2006 Forester--paint flaking off

[yngver]

I just noticed that the paint is flaking off around the wheel well on
my 2006 Forester. I thought at first it was just dirt, but when I
touched the area a big flake came right off. I have 22K miles. Is
this a known defect that Subaru is likely to cover under warranty?

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

I just noticed that the paint is flaking off around the wheel well on
my 2006 Forester. I thought at first it was just dirt, but when I
touched the area a big flake came right off. I have 22K miles. Is
this a known defect that Subaru is likely to cover under warranty?

People HAVE complained soobs have 'bad paint' but what I've read is
normally a mention of chips/scratches in the frontal areas. Dunno if
'some' of the issue may be that soobs in general are more likley to be
out in bad weather or on dirt/gravel roads.

Carl

 

[Frank Boettcher]

I just noticed that the paint is flaking off around the wheel well on
my 2006 Forester. I thought at first it was just dirt, but when I
touched the area a big flake came right off. I have 22K miles. Is
this a known defect that Subaru is likely to cover under warranty?

Don't know about the wheel well, but paint flaking off of the end of
the muffler where it is painted to match the flat black of the bumper,
is an issue.

there is a service bulletin on it, will be repaired under warranty.

For answers to your question, best to go to the moderated forum
specific to Foresters. Wealth of knowledge.

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/

 

[yngver]

People HAVE complained soobs have 'bad paint' but what I've read is
normally a mention of chips/scratches in the frontal areas. Dunno if
'some' of the issue may be that soobs in general are more likley to be
out in bad weather or on dirt/gravel roads.

Carl

Thanks, but this car is garaged and I just drive it to work every day
in Chicago. Sure, we have hard winters here but I can't believe a
Subaru's paint job can't hold up to two winters. I drove my Honda
Civic under the same conditions for 13 years and the paint never
flaked off.
-yngver

 

[yngver]

Don't know about the wheel well, but paint flaking off of the end of
the muffler where it is painted to match the flat black of the bumper,
is an issue.

there is a service bulletin on it, will be repaired under warranty.

For answers to your question, best to go to the moderated forum
specific to Foresters. Wealth of knowledge.

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/

Thanks. The dealer said they will look at it and see what is going on,
but they assured me Subaru warrants the paint and finish. The black
paint on the muffler flaked off within a few months, but I don't
really care what the muffler looks like. I do care what the fender
looks like though. I saved the piece that fell off when I touched it
to show the dealer.

I think this is terrible workmanship. My husband and I both have
Subarus, and if Subaru gives us a hard time about this we sure won't
be buying another one. Due to a minor incident (flying debris) the
fender on the other side was repainted by a body shop and that isn't
flaking--if it were, I'd just take it back to them and have them fix
it. So it tells me something that just the part of the car with the
original paint job is flaking.
-yngver

 

[Fred Sanford]

Thanks. The dealer said they will look at it and see what is going on,
but they assured me Subaru warrants the paint and finish. The black
paint on the muffler flaked off within a few months, but I don't
really care what the muffler looks like. I do care what the fender
looks like though. I saved the piece that fell off when I touched it
to show the dealer.

I think this is terrible workmanship. My husband and I both have
Subarus, and if Subaru gives us a hard time about this we sure won't
be buying another one. Due to a minor incident (flying debris) the
fender on the other side was repainted by a body shop and that isn't
flaking--if it were, I'd just take it back to them and have them fix
it. So it tells me something that just the part of the car with the
original paint job is flaking.
-yngver

Subaru is known for POOR paint quality. it seems it's not getting any better
either. Check the car for flakes,chips along the leading edge of the hood
and along the sides of the car.
While other cars seem to tolerate contact with other car door edges (see
inconsiderate drivers), Subarus will chip and dent with ease.
Does Subaru know about this.......Yes
Does Subaru care.....Nope, they couldn't care less.
Has Subaru done anything about it...Nope, still the same crap paint.

 

[sarahs choice]

Why are you getting yourself so worked up about this issue?

You have said "The dealer said they will look at it and see what is
going on, but they assured me Subaru warrants the paint and finish."

You're probably no expert on automotive paint processes and finishes so
any conclusions you have made will almost be certainly wrong.

 

[yngver]

Why are you getting yourself so worked up about this issue?

You have said "The dealer said they will look at it and see what is
going on, but they assured me Subaru warrants thepaintand finish."

You're probably no expert on automotivepaintprocesses and finishes so
any conclusions you have made will almost be certainly wrong.

Well, I'm getting worked up about it because my past experience with
new cars and dealers has been that it's normally a battle to get
anything covered under the warranty. This Forester has had a rough
idle since day one and as many times as I've had it to the dealer, and
with a variety of mechanics, they acknowledge the symptom but tell me
it's either from "bad gasoline" or that I should pay $100 to get the
fuel injectors cleaned.

