Those of you that have gotten your hood repainted under warranty, can you help me out? How did you go about it?

Details: We had an '03 Evo that was red, but the history of the car wasn't well known. The hood on that one was trashed as well, but the VIN on the hood didn't match the car so I figured who knows what that hood had been through. It was a good solid car, but for many reasons we decided to sell it.

We then bought a '06 MR, again red. I figured since we will have owned the car since new, it will be good to know the history. I hoped for the best on the paint, figuring Mitsu must have figured out how to paint aluminum by now. Well I should have figured that wouldn't be the case. At 6k miles, the hood is worse than our '03 was with 30k miles. Now with 12k miles, it looks absoutely horrible. Here's a 35k car that looks like it's been sandblasted. Mostly this is on the hood, although there's a chip or two on the front fenders, one on one of the doors etc.

So I run up to the local dealership figuring this would be a slam dunk. Pull in, a young guy walks up and I tell him the details. He says "these are rock chips". I was like, okay, but don't you think it's odd that a 12k mile car has 200 rock chips on the hood? Well then he says, "It must be from bugs, when you clean them off you are taking the paint." I can see where this is going. So I said something like "so you're telling me it's normal for a $35k car to look like this at 12k miles" My Focus SVT with 90k on it has like 2 hood chips. He then asks me "Did you buy the paint protection? That's the first thing "THEY" will ask you". I'm not sure who "THEY" are, but I said No, I didn't buy that worthless dealer profit option! As far as I know, I bought a complete car with a warranty, I didn't know I had to buy seperate "protections". If my engine goes out, are you going to ask me if I bought "engine protection"?

Good lord I hate companies that won't stand behind their products, and I know you have all heard it before. Sure, I can afford to have the hood repainted, but it's principal. Anyone have any suggestions how to get Mitsu to stand up to this one? Email? Letter?

Thanks
Robb

 

i work at jba collision center in md, we do all the warranty for faded paint/clear coat for jba mitsubishi, i believe there is a 5 year protection on paint and body. well thats what are dealer does. crack, peeling, and fading should be under warranty regardless of the rock chips. you would not believe the number of mitsubishis that come to my body shop for repaint lol mostly eclispes and once in a while will get clear coat crack on an evo wing.

Although your dealer could just say that bull**** because warranty work comes from their pockets for materials and labor. my advice to you is just find another dealer or shop.

good luck,
shawn

 

I have a 2004 RR Evo... And it is well on its path to looking like it is sandblasted as well. It really does suck and I do not know what to do either...

 

get it painted and get some 3M protective clear cover stuff.

 

its red i swear both my red evo's and my friends red evos just get pounded by air and the paint comes off

 

Clear bra or spray-on bra. Too late for those, though, obviously. I didn't know the extent of the paint issue before it happened to me - not as bad as yours, from the sound of it. You were aware of it. It's a shame you didn't take any precautions for your second go-around. I know I would've. I've even seen pics of cars that have masking tape covering the front of their cars for road trips and such.