I've read complaints on NASIOC for over a year and a half now about "cheep" Subaru paint. I didn't really understand what the deal was because I hadn't had any personal experience. But on Christmas Eve my lovely wife (of over 31 years, yes I'll keep her for a while longer) was in the garage getting an ice chest (large plastic kind) off the storage shelf beside my car. The shelf is about 6' in the air, and she dropped the chest on the left front fender of my car. It made a dent about 2.5" in diameter and 1/2" deep, but what made it REAL noticeable was the fact that it took off a chunk of paint about 1.5" wide. I mean it was right down to bare metal. There was no primer, sealant or anything, just bare metal that started rusting that day. The body shop I showed it too was kind of surprised too, but he still wanted to charge me $900.00 to fix it. :mad:

Makes you wonder if Subaru isn't in kahoots with the body repair guys. But back to my subject, if there are so many people complaining about the paint maybe it's something worthy of a class action law suit (CALS). I mean if the paint job is really defective, like NO primer coat, maybe we could get our cars painted properly. Has anyone heard anything about a CALS?

Great. Subaru owners will get useless Maaco coupons or some such non-value reward, plus higher prices on future cars, and some lawyers will get a great big paycheck.

--Dan
Mach V
FastWRX.com (www.fastwrx.com)

Are you stupid?

Seriously, a halfway decent lawyer would have this thrown out of court in minutes, and SOA's lawyers are a bit better than half-assed.

Your wife dropped a shelf on your car, deal with it.

Are you stupid?

Seriously, a halfway decent lawyer would have this thrown out of court in minutes, and SOA's lawyers are a bit better than half-assed.

Your wife dropped a shelf on your car, deal with it.

Perhaps if you'd read my post a little more carefully you wouldn't think I was so stupid. :rolleyes: If you had actually read my post, and you had better than third grade reading comprehension, you would see that she dropped an ice chest on the car.

I have read literally hundreds of posts complaining about Subaru paint, so if expecting a community of 100,000+ people to want to do something about defective paint makes me stupid, then I guess you've got me... :huh:

Did I mistakenly post this in OT? :rolleyes:

Perhaps if you'd read my post a little more carefully you wouldn't think I was so stupid. :rolleyes: If you had actually read my post, and you had better than third grade reading comprehension, you would see that she dropped an ice chest on the car.


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

yeah . lawsuit.

good luck with that :lol:

Are you stupid?

Seriously, a halfway decent lawyer would have this thrown out of court in minutes, and SOA's lawyers are a bit better than half-assed.

Your wife dropped a shelf on your car, deal with it.

Shelf, cooler whatever your wife damaged the car....

Did I mistakenly post this in OT? :rolleyes:

no, but its been covered a million times. should've bought a kia, dentless body panels FTW! you got a chance to look, feel, and admire the paint the first day you bought the car and should have realized that it sucked. this situation is the same thing as if you were to complain after getting a ticket for speeding. your wife damaged the car and you blame subaru for it? lol...

The cooler still shouldn't have taken the paint AND primer off; maybe the paint and a good dent but not 1.5" of primer missing!

I doubt that you'll be able to get anything going against Subaru. Folks around here may hate the paint but they are still Subaru aficionados.

Perhaps if you'd read my post a little more carefully you wouldn't think I was so stupid. :rolleyes: If you had actually read my post, and you had better than third grade reading comprehension, you would see that she dropped an ice chest on the car.

I have read literally hundreds of posts complaining about Subaru paint, so if expecting a community of 100,000+ people to want to do something about defective paint makes me stupid, then I guess you've got me... :huh:

Did I mistakenly post this in OT? :rolleyes:



Sorry, ice chest, thanks for making my point even stronger.

BTW it is spelled cheap, so I guess my third grade reading comprehension kicks the crap out of your second grade spelling :rolleyes:

Sorry, ice chest, thanks for making my point even stronger.

BTW it is spelled cheap, so I guess my third grade reading comprehension kicks the crap out of your second grade spelling :rolleyes:

:lol: ahahaaaa....

The cooler still shouldn't have taken the paint AND primer off; maybe the paint and a good dent but not 1.5" of primer missing!

I doubt that you'll be able to get anything going against Subaru. Folks around here may hate the paint but they are still Subaru aficionados.

Paint can only flex so far.

A 2.5 in by .5in deep dent is beyond that limit. At that point all the paint (inlcuding the primer) that is affected by the damage will come off. If the paint was defective then it would continue come off from areas that were not affected by the damage (IE poor adhesion of the paint to panel and the paint will peel or flake off from the damaged portion) I guarantee the OP's paint only flaking off from where it is dented.

Paint can only flex so far.

A 2.5 in by .5in deep dent is beyond that limit. At that point all the paint (inlcuding the primer) that is affected by the will come off. If the paint was defective then it would continue come off from areas that were not affected by the damage (IE poor adhesion of the paint to panel and the paint will peel or flake off from the damaged portion) I guarantee the OP's paint only flaking off from where it is dented.
Good point, lets see some pics.

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. My intention is not to sue Subaru to get them to pay for my wife dropping an ice chest on my car. The purpose of the post was to suggest that I now understand why people complain about Subaru paint jobs, and to propose the possibility of a Class Action Law Suit that would represent all Subaru owners (the Class) who have had to pay to have paint damage fixed because the paint is defective. A Class Action Law Suit provides the injured Class (Subaru owners) a means to recover losses due to a universally defective product (the paint). For instance if every Subaru owner who has had to have body work done, had to pay more to have it repaired because the paint is defective, then perhaps they as a Class should be able to recover some of that cost. Then Subaru would also have to improve their paint.

Or am I just wrong about how many people complain about their paint? Are all Subaru owners who complain about their paint just whiners?