I'm not even going to explain all the other struggles my husband and I
have had trying to get problems with this car addressed. Unfortunately
I know more about automative paint processes and finishes than I ever
wished to learn, because of a previous skirmish over a bad paint job.

 

[yngver]

Subaru is known for POORpaintquality. it seems it's not getting any better
either. Check thecarfor flakes,chips along the leading edge of the hood
and along the sides of thecar.
While other cars seem to tolerate contact with othercardoor edges (see
inconsiderate drivers), Subarus will chip and dent with ease.
Does Subaru know about this.......Yes
Does Subaru care.....Nope, they couldn't care less.
Has Subaru done anything about it...Nope, still the same crappaint.

That I know--I made the mistake of choosing the dark blue color and
pretty much all it takes to get a scratch is to brush the side of the
car with your coat. Ironically when I asked the dealer if Subaru's
paint is known to be poor, they said on the contrary, Subaru has
outstanding paint and finish quality and they have never had a
customer complain about the paint flaking off before me.
-yngver

 

[Valued Corporate #120,345 Employee (B A R R Y)]

Well, I'm getting worked up about it because my past experience with
new cars and dealers has been that it's normally a battle to get
anything covered under the warranty.

That's why I sold my Subie. Truly _awful_ warranty backup!

At a tad over 5k, I started getting clutch slippage. On several
occasions, with the service manager in the passenger seat, I showed
him the RPM's jumping up while the speed didn't increase. Right to
my face, he said "I don't see a problem". Subaru was no help at all.
About a year after I sold the car, I started hearing about similar
problems on '01 Subies on "Click and Clack" and in newspaper articles.
The only reason the problem didn't get more press is that so few OBW
were sold with stick shifts, especially since the uptrim and H6 models
were auto-only.

I've had great experiences with my Toyota and Jeep dealers and
warranties. My Tacoma had an early production major defect. My
Wrangler was at the dealership on such a regular basis, for BIG stuff,
that I got to know everyone in the service dept.'s name. All
warranty work was done with a smile.

Good luck! Dealerships are independent businesses, so here's to yours
being better than mine. I really liked my Subaru, it's too bad
nobody would stand behind it.

 

[kaboom]

That I know--I made the mistake of choosing the dark blue color and
pretty much all it takes to get a scratch is to brush the side of the
car with your coat.

**I hear ya!!!! I *had* a dark blue 05 Impreza. It looked like it had
85,000 miles on it and it only had 12,000! It was horribly scratched
and the damn thing spent most of its time sitting by itself.

Ironically when I asked the dealer if Subaru's
paint is known to be poor, they said on the contrary, Subaru has
outstanding paint and finish quality and they have never had a
customer complain about the paint flaking off before me.

**Wait, what?! Bwaaaaaahaaaaahaaaaaaa!! You should've told him to lay
off the wacky tabacky. As of yesterday, I'm the proud new leasee (?)
of a 2008 Impreza (base model). Talking about my car, I told my
salesman about the bad paint and he acknowledged the crappy paint and
said that the 08's were better. Right. I guess we'll find out, won't
we? I wanted a white Impreza but they didn't have one so I got the
Newport Blue Pearl. Hopefully, it won't show the carnage I'll make
sure to keep it polished and immediately take care of the scratches as
they occur.

kaboomie

 

[yngver]

Why are you getting yourself so worked up about this issue?

You have said "The dealer said they will look at it and see what is
going on, but they assured me Subaru warrants thepaintand finish."

You're probably no expert on automotivepaintprocesses and finishes so
any conclusions you have made will almost be certainly wrong.

No, my conclusion--that the dealer was somehow going to say this was
my fault and Subaru wasn't going to fix it, turned out to be correct.
-yngver

 

[yngver]

**I hear ya!!!! I *had* a dark blue 05 Impreza. It looked like it had
85,000 miles on it and it only had 12,000! It was horribly scratched
and the damn thing spent most of its time sitting by itself.


**Wait, what?! Bwaaaaaahaaaaahaaaaaaa!! You should've told him to lay
off the wacky tabacky. As of yesterday, I'm the proud new leasee (?)
of a 2008 Impreza (base model). Talking about my car, I told my
salesman about the badpaintand he acknowledged the crappypaintand
said that the 08's were better. Right. I guess we'll find out, won't
we? I wanted a white Impreza but they didn't have one so I got the
Newport Blue Pearl. Hopefully, it won't show the carnage I'll make
sure to keep it polished and immediately take care of the scratches as
they occur.

kaboomie

Next time, if I do get another Subaru, I will do what you did and
choose a lighter color. Unfortunately I've learned that with Subaru,
with the dark colors if a leaf falls on the hood you get a white
scratch, and unless you *never* got through a car wash you will get
paint swirl.

