Author Topic: Nice car, but....  (Read 25799 times)

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Offline PanPilot

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Nice car, but....
« on: August 19, 2016, 01:52:06 pm »
All I can say is, welcome to the Mazda Rubbish Paint Club. I bought 2014 Mazda 6 Sport Nav in dark blue. What a mistake...
 I have had very many cars over the last four decades, and have NEVER had a car with such poor paint. The colour coat is about as thick as a cigarette paper - probably not even that - and of course, the primer underneath (why is it always white?) shows with every tiny nick. The front end has literally dozens at 18 months and 18,000 miles, some of which show signs of rust. So the weekly routine is hand-wash with a soft fleece, minutely inspect for new chips, and touch them in. Worse, I have four tiny chips on the roof, two which now have rust tracking under the paint, the other two are beginning to rust. How does a flat, horizontal panel get stone chips, for goodness sake?
I'm convinced that if a butterfly walked across the paint it would leave footprints. I would never dare use an auto car wash!
Mazda don't want to know, other than the dealer selling me a paint touch-in kit. So much for paint warranties!
 It's a very great shame, the car is well equipped, comfortable, quiet, and excellent to drive, but BADLY, no, make that VERY BADLY let down by the paint finish. Not good - it's not a cheap car.
And it's not just me, a friend has similar problems with an MX-5. Contrast this with my hack, a Golf which at eleven years and 160,000 miles has six stone chips - I just counted - and no rust.
Mazda? Never again. :(

Offline 678hug

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2016, 03:47:08 pm »
Much as i love my Mazda 6, i have to agree. I see that things haven't improved since i purchased my 2009 model.

Had it washed and waxed last week.  I thought that they hadn't rubbed the wax off properly until i tried to do it and realised they were stone chips. I reckon 200 of them on the bumper and bonnet. Also got a few just above the windscreen which have turned into rust spots.

I have done 140 000 motorway miles so i do expect a fair few chips, but this was way in excess of what i would expect and way more than any other car i have owned.

I think i'll leave it dirty. Doesn't show up as much.

Offline PanPilot

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2016, 07:26:36 am »
 I little search of the web for something like 'Mazda paint problem' shows it's common. I just wish I had done it before I bought the car. Hindsight, and all that.
 I have had a much closer look at the roof under a magnifier, there are tiny pin-pricks in several places which appear to be the beginnings of blistering. These are even at the back of the roof, which is sloping down at this point, so should *never* suffer stone chips. The car has only been on the road for 18 months!
 This is a very serious issue. Once the top coat is compromised, it is very obvious that the primer coat allows moisture to permeate through and begin corrosion. Like a lot of cars, the panels are thin in the drive to save weight, and I suspect it's not going to take long to penetrate; and penetration from the outside is not covered under the anti-perforation warranty.
 I expect a lot of rusty Mazdas in the next few years... maybe meeting a premature end.
 Mazda are playing a very dangerous game here. Anyone with a memory which reaches back to the 60's and 70's will remember that certain car makes had a woeful reputation for rust, and it take DECADES to get rid of that bad name.
 I have been told by someone who was in the trade, that the probable reason for all of this hassle is the move to water-based paints. As I understand it, this happened in stages, first the under layer(s) only, with two-pack lacquer topcoat which is hard, and still OK, but over the last few years the lacquer topcoat layer is now also water-based and not robust. It's not confined to Mazda. Can anyone confirm? Sounds like another win for the environmentalists...
 I am seriously thinking about contacting BBC Watchdog over this, but I need ammunition. Anyone else out there?

Offline PanPilot

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2016, 07:47:48 am »
 I've now gone from 'concerned' to 'very concerned'. The reason? - I just did a web search for the term 'Mazda rust'.
 Oh dear.

Offline andywolfie

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #4 on: August 22, 2016, 05:38:35 pm »
It's not good is it, but as you say a lot of manufacturers suffer from this, do a search on any makes makes with the word rust after is and it's shocking, my wife's VW polo which is a year old is suffering from this and currently trying to get them to cover it, after all the troubles VW has been having you would think they would be happy to help! NOT the case! As for my 2008 6, so far so good, a few stone chips here and there but nothing that stands out,