And hondaslayer, I'd rather occasionally misspell a word than not be able to understand what I was reading... ;)

If an ice chest has a sharp/flat surface, I don't see why taking primer off is so ridiculous?

Try dropping a hammer on your other fender, see if you get the same result.

Unless the cheap paint somehow caused you some kind of damage, class action law suits are out of the question.

There are lots of "inferior" points in every product out there, to pick on something that does no harm at all won't make it into court.

C'mon... rocks hit the car at 60 mph, the paint chips off... simple physics. Now if it chipped and fell off while just sitting there, then maybe you got something... or if you can prove some kind of collusion between EVERY repair shop in the world and Subaru (which would then be criminal lol).

Sure the paint might not be the strongest, but it is also not a gross representation of what you're paying for.

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. My intention is not to sue Subaru to get them to pay for my wife dropping an ice chest on my car. The purpose of the post was to suggest that I now understand why people complain about Subaru paint jobs, and to propose the possibility of a Class Action Law Suit that would represent all Subaru owners (the Class) who have had to pay to have paint damage fixed because the paint is defective. A Class Action Law Suit provides the injured Class (Subaru owners) a means to recover losses due to a universally defective product (the paint). For instance if every Subaru owner who has had to have body work done, had to pay more to have it repaired because the paint is defective, then perhaps they as a Class should be able to recover some of that cost. Then Subaru would also have to improve their paint.

Or am I just wrong about how many people complain about their paint? Are all Subaru owners who complain about their paint just whiners?

And hondaslayer, I'd rather occasionally misspell a word than not be able to understand what I was reading... ;)

I don't know if you have ever been a beneficiary of a class action lawsuit, but typically when it is all said and done, assuming it is successful, the individual people are most often left with a very small compensation that does not begin to cover any losses they've incurred. When it comes down to it, class actions really only benefit the lawyers who bring the action.

As for the numbers of people who complain about their paint, you have to realize a couple of things. First of all, when you read any comments on this message board or others, you're only hearing the voices of a small minority of people. Subaru sells close to 200,000 vehicles per year in the U.S. Let's say you saw 200 complaints on here about "defective" paint, and let's further assume that all of those complaints covered a 3 model year period. What percent of approximately 600,000 vehicles is 200 vehicles? .03%. That's not a whole lot. Definitely not enough to warrant a class action suit. Second, this assumes that all 200 of those complaints are valid; most of them probably are not.

Suck ass paint though and everyone knows it. Comes off very easy and down to the body like he said. If you say your suby has awesome paint, you lie, or don't drive...hardly ever.

Class actions only benefit the lawyers. There is no benefit for us.

Contact me after I finish law school.

Suck ass paint though and everyone knows it. Comes off very easy and down to the body like he said. If you say your suby has awesome paint, you lie, or don't drive...hardly ever.

you don't even have too drive at all.... look at the car like this..:banana:and you see a new chip:lol:

They have to keep the car inexpensive somehow. Paint is the first thing I'd want them to go cheap on. In fact, I wish I could just get some sort of protective coating and pay a grand or two less...but really that is all the Subaru paint is.

You go through with this and watch prices go up. I'm not saying that Subaru couldn't eat the cost of making the paint better and still be profitable, but I also know that the 'big wigs' won't accept being paid less.

Domestics seem to have good paint compared with the cost of the car...but they are also crappy cars.

And hondaslayer, I'd rather occasionally misspell a word than not be able to understand what I was reading... ;)

You mis-spelled it twice, therefore it is not a simple typing error. Being married for 31 years you should be old enough to know how to spell "cheap"


Anyway, your wife damaged the car, man up and fix it!

hahahahaha class action lawsuit. good luck... :lol: :lol: :lol:

You mis-spelled it twice, therefore it is not a simple typing error. Being married for 31 years you should be old enough to know how to spell "cheap"


Anyway, your wife damaged the car, man up and fix it!

well damn, I initially thought he was a bird....


to the OP,
while you're feeling all litigious, I would go after the body shop who wants to charge you $900 to replace a fender which is prolly obtainable through subie-gal up there for maybe $200.. then another 100-200 to paint, and install..

otherwise, put up a want ad, I'm sure someone has a spare front fender laying around in your color they'd ship you for a couple hundred $$.. if not local..

As someone who raced Mazda's for years, I can tell you Subie paint isn't that bad... not good.. but not near as bad.. how many neon's have you seen with big bare spots all over them??

Domestics seem to have good paint compared with the cost of the car...but they are also crappy cars.

work at a car wash for a couple of months and then see if you want to make that statement again :D

how many neon's have you seen with big bare spots all over them??


That is a perfect example of poor paint (delamination)

Dodge did a recall on the Neon's for the paint.

Dodge did a recall on the Neon's for the paint.

That they did.

IIRC Honda also recalled the paint (or maybe the panel) on some of the civics (90's)

Dodge did a recall on the Neon's for the paint.


yeah, and how many THOUSANDS of issues did they have before they FINALLY created the recall??

I would rather own a good Subaru with crappy paint than a crappy car with good paint

I would rather own a good Subaru with crappy paint than a crappy car with good paint

Ditto... but then again if they recalled WRXs for the paint... that would be nice...

Lol, I second that. I have NEVER owned a car with paint as bad as my subaru. Dents and divots as well. Even my brothers EVO with probably as much aluminum panneling as my car doesn't have the dings and dents my car has. It's headed for the body shop in a couple days actually. I'm also saving up to just have the bumper completely repainted with a quality paint job. I have a clear bra on part of the hood and some other parts but I'm going to get that bumper painted and pony up for some custom clear bra on the bumper etc. It's incredibly frustrating to baby your car, wash and detail it constantly and have 10 new rock chips appear on the car weekly.