As I pretty much expected, the dealer decided something must have
struck the wheel well and caused the paint to crack, so I'm out of
luck there. He did say I should get it repainted because it's just
going to keep cracking and flaking off.
-yngver

 

[yngver]

That's why I sold my Subie. Truly _awful_ warranty backup!

At a tad over 5k, I started getting clutch slippage. On several
occasions, with the service manager in the passenger seat, I showed
him the RPM's jumping up while the speed didn't increase. Right to
my face, he said "I don't see a problem". Subaru was no help at all.
About a year after I sold the car, I started hearing about similar
problems on '01 Subies on "Click and Clack" and in newspaper articles.
The only reason the problem didn't get more press is that so few OBW
were sold with stick shifts, especially since the uptrim and H6 models
were auto-only.

I've had great experiences with my Toyota and Jeep dealers and
warranties. My Tacoma had an early production major defect. My
Wrangler was at the dealership on such a regular basis, for BIG stuff,
that I got to know everyone in the service dept.'s name. All
warranty work was done with a smile.

Good luck! Dealerships are independent businesses, so here's to yours
being better than mine. I really liked my Subaru, it's too bad
nobody would stand behind it.

You know, it's funny you mention that clutch slippage problem. My
husband sat with two different Subaru mechanics and showed them the
same thing, that the RPM would sometimes jump when there was no change
in speed, and one said he didn't see the problem; the other said
something about how the clutch on Subarus is touchy. You make a good
point about manual transmissions; mine has had a rough idle since day
one, which I would have thought was normal if the Subaru dealer hadn't
given me an automatic Forester, same year, as a loaner and I saw how
nice and quiet the idle was. They didn't have another stick-shift on
the lot to compare with to see if they are all rough. I have given up
on both problems since at least they don't seem to be getting any
worse. I imagine once the warranty expires they will figure out what's
wrong, but at least it's in their records that we've complained
several times about these issues.

I figured the dealer would say the paint flaking was not Subaru's
problem, and yes, he decided something must have stuck inside the
wheel well and caused the paint to start to crack. That seems unlikely
to me--something hit it just hard enough to crack the paint and make
it start flaking, but didn't leave a dent? But the dealer seemed to
think my insurance company would buy that, so we'll see.
-yngver

 

[Fred Sanford]

You know, it's funny you mention that clutch slippage problem. My
husband sat with two different Subaru mechanics and showed them the
same thing, that the RPM would sometimes jump when there was no change
in speed, and one said he didn't see the problem; the other said
something about how the clutch on Subarus is touchy. You make a good
point about manual transmissions; mine has had a rough idle since day
one, which I would have thought was normal if the Subaru dealer hadn't
given me an automatic Forester, same year, as a loaner and I saw how
nice and quiet the idle was. They didn't have another stick-shift on
the lot to compare with to see if they are all rough. I have given up
on both problems since at least they don't seem to be getting any
worse. I imagine once the warranty expires they will figure out what's
wrong, but at least it's in their records that we've complained
several times about these issues.

I figured the dealer would say the paint flaking was not Subaru's
problem, and yes, he decided something must have stuck inside the
wheel well and caused the paint to start to crack. That seems unlikely
to me--something hit it just hard enough to crack the paint and make
it start flaking, but didn't leave a dent? But the dealer seemed to
think my insurance company would buy that, so we'll see.
-yngver

Just remember how poorly they treat you now. Wait for later, the double-talk
and denials will really piss you off.
Subaru of America is a "shit-stain" of a company.Thier service underwriters
have been trained to bend you over and
do you everytime they can.....

 

[sarahs choice]

So it wasn't bad quality paint work at all? Just your poor luck?

 

[kaboom]

So it wasn't bad quality paint work at all? Just your poor luck?

**Compared to every car I've ever owned (including one that was the
identical blue and under identical circumstances), the paint aged
badly and it had the least mileage/usage of the whole lot. If it was a
good quality paint job, it wouldn't have been as horribly scratched at
12K miles. Luck has jack shit to do with it. It's a cheap-ass paint
job but, happily, I like the car it's wrapped around.

 

[yngver]

**Compared to every car I've ever owned (including one that was the
identical blue and under identical circumstances), the paint aged
badly and it had the least mileage/usage of the whole lot. If it was a
good quality paint job, it wouldn't have been as horribly scratched at
12K miles. Luck has jack shit to do with it. It's a cheap-ass paint
job but, happily, I like the car it's wrapped around.

I have to say I agree with this. My last car, a Honda Civic, had 130K
miles on it when I traded it in and had fewer chips and scratches than
my 2006 Subaru Forester does now, with 22K miles. Both garaged, same
driving conditions. I was not really kidding when I said all it takes
is to brush by the car with your coat and it scratches.
-yngver