Andy

Offline PanPilot

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #5 on: August 23, 2016, 09:08:28 am »
 Hi Andy... from what I hear and read, the newer the car, the more likely it is to suffer the problem; see my previous post about the type of paint. It may be your '08 car doesn't have the water-based topcoat/ lacquer, so is tougher. If so, lucky you!
 It sounds like you aren't lucky with the VW though, so is this problem is going to be widespread throughout the industry generally? I presume the environmental regs apply to all. I read somewhere that manufacturers are using less and thinner paint, it's obviously a cost saving, but also in the drive to save weight too.
 There is another factor may be involved though, and that is galvanisation of the panels before painting (or maybe lack of). It was introduced years ago to counter this exact problem where moisture penetrates the paint layers. My 20-year-old Volvo had stone chips which were obviously down to bare metal, yet didn't rust. My old Rover did however, and I was told then it was because Rover galvanised the inside of the panels, but not the outside, the logic being that the outside had a protective paint layer, and galvanising costs money. I don't know the truth of it though.
 I think I'll go looking for an old Volvo...

Offline bazzamf

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #6 on: August 23, 2016, 09:48:50 am »
New cars are not designed to last forever and have never been, so it's something we have to live with. I think we need to accept that if we are getting more than 10 -12 years life then we are doing well.

Offline PanPilot

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #7 on: August 23, 2016, 10:20:05 am »
Well, that point is open to debate I guess. I appreciate that manufacturers have to sell cars, so there must be a finite life. But consider this:
My Golf, at eleven years and an awful lot more miles, has almost no corrosion. My Volvo, at twenty plus years old, had none even after 200,000 miles.
My Mazda, if this is not attended to promptly, will have several rusty patches by the time it is three years old. My guess is that a couple of years after that, it will have holes.
This is not progress!  We are heading for Lada territory here... and you remember the jokes about them.
The difference is, Ladas were half the price of a Ford Cortina at the time. A top-of-the-range Mazda 6 is listed at almost £30K.   
 The bottom line is that this is not acceptable whichever way you look at it. For the Mazda dealer to present me with a finger and tell me to put it somewhere warm is rubbing salt in the wound.

Offline andywolfie

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #8 on: August 23, 2016, 08:21:08 pm »
I can't understand the logic with these manufacturers, how bad an advert is it to have one of their cars rusting after a couple of years? You would think they would want to fix this, surprised at Mazda as they always do well in surveys, I bet that will change in years to come,

Andy

Offline 678hug

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2016, 04:17:45 pm »
Not sure how i've ended up with quite so many, but beleive it or not, these are all chips in the paintwork.
The car will be at the end of its life in a couple of years so i won't be losing any sleep over it.
 

     

Offline bazzamf

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2016, 01:37:08 pm »
If I'm interpreting the pictures correctly, I think you will find that all the bits shown are made of plastic, so no fear of rust there.

Offline PanPilot

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2016, 07:18:56 am »
 You know, I frequently think that car manufacturers have lost the plot, and are ignoring the basics, like build quality. In a couple of years you will be able to get in your car, have a nice chat with the girl in your satnav and ask her to find your nearest Tesco, then press a button and your electronically-stable, electronically-braked car, with its electronically-controlled engine and electronically-controlled gearbox, will electronically steer round the neighbour's pussycat to drive you there, while you read today's news on the screen on the dash. When it gets there it will self-park amongst all the other rusty cars. Mind you, non of them will be more than five years old; beyond that you won't be able to afford to fix them.
 Oh, I get it now... you will have to go out and buy a new one. Brilliant!

Offline 678hug

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2016, 07:26:04 am »
If I'm interpreting the pictures correctly, I think you will find that all the bits shown are made of plastic, so no fear of rust there.

Sorry about the pictures being sideways, They were the right way up when i posted them.
There are chips on the plastic bumper but there are also chips on the metal wings and bonnet but thankfully no rust.
The only ones i have with rust are above the windscreen but i didn't post a photo of those.

Offline PanPilot

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #13 on: August 27, 2016, 07:41:45 am »
 It's worth a quick look at the forums for the other Mazda models (the links are right at the top of the page).
M3 forum: "I've notice on mine that the paint chips so easily. My car is only 9 months old but I've got so many stone chips I can't believe."
M2 forum: "After washing it today I have noticed some paint corrosion on my bonnet! And patched where it looks like it will start peeling away!"

 I feel better now I'm not the only one.

Offline JerryB

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Re: Nice car, but....
« Reply #14 on: September 03, 2016, 11:31:17 am »
Wow! you guys are certainly putting me off having another Mazda.  My 2002 6 had to have one of the jacking points welded this year.  It has major rust bubbles on the wheel arches, tailgate edge and door edges. To be fair it has an uncertain history and I suspect it was damaged before I got it.
Oddly it doesn't have much in the way of paint chips on the front.