I would rather Subaru keep their MSRP lower by using the same paint, than see them jack up the price of their cars to accomodate for the "better" paint and for this stupid law suit.

my clearcoat is comming off on my a pillar by my antenna. there are no rock chips up there. subaru paint is really quite bad, but i didnt by the car for the looks

How about a class action lawsuit about the rear struts.

You mis-spelled it twice, therefore it is not a simple typing error. Being married for 31 years you should be old enough to know how to spell "cheap"

I didn't suggest it was a typo, I admitted to misspelling it, oh gawd forgive me (but I'll probably do it again) the spelling nazi caught me. :rolleyes:

Anyway, your wife damaged the car, man up and fix it!

You, on the other hand, after 22 posts persist in having no idea what this entire thread is about. Even if you didn't understand the first post it was subsequently clarified, although apparently not clearly enough for you. It has nothing to do with me manning up and fixing the damaged fender. It has everything to do with a common issue in our Subaru community about poor quality paint. I thought a thread about forming a Class Action Law Suit, with the possible outcome of a recall for paint, or monitary compensation might be of interest to the community.

Considering the number of responses, and many well reasoned replies (with the exception of yours of course) I think I was right, and I'm glad people have shown interest. But why am I explaining this to you, I'm obviously wasting my time. Please spell check that and get back to me at your convenience. :rolleyes:


well damn, I initially thought he was a bird....

:lol: Actually that's pretty funny because when I was a kid a baby bird fell out of a tree in our yard and we tried to nurse it back to health. We named it cheep cheep, because that's the noise it made incessantly. My Dad joked that the bird was calling me cheap for not buying it a bird house. :lol: I seem to have been scarred for life, because I still get the two confused... :)


As someone who raced Mazda's for years, I can tell you Subie paint isn't that bad... not good.. but not near as bad.. how many neon's have you seen with big bare spots all over them??

Yeah, I know some cars have that problem, I think Chevy trucks had problems with paint flaking off for a few years. And you're right Suby paint isn't THAT bad, so it's probably not justification for a CALS. I was just kind of alarmed when a fairly large chunk of paint chipped off right down to bare metal...

If we all got new paintjobs from Subaru, I doubt they would be quality. I'd just rather keep what I've got. In the future, maybe Subaru should just not paint the car like the Delorean. That would be awesome! Polished and shiny!

Paint can only flex so far.

A 2.5 in by .5in deep dent is beyond that limit. At that point all the paint (inlcuding the primer) that is affected by the damage will come off. If the paint was defective then it would continue come off from areas that were not affected by the damage (IE poor adhesion of the paint to panel and the paint will peel or flake off from the damaged portion) I guarantee the OP's paint only flaking off from where it is dented.

Absolutely false.

I had a bicyclist T-bone the rear of my S-10 Xtreme, with his "impact" right above the rear axle. For reference, he hit hard enough to land inside of the bed of the truck while his mountain bike bounced 10-12' backwards. He left a dent 3" across and 1" deep on a rounded portion of the bedside (stepside bed). 2.5 hours of a good paintless repair guy's time and the dent was completely removed without ANY paint cracking.

Now, if you had said "on a Subaru"...then yea :) But there is no doubt that my S-10 would have survived the ice chest encounter with unbroken paint.

The paint is thin and chips easily, like a lot of cars in this price range. But if SOA is going to get sued, it should be for paint that chips off a car in normal use, not one that had something dropped on it. Even a good paint job can be damaged by dropping something on it. It is not so predictable what the damage in an accident will be based on the paint quality.

I think most people are missing the point of this thread. Our paint is absolute crap. Most cars that cost as much as ours or less are much better ie. Honda.


And many car companies have been sued over their crappy paint jobs. Chrysler got taken to court over their paint of the early Cherokees. They did a recall and tons of people got their Jeeps repained for free.



Subaru needs to man up and fix the problem.

You can't SERIOUSLY be comparing Honda to Subaru. This isn't the F1 circuit my friend. Honda = crap. Subaru = quality. Honda's don't go fast. People buy WRX's and STI's because they're fast and fun to drive. Subaru's go faster than Hondas. Therefore Subarus get paint chips from rocks and what not much easier. If you drive your car, no matter what kind it is, it WILL get little defects in the paint. Unless you're 16 you should know this. Quit complaining. You've been married for over 31 years, so you're probably in your 60's. You should know paint isn't permanent. Just because a few other people have complained doesn't mean Subaru has ****ty enough paint to file a lawsuit against. If you have enough money to buy and insure a STI then you need to quit being so cheap (oh look, I spelled cheap right). If you don’t know how to fix, you clearly have the money to fix. So next time you want to bash your Subaru on a site full of devoted Subaru lovers, maybe you should have a better/more thought out argument. End the thread. It’s pointless. The only thing that would get accomplished from this is Subaru jacking up their prices on future models and using more expensive paint that will probably be the same quality.

Oh wait... This may be fun, here's someone even more clueless than hondaslayer... :rolleyes:

Subarus go faster than Hondas, therefore they get more paint chips... LOL!

+1, sure tells he owns a DSM.. </joke> <flamesuit>

Well, I for one purchased my Subaru for it's aesthetic appeal.

:lol: Actually that's pretty funny because when I was a kid a baby bird fell out of a tree in our yard and we tried to nurse it back to health. We named it cheep cheep, because that's the noise it made incessantly. My Dad joked that the bird was calling me cheap for not buying it a bird house. :lol: I seem to have been scarred for life, because I still get the two confused... :)

That was a good story...

