As my name implies, I have a 97 GS with the White Pearl paint. I can see stress-lines in the paint around the 'mouth-opening' in the middle of the bumper. A few of these lines have gotten to the point of cracking and I have a few sections of paint (triangle-shaped) that are flaking-up (still attached by one side of the triangle) from the bumper itself.

Has anyone heard of any problems with this paint? I'm pretty sure my only option is to go to SATAN, but I was wondering if anyone's heard of or has had previous problems with that paint. My nearest dealer is an hour and a half away, so this is going to suck. Plus, I know they're going to give me shit and try to get out of it, even though it's a paint defect.

Shouldn't this be covered by them regardless?? I have 52K miles on my car..

Thanks guys!!

- Aaron

have u hit the bumper on a curve r anything that mite have caused the cracking is it urethane r fiberglass. the body shop will probably try to say something like that to get out of a paint defect. i have an old dodge truck that the paint has peeled off all over it and it is because of some shitty water base primer they used on them but they wont call it a defect. hope u get it straight. CU

97 Talon ESI N/T
total stock "not for long"

Yeah, that sucks dood.., my front end is doing the same thing, all over though, it's cracking in a bunch of spots, and the clear coat is just flaking off alot, i've never hit anything, but the owner before me left some decent bottom out marks. My car only has 39,000 miles on it, should this be covered?
Deze

96' RS
IM: Deze2g
"Friends don't let friends drive stock."
http://www.angelfire.com/geek/dezeclipse

My car's front bumper chipped but we took it back to the body shop and they fixed it because they didn't primer it right. That was back when my car was still white.

Ian
95 Eclipse RS
http://www.geocities.com/icjeclipse/index.html

I think what may have caused this is a bad paint job, in addition to scraping or bending the bumper which causes the polyurethane stock front bumper to bend and flex back. After repeated times of flexing, it may start to crack a little, although most people don't have this problem. It most likely has to do with a bad paint job.

eclipse804@hotmail.com
http://importdeals.homestead.com
Import Parts and Performance

Its probably simply the paint. Silver, White, Gray, and essentially lighter colors peel very easily(clear coat). Its very common. Especially with silver, and gold on ANY car. So thats most likely why. They will probably dispute it though, dealerships like to try and get out of it if possible. If they do, and you're confident its a defect, ask to talk to the Area Service Manager. He actually has some power and can do something for you... If you're sure its a defect. Anyways, Good Luck man.

Josh
95 Eclipse RS

The biggest color I've seen have prblem with clear coat peeling is red.

Anyway, if the mixture was bad on the special flexpaint