you paid for the car etc etc....the warranty not covering paintchips is irrelevant if you go down the road of the fact that these chips were not made by you - came to your attention when you were up close and personal with the car and not enough effort has been taken by the dealer to take responsibility for the state of the product they sold you.......fair selling practices etc etc etc.....

Hope it helps


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## ShiningScotsman (Jun 20, 2012)

I have just done some quick searching for you and seem to have found the name and number for the Aftersales Director Mazda UK - I will attempt to PM it to you in a minute.

Just bear in mind that this data might not be bang up to date but I would still approach in writing after I made a call to make sure that htis is the right guy and if he is not then who is - at least its an "IN"

Elevate yourself above the dealership so you are not just another customer complaining about paintwork etc....


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## ShiningScotsman (Jun 20, 2012)

PM Sent - Best of luck


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## HEATH (Nov 2, 2011)

I can only speak from experience.... I had the same colour car but a volkswagon Jetta, this is not soft paint, its in fact hard paint which chips easier when hit with stones or other objects.

The maxda is prone to this type of impact due to the amount of paint work that is quite low at the front of the vehicle.

the colour does not help the situation, of course if it was Silver, it would be les noticeable of course.

I had use of a porche, which had only done 19K motorway miles, and of course the front of these things due to the design are prone to this type of damage also.

Porche main dealer in Bolton, have re sprayed the front of every second hand one sold from their dealership for this reason, this is also explained to the customers with digital photos taken so it is evident the reason for the re spray.

Shape of car, colour, and to be honest quality paint work, not soft as you have been advised.

in the end i could not cope with the VW and sold it purely for that reason...


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