Yeah, I know some cars have that problem, I think Chevy trucks had problems with paint flaking off for a few years. And you're right Suby paint isn't THAT bad, so it's probably not justification for a CALS. I was just kind of alarmed when a fairly large chunk of paint chipped off right down to bare metal... .....I had a '93 Silverado for ten years. Talk about absolute crap. That was the worst paint of any vehicle I've owned over the past 24 years that I've been driving. Although I would agree that Subaru paint is soft and prone to chipping/scratching quite easily, I have seen much worse. .....I just learned to take extra care with my MBP '03 (still looks good when polished). :)

Honda = crap. Subaru = quality. Hondas are some the best vehicles in regard to quality. On a personal note, my wife's '99 Civic EX has been the most reliable, trouble-free car we have ever owned. Aside from a CEL (due to a loose gas cap), we have had absolutely zero problems with it over the past 90,000 miles. ....they are not "crap".

..., just bare metal that started rusting that day. ...
To the OP: this sounds like a red flag to me. The OEM metal in Subarus is galvanized, so even without any paint, it should be protected from rust for some time. Have you considered the possibility that your car had had a fender replaced with a non-OEM part (and a substandard repair paint job on that fender)? This could have happened before you bought it, and not been disclosed by an unscrupulous seller.

If it is in fact the OEM Subaru fender, it must have been quite an impact to damage the galvanization layer, so I wouldn't be surprised that the paint was removed.

Either way, this doesn't seem to support a claim of defective Subaru paint.

i was the beneficiary of a class action lawsuit, i got a half month of netflix for free. Definitly not getting anything from soa, just forget you posted and move on, its not gonna happen

To the OP: this sounds like a red flag to me. The OEM metal in Subarus is galvanized, so even without any paint, it should be protected from rust for some time. Have you considered the possibility that your car had had a fender replaced with a non-OEM part (and a substandard repair paint job on that fender)? This could have happened before you bought it, and not been disclosed by an unscrupulous seller.

If it is in fact the OEM Subaru fender, it must have been quite an impact to damage the galvanization layer, so I wouldn't be surprised that the paint was removed.

Either way, this doesn't seem to support a claim of defective Subaru paint.

Hmmm, that's certainly thought provoking. I bought the car new from a dealership and everything looked pretty stock when I pulled the fender liner. The autobody shop I took it to said to sand the surface rust off and get some paint on it right away, because they couldn't get to it for about a month. So I removed the tire, pulled the fender liner off and smacked the dent with a dead blow hammer a couple times. It came out nearly flush and I sanded it clean and put some touch up paint on. The autobody guy was kind of surprised that all the paint came off too, the base metal wasn't scratched at all by the impact. He said that there at least should've been some kind of sealer on the bare metal before the primer is applied. There definately was no galvanized surface coating, are you pretty sure about them galvanizing their fenders? I wish I'd taken some pictures before I cleaned it up... :o

.....I had a '93 Silverado for ten years. Talk about absolute crap. That was the worst paint of any vehicle I've owned over the past 24 years that I've been driving.

Well, I know exactly how you feel. Perhaps I should take some pictures of the left front fender of my last car, a '94 Corsica (bought brand new). A fairly large portion of the paint has peeled away from the primer.

Trust me, if you think Subaru paint is ****ty, you haven't seen really ****ty paint.

My paint is flaking off my hood scoop after 79K miles. I can run my finger (not fingernail) over it and get more to flake off. Of course, it really didn't start happening til after I installed my chimney heat shield. :lol:

call the wambulance, my paint is coming off, wah wah. if your paint coming off after your wife drops a cooler onto it is your only complaint about the car. . . i dont know, what do you want from subaru. is there anywhere else on the car that your paint is coming off naturally?

I'm sorry, but as much as I love my WRX, the paint sucks. It started coming off the bumper & hood in the first few months I had it. I have to touch up my car before every wax job. I know it's an economy car, and a good bargain at that. But the paint still sucks. I sold a 10 year old Saturn that the paint held up better on, and that was an economy car too. Maybe a class action suit would be a bit of a stretch, but I'd love to be able to get SOA to pay for at least 1/2 the cost of repainting at least the hood & front bumper on my wagon.:disco:

...There definately was no galvanized surface coating, are you pretty sure about them galvanizing their fenders? ...
Talk about timely articles! Here's a link to an article in Subaru's Drive magazine about fender replacement parts. Among other things, it includes the quote "...the Subaru OE fender is galvanized with zinc (a base layer of between six and seven microns) and then coated with electrolytic paint about 30 microns thick. The non-OE fender has no galvanization."
http://www.drive.subaru.com/Fall06_WhatsInside.htm

this thread is soo stupid..lol hehe

...the paint sucks. It started coming off the bumper & hood in the first few months I had it. ...
Unfortunately, if you mean the small chips caused by e.g. sand/gravel hitting the car, that's "normal."
However, if the paint is coming off on its own, it's most likely defective, in which case Subaru/the dealer should pay to fix it.

doesn't subaru, like every other manufacturer out there, offer a warranty on paint?

while i'm positive there is no warranty on dropped ice chests, you're screwed. and i'm sure the paint job, no matter how much better it COULD have been, will last the stated 3-5 years or whatever it is, they held up on their end and you're (unfortunately) out of luck.

I've seen threads where the OP had a paint flaw from the factory on a brand new car and received next to nothing and sometimes ended up in a worse position.

GL but i wouldnt waste your time/money

Subaru (and everyone else) really doesn't honor paint problems, unless you point it out to them on the lot as you are just about to sign paperwork. Once you drive off the lot, they will call it your fault and have six billion reasons behind them. I agree with the OP that there is definitely a problem and it should be addressed. Class action is not the way to go. I had a '98 Civic with bad paint and the only thing that got me a new '99 (no more MY '98 Civics in Dec. '98) was the fact that the protective sheeting from the boat ride over left deep lines in the clear coat. Otherwise it was six months of "my fault" over the phone, ten visits to the dealer (who absolutely ruined the remaining clear coat) and chats with worthless district representatives.

