Hammerfeind

I knew Lancer paint was crap, but my god I didn't know it would be this bad after 5600 miles!!!!! (Bear with my rant I need help with repairs) Pics included.

The paint is chipping on both sides of the car in the rear where the door meets the fender as well as on the side skirts. I first noticed it about 3 weeks ago when I washed my car to get the wintry grim and gunk of my car. So I did a little Googleing and find out this is an issue with 08-09 lancers. At this point I start to think maybe I should have done more googleing before I bought the car.
So 2 days later I take it to the dealer hoping that I would get lucky like some others have and they will take care of it. Well... my hopes are crushed to find out they pretty much don't give a **** and its not there problem. They take some pictures, send them to Mitsu, and a few days later I find out I'm **** out of luck. So I call Mitsu argue with my case Manager for about 35 min to no avail. Also he says this is the first he has heard about this issue, which has to be BS. The call ended with him saying he will call the dealer and find out if he can get me any "discounts" and him giving me a story about his Escalade which got a rock chip on the hood and his dealer wouldn't do anything about it. That story PISSED ME OFF!!! I proceeded to tell him that has nothing to do with a fault in the cars design, only bad luck. The damage to my car was done by normal paved roads, my car has never seen a gravel road. and has only been on snowy salted roads twice!! Its unacceptable for there to be that much damage after 6 months. After that he explains that they will not change there decision. We say are goodbyes and thats that.

Well now that my rant is over (sorry I needed to get that off my chest) the dealer estimated the damage at $1100. Which I cannot afford right now because i just spent 18,000 on the car 6 months ago. Does anybody now a decent DIY way to repair?? Ive already ordered mud flaps from Rally Armour for further prevention. The minor chips shouldn't be that big of a problem with the kit from Drchip. What worries me is the deep chips down to the primer on the corner of the rear panel, I wouldn't think that kit would work very well on those.

Any suggestions??

Stuntfly02

I have to say that is horrible. I suggest you try and file some form of complaint with the BBB. They are able to get something done sometimes. If your car has truly never been on a gravel road and none of this damage is due to anything you have directly done to your paint, I suggest you maybe consult a lawyer. See what your options are and If needed take the dealership to court for violating their contract with you. The purchase agreement and warranty agreement is an actual contract, they may fail to realize this. However before you do all of this...try taking it to a different dealership and tell them the entire story. Some dealers are *******s some are not. You might get lucky.

L.Lancer1

im sorry to hear that but i too have the same problem. after the first winter my lancer went through with me i washed it every other two weeks to keep the salt an **** off it, then when it finally came to spring time i went to clean it again an i kinda just assumed the same crap u got on ur door an side skirt was just some tough dirt so i proceeded to clean it, it went away for about a second then i came back n it was there again, so i just assumed i cleaned it harder still did nothing i just forgot about it really but to hear someone else is having a problem like this pisses me off, like we just spent so much dam money an for what? well hope u can get somethin done. good luck

Hammerfeind

I read on another forum that Mitsu is not affiliated with the BBB. So it may be dead end, but Ill try anyway.

If anyone else has or is having the same issue I urge you to call Mitsu corporate and complain so we can get some sort of recall, due to the fact they don't even offer front mud flaps for the GTS so there is no form of from the factory preventative measure for this other than NOT DRIVING THE CAR. Its a flaw in the design of the car, where the rear door meets the fender the door is slightly lower than the fender causing every thing thrown up the side of the car to nail the corner of the fender or the side skirt. Add in the fact of sticky factory tires and it spells disaster. It needs to be addressed. It could simply be fixed by mud flaps or a better designed side skirt. Hell I would be happy with Mitsu just warning that without mudflaps your paint is going to look like ****, so at least the owner is aware of the possible problem.

Mav550

iTrader: (1)

I am currently going through my first winter with my GTS, and before I bought the car I heard mixed reports about the quality of the paint on the lancer. So don't worry, because if when I go to give my car a really good cleaning soon here, and I find the same thing has happened to me. I will personally fly with you to Japan so we can kick the s*** out of the Mitsu. Board lol.

Hammerfeind

I wont have the money to fly to Japan cause I have to take it up the bum with repair costs, lol

Mav550

iTrader: (1)

Hahahahaha. Well then we will do it Tommy Boy style and pretend to be flight attendants, and we will make sure the Mitsu. Board have to join in your agony of taking it up the tailpipe.

joseph k

iTrader: (29)

dont worry it only gets worse

phil@detailersdomain

iTrader: (17)

just about everyone of my cars have this, its part of driving the car.

all of them I'm clean detail take care of them and all cars have the rash over time.

Demon_ni2

iTrader: (15)

^ ya.. i gave up on trying to protect mine from chips.. its impossible to stop.. cars over 8 years old now and still looks great (from a distance)

1sik _evo8

iTrader: (2)

damn' its like getting a sore eyes everytime i see that everyday

vivroy

I bought my wicked white GTS a month back and after reading this types of story everywhere I have lost my good night sleep its 1 a.m in the morning and I am googling this paint issue.

Everybody has paint problem with Mitsubishi but none have a solution.Mitsubishi isnt doing anything.

I dont if I should be happy and enjoy my first new car or I should worry about this problem that yet to happen to me.

I dont know what to do.I hope I dont regret buying this car.

Vivroy.

brads09lancerGT

iTrader: (7)

My car has 13,000kms on it and I took it to my dealer the other day. The regional rep and I counted just over 120 rock chips on my hood, front and rear doors and side skirts. They are gonna fix it for me after I took it to 2 autobody shops and they both called the rep for me and told him how horrible of paint job it was. Just go into the dealer and set up a meeting with the rep and don't leave till they fix it for you. It also helped that I "raised" my voice in the showroom about the horrible paint with 5 or 6 diff customers looking at the cars.

phil@detailersdomain

iTrader: (17)

to prevent the chips from happening you can always invest in clear filming the front lights/hood/front bumper etc..

TRASHY_GTS

yes every car out there will have paint chips, but I don't know if you understand how bad the paint quality is on the 08+ lancers.

after a few months of owning my car I had the same problem like pictured about and tons of chips every where...including in areas that is very hard to get rock chips.

I call Mitsubishi Canada and filed a complaint over the paint and they sent out a rep and said it was from normal use. wtf????