Subaru (and everyone else) really doesn't honor paint problems, unless you point it out to them on the lot as you are just about to sign paperwork. Once you drive off the lot, they will call it your fault and have six billion reasons behind them.


I wouldnt say that. I have dealt with a few paint issue (some of which SHOULDN'T have been warranty. ) Including one on a 2001 outback that was out of the paint warranty.

As long as there is a legitimate complaint, and the damage was not caused by an outside influence (which is not a matter for warranty whether you are talking about paint or mechanical), you should have no problem having them honor it. Because "legitimate" paint claims are few and far between, especially considering how may Subarus there are out there, most dealers find it hard to believe that they do exist.

That said,

Scratches, chips (caused by stones, etc), rail dust, chemical spills, accidents, etc are NOT covered by warranty.

Clear coat/paint peeling (not due to outside influence), rust from the inside out (under the paint), flaws in the smoothness of the paint, something under the paint, etc ARE covered by warranty.

**Note These items are subject to inspection. It can be determined what caused the "defect"

Also, paint defects are covered for 3/36. Rust is covered for 5 years, unlimited mileage

i used to own a body shop and subaru doesnt have the best paint in the world. if you want paint like that, get a BMW, a MB, or another high end car. but then you will pay for it. your wife dropped a very heavy object on a thin fender of a car. any car that had that type of impact would have done the same thing. lawsuit i think is a bit extream. make a claim on your insurance and fix it. dont be sue happy. subaru isnt the only company that doesnt use primer/sealer under their paint. it keeps material costs down so that the car can still be affortable. i would rather have an awsome car with OK paint than a awsome paint and an OK car. just my $.02

own up to your own mistakes man. cheap paint or not you would still be looking at body and paint work. So go have it fixed like a man.

I've read complaints on NASIOC for over a year and a half now about "cheep" Subaru paint. I didn't really understand what the deal was because I hadn't had any personal experience. But on Christmas Eve my lovely wife (of over 31 years, yes I'll keep her for a while longer) was in the garage getting an ice chest (large plastic kind) off the storage shelf beside my car. The shelf is about 6' in the air, and she dropped the chest on the left front fender of my car. It made a dent about 2.5" in diameter and 1/2" deep, but what made it REAL noticeable was the fact that it took off a chunk of paint about 1.5" wide. I mean it was right down to bare metal. There was no primer, sealant or anything, just bare metal that started rusting that day. The body shop I showed it too was kind of surprised too, but he still wanted to charge me $900.00 to fix it. :mad:

Makes you wonder if Subaru isn't in kahoots with the body repair guys. But back to my subject, if there are so many people complaining about the paint maybe it's something worthy of a class action law suit (CALS). I mean if the paint job is really defective, like NO primer coat, maybe we could get our cars painted properly. Has anyone heard anything about a CALS?

Uh, if you visit any other car forum there will always be some post by someone saying how crappy their paint is and how they want to sue whatever manufacturer. Good luck with your trolling for a lawsuit. Yeah, I can really see Subaru colluding with the local body shop. Real intelligent. Hey I heard you can make some money by faking that you slipped and fell at a local Burger King or you can spill some coffee on yourself and sue Mcdonald's :lol:

Are you stupid?

Seriously, a halfway decent lawyer would have this thrown out of court in minutes, and SOA's lawyers are a bit better than half-assed.

Your wife dropped a shelf on your car, deal with it.

hey dick head. he is ranting and asking a question. if he knew the answer he would have just posetd his wife did an "oopsie".

yes im sure he has dealt with the fact that his wife dented the car.

do you enjoy belittling people? go be a dickhead somewhere else. what you should have said was.

Are you serious?

A halfway decent lawyer would have this thrown out of court in minutes, and SOA's lawyers are a bit better than half-assed.

Your wife dropped a shelf on your car, sorry to hear about that.

How about a class action lawsuit about the rear struts.
ditto.....clunk, clunk, clunk
of course, the aftermarket has many solutions :]

^^^ there's nothing wrong with the rear struts. The clunking is a draw back from their design. Subaru doesn't even have to replace them because mechanically they are fine.

I side with the chevy/gmc post.. You want to see ****ty paint. Go look at anything GMC made from 1984-1997 .... paint peeling up to the primer. less then two years new.

I'm not at all impressed in my 2006 wrx paint quality! I see slight defects in the pearl! But the same with my 2005 toyota 4runner. I have chips in the front end, which is going to happen, but the paint is very thin. Its like one coat of paint and 1/2 coat of clear. I just think that all the new cars are getting that way to just save $$$. Which is BS!

^^^ there's nothing wrong with the rear struts. The clunking is a draw back from their design. Subaru doesn't even have to replace them because mechanically they are fine.



Your right, a lawsuit is a bit overboard. I just latched on to someone mentioning my only bitch about my car. And like I said, the aftermarket has solutions. No biggy. I mean, its a world-class supercar, the clunking is just surprising. In the end, I consider myself lucky to have an STI in my driveway. ;)

^^^ there's nothing wrong with the rear struts. The clunking is a draw back from their design. Subaru doesn't even have to replace them because mechanically they are fine.


when the struts cause the car not to rest where it should, I would not say that they are fine.

Otherwise subaru would not be replacing them for free.

And a class action lawsuit cos your wife dropped something on your car...
Dear god.
How about a class action lawsuit for subaru not making a car strong enough for surviving being rear ended.........

when the struts cause the car not to rest where it should, I would not say that they are fine.

Otherwise subaru would not be replacing them for free.

And a class action lawsuit cos your wife dropped something on your car...
Dear god.
How about a class action lawsuit for subaru not making a car strong enough for surviving being rear ended.........
If a strut were to cause the car not to sit properly that would be a problem. A clunking strut doesn't do that, it "clunks" and it's perfectly normal for an inverted strut...get you facts straight.

Most people do not care for their paint like they should, and that is part of the reason why manufacturers are skimping in that arena (on top of paint already being an extremely expensivde cost of production). I work in a body shop and people don't care for their investment like they should. If your paint is de-laminating (aka clear coat is peeling off), that is a genuine problem/defect that is worth making a little extra effort for, but you are not going to achieve the results you desire (better paint on your whole car) by sueing (SP) someone. Your best bet would be to buy a nice wax, some nice wax rags and pads and go slap on a couple layers of wax on a sunny day.

BTW, I'd make my woman PAY for the damage. She caused it; she should pay. Rule works vice versa as well. My bet is that 900$ repair bill came from OEM parts at LIST price and blending procedures to make sure that the color of the fender matched the hood and door. A good body shop will blend the adjacent panels (not bumpers) to attempt to achieve proper color match.

If a strut were to cause the car not to sit properly that would be a problem. A clunking strut doesn't do that, it "clunks" and it's perfectly normal for an inverted strut...get you facts straight.

I just had clunking struts replaced, so I am well aware of my facts.

Feel free to drive yours around clunking and hopping to a standstill.

i am very unhappy with the paint...many times over...it seems like the older subies had better paint...anyone agree?

subaru told me that my car had a force field so im not worried too much about my paint because mr checkov is protecting my car.

seriously though do you think that if you parked your car infront of a moving train that subaru should warranty your car after the train hits it??????

^^^if you are attempting to be sarcastic, it didn't work well at all....don't be blind to the facts man. The paint is VERY "thin" it can be scratched with your fingernail or a piece of cloth! Yes i know other car companies that have the same issues, but that is not the topic at hand.

You are being inconsiderate to those who have owned subies over the years and dealt with problems, I love subaru, I love my car...but i know the paint is a HUGE problem that MUST be taken care of by subaru by the time I get my next subaru or I will have to just by another Subaru and complain some more:lol: .

The impreza wrx that made this site what it is today; is based off of subaru's winning rally cars and heritage. Rally car's go through all weather/road conditions...wouldn't you consider that a good reason for why subaru should have some of THE best paint???

/rant

:popcorn:

this is getting interesting.

I've noticed my yellow 03 WRX paint isn't the highest quality. My rear bumpers' paint is flaking off, so is driver side rear door, and even the finish on the factory wheels is flaking! Its not like the car is abused, its never seen snow/salt, never driven on a gravel road, full professional detail/wax twice a year. Factory paint isn't the cheapest either, $50ish a pint :eek: . It's all good though, I've been wanting to re-paint the whole car this spring anyway and using a much more solid coat of clear will give it a good "Fresh" look.
I still love my Subie but their factory paint quality just isn't the best.

I have the same problem lanczakb with my rear bumper too. At first we thought it was a repaint that the dealership didnt tell me about. But now that my car is 5 years old I can see that its probley just a bad factory paint job.

Next to my licence plate to the right they got about have a coat of clear down. And a few other spots the clear just fell off. One is a sign of a dry spot probley caused by runing out of clear or just totaly missed the spot. They other is a sign of bad prep or contamination.

Yea 50 a pint sounds about right, I had to repaint my front bumper. Did it myself with a friend that paint profesionaly. Some nice PPG DBU or DBA I cant remember.

Its not because of a lack of care either, im as anal as it gets with a daily drivers paint job.

Oh yea my last car a 2000 Grand Am GT, whilest not the best GM car there is by far had a top quality paint job. Very litle orange peel, some nice primer paint and clear.

Rally car's go through all weather/road conditions...wouldn't you consider that a good reason for why subaru should have some of THE best paint???
Erm, rally cars also know nothing of fuel economy, sound deadener, nor longevity. By your argument, those should be completely acceptable shortcomings. In that instance, as well, they should also come with seven sets of tires and two seats.

There is no parallel there.

Well then I guess we should take a class action lawsuit on....

dodge for the tires falling off the durangos, 2000-2005 chevy impala and related vehicles with the 3.4 liter for the intake gasket that fails. Oh, don't forget about dodge ram and their transmission problems. The Ford Crown Vics for the exploding gas tanks after being rear ended and the list goes on and on. All makes and models of cars have problems. I would take a small paint problem over my car blowing up after being rear ended or costly engine or transmission problems. Dude, cars have problems deal with it. What did you expect to happen when your wife dropped something onto your car, reguardless if the paint chipped or not, the affect area is going to have to be repainted again. I have a 2005 impreza and I've had of for almost two years now and I don't have any problems with my paint. It was only certain colors that subaru used that had issues wasn't it? Like the Pearl Blue or whatever.

I just note that the impreza is an economy car and if they improved the paint it would no doubt raise the price

Remember SOA is cutting out Alum next year to save costs

mike_b49431, I had a 96 dodge ram and the tire fell off twice, I thought it was just me :confused: Oh yea, and the trany blew up.

I know someone with an 04 LGT that has the paint flaking off of the rear C pillar areas. I believe last I spoke with them, their paint was getting redone under some warranty or something.

It's funny, because when you visit www.Autopia.org they never talk about Subaru paint being crappier than other Japanese paint. I mean, i know it's not Mercedes paint, but my 05 PSM paint job is comparable to my Toyota.
And even my Dad's 03 S430 has a bunch of chips on the front hood (supposedly, Mercedes paint is one of the best out there).

To all the douchebags who have posted on this: I suppose the OP wanted responses that somewhat reflected logical complex thought...

Now then, where were we? Ahh yes, cheap Subaru paint, why not scrutinize the quality of the work as well? I know that the brand new STI at my dealership has two rust spots on the rear side of the front driver's door. Bad paint, or poor work dosen't matter. How bad the paint/work is not something to be argued over. The fact that it is not good or outstanding is your point.

My WRX chips paint to the bare metal also, not to nice in my unprofessional oppinion. Also, I have seen NEW cars that have rusted patches and slivers on the edges of trunks doors etc...

I must say, a class action lawsuit is not something to aspire. They allready have a warranty plan, (I know they shaft people every day on legitimate claims) and the warranty issue may be what you want to "sue"...

That is all, thank you for reading rationally...

Sounds like incentive to get my car repainted, I don't like the dark green as much as the other car's lighter green... I'm thinking satin black.

So, let me get this straight... The OP's wife dropped a cooler on the car, and it dented the metal, and in the process of denting the metal, a chip of paint popped off, including the primer?

Judge: "So, what's the complaint?"

OP: "My wife dropped a cooler on the car, and it made a MASSIVE dent! It even popped off a chunk of paint, right down to the metal! I didn't spend [insert car's original selling price here] for a good car with crappy paint!!"

Judge: "Is the cooler okay?! Maybe you should sue the cooler's manufacturer..."

OP: "I'm a very secure, slightly older, learned person! Don't make fun of me!"

The fact that YOU (your wife and yourself are considered the same entity in this kind of lawsuit, no?) did something that hurt the car's paint means that your idea of a lawsuit will fail. If your car was sitting there, and the panel just magically dented itself and the paint popped off...

Regardless of the paint, or the metal it's on, when you have a curved surface that's been painted over, when you dent it, the paint isn't going to just magically change itself to keep adhearing perfectly to the paint. Dent at the right angle, to the right depth, and the paint is going to crack, peel, or just pop right off anyway. Especially when it's cold.

I'd suggest you do what I do when things piss me off. Take a sledge hammer to that mother****ing cooler, and show it you own it! Then throw it on the roof of your mansion to further prove your point, and then buy a new one! Make sure the new one is larger, has it's own cooling system, weighs a quarter as much, and costs 15 times more. Then you'll be set, except your fender. Just tap it out, sand off the rust, and cover it with some clearcoat until you're ready to get the panel completely repainted, so it matches the car, and looks good.

So...... How many of you people that think suby paint is good have painted cars???????

if you have never picked up a HVLP gun before What the hell do you know about car paint?

And yes Subaru paint sucks just take a DA to it and see how thin it is.


O i see you guys dont know what a DA is LOL ya you guys make me Laugh i bet not one of you guys defending Subaru has ever dun any body work on any thing

I may not be familiar with an HVLP gun, and I can't say that I know what a DA is, but I guarantee you can't tell me about MENSA.

I've got no clue what an DA is, but I can find spell check.

Wow, please look back at my earlier post. "Logical" thought... The last three posts, are, blatently, stupid..

And yes Subaru paint sucks just take a DA to it and see how thin it is.


O i see you guys dont know what a DA is LOL ya you guys make me Laugh i bet not one of you guys defending Subaru has ever dun any body work on any thing

I'm pretty sure a District Attorney wouldn't be able to tell me how thin my paint is.


Here's a tip: stop using an acronym and use the damn words.

And learn how to type too.

And learn how to type too.


I'm thinking he forgot to wear a respirator when he was in the booth :lol:

Dual Action- in reference to a sander used to either strip paint or remove clear depending on the sand paper applied (sanding bondo also, but lets not get into particulars). High Velocity Low Pressure is the second one, I believe (I'm sure I'll be corrected if I am wrong). This thread isn't really doing anything useful anymore but pitting Subie owners against Subie owners. Fact of the matter is, if you think something should be done then start a poll for everyone wanting a warranty claim on their paint. REMEMBER, however, that chips going down to bare metal happen on ALL vehicles and your road chips, dents, and dings are not going to count. A group effort, however, to claim delamination (clear coat peeling) within Subaru's expressed warranty period is an acceptable alternative to "LETS ****ING SUE THE BASTARDS." That just won't work and you won't get anywhere but an expensive hole in the ground. Also, you can't claim a warranty on thin clear coat or a 2 stage paint job because it doesn't look as good as a tri-stage. My recommendation is to quit complaining and take a little time to care for what you have until you can afford to do something better. If not, feel free to take part in America's favorite indoor sport and sue. I can pretty much guarantee that they have a set of full time lawyers who will have much more time and money to divote to stopping your suit than you have to keep it going (esp. since it isn't a safety issue).

Thank you for some logical and somewhat complex thought.

Let's sue the cooler manufacturer for making them so hard that they can dent a car if dropped from a hieght of 4' onto a car while were at it!

We all know about our paint, but beauty is only skin deep anyways. If you take care of your suby it will take care of you.
Just say no to CALS's, thats what are problem is in america, we have people who try to sue over everygay common sense stuff and lawmakers wh make it possible.

IBTL

Jay-R

Let's sue the cooler manufacturer for making them so hard that they can dent a car if dropped from a hieght of 4' onto a car while were at it!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

mike_b49431, I had a 96 dodge ram and the tire fell off twice, I thought it was just me :confused: Oh yea, and the trany blew up.

I believe u, i had a chevy impala that was a nightmare also. American made cars are cheap and ****ty!!!

Let's sue the cooler manufacturer for making them so hard that they can dent a car if dropped from a hieght of 4' onto a car while were at it!

^^^ Your a Dick ^^^ :lol:


Please, If your going to post, make it worth the space on the thread..

OP, I guess you have given up on your quest to find sensible people with rational thought about their cars; maybe you should start a new thread with a disclaimer...

^^^ Your a Dick ^^^ :lol:


Please, If your going to post, make it worth the space on the thread..

OP, I guess you have given up on your quest to find sensible people with rational thought about their cars; maybe you should start a new thread with a disclaimer...


By sensible and rational I suppose you mean gullible and dumb?

OMG somebody does not agree with me?????1111???1!!!?!?!?!!!111 THEY ARE WRONG!!!!


Dumbass

Domestics seem to have good paint compared with the cost of the car


I do not agree, My father's 02 Monte Carlo has slightly better paint than my 01 OBS. His car was over 10K more than mine.

In my opinion old mercedes' have the best paint. My mother had 2 88 420 SEL's, the paint held up pretty well, I washed it like 3 times a year, and waxed it once a year and it still looked nice after a simple cleaning. The paint felt so much thinker, which probably doesn't help as far as weight though.

By sensible and rational I suppose you mean gullible and dumb?

OMG somebody does not agree with me?????1111???1!!!?!?!?!!!111 THEY ARE WRONG!!!!


Dumbass

Your post doesn't make sense in response to my post. You may want to edit... ( I was explaining that there wasn't anyone on here who had sense or rational thought)..

OP, It would be extremely difficult to start a class action lawsuit. Everyone (excusing the ignorant) knows that some subies come from the factory with bad paint jobs. There is not much you can do though..

bsa - you may want to wait until you die and go to heaven before assuming a moderator's mantle...

lol.. Logic and Moderation are two diverse things my friend..

The only winners in a class action lawsuit are the laywers. And they don't need anymore money or take away more fun things.

Can someone give me a brief summary of what's going on in this thread? KthaxBye

Your post doesn't make sense in response to my post. You may want to edit... ( I was explaining that there wasn't anyone on here who had sense or rational thought)..

OP, It would be extremely difficult to start a class action lawsuit. Everyone (excusing the ignorant) knows that some subies come from the factory with bad paint jobs. There is not much you can do though..

I was actually referring to the OP with the dumbass comment.

Too long of a day makes for an incoherent typer :lol:

Can someone give me a brief summary of what's going on in this thread? KthaxBye

The OP's wife dropped a cooler on the OP's fender. The OP wants to sue Subaru for damage his did because he feels that the paint should have held up to it.

Lets just all get naked outside the USA SOA headquarters and light it on fire.

Why do things the hardway? With lawyers and all that ****, lets just f(#$ **** up.

The OP's wife dropped a cooler on the OP's fender. The OP wants to sue Subaru for damage his did because he feels that the paint should have held up to it.
:lol:

Can someone give me a brief summary of what's going on in this thread? KthaxBye


The OP's wife dropped a cooler on the OP's fender. The OP wants to sue Subaru for damage his did because he feels that the paint should have held up to it.

And blindsideair is teaching us how to correctly post on a topic. And that we should all keep our mouths shut but him. Or someone he deems as making sence or not a deuchbag.

^^^

Thank you!! Finally, someone is catching on!! :rolleyes:

THINGS NOT TO DO WITH YOUR NEW STI:


Park under a basketball hoop
Park in the outfield of a baseball field
Park it under bird nesting tree
Park under it a shelf in the garage
Let clumsy wives around the car

Can someone give me a brief summary of what's going on in this thread? KthaxBye

I think she dropped her chest on the fender.








:D

^^^ Your a Dick ^^^ :lol:


Please, If your going to post, make it worth the space on the thread..

OP, I guess you have given up on your quest to find sensible people with rational thought about their cars; maybe you should start a new thread with a disclaimer...

Who cares, I thought it was hilarious!!!! Have a sense of humor...sheesh

THINGS NOT TO DO WITH YOUR NEW STI:


Park under a basketball hoop
Park in the outfield of a baseball field
Park it under bird nesting tree
Park under it a shelf in the garage
Let clumsy wives around the car


Dear god, that last line is funny.. True and funny.. :lol:

subaru paint sucks, I think thats the point the guy is looking to make, most owners know that, but im sure you didnt buy the sti for the paint, the panels are also paper thin, and the interior is suited for overweight people, but its a fast/fun car.

subarus paint sux compared to whos paint??? its the only company that i know where almost all of their colors come with some sort of pearl in it. i personally havent had any problems with any of the 3 subies i have had in the last couple of years.. i remember in the 90's how those nissan sentras would start to oxidize... looked like they were shedding their skins.. same with ford explorers... now i would be mad if my paint looked like a snake shedding its skin. ive seen plent of mercedes with the same problem. maybe subaru should try to put an magnetic charge into their paints so if anything other then human comes next to it, it'll block it. :rolleyes:

Well, I must say that my paint job on my 06 2.5i does scratch easily. Also at certain angles, there are like millions of scratches everywhere, kind of bizarre. Allready had the car painted by subaru for another form of defect (blotches in paint). Oh well, will push me to really inspect every aspect of the car and see where the company might of shaved off to pocket more money, Cheers To A Great Economy!

Well, I must say that my paint job on my 06 2.5i does scratch easily. Also at certain angles, there are like millions of scratches everywhere, kind of bizarre. Allready had the car painted by subaru for another form of defect (blotches in paint). Oh well, will push me to really inspect every aspect of the car and see where the company might of shaved off to pocket more money, Cheers To A Great Economy!

Same issues here with my 06 sti :confused: this thing seems to get scratches just by looking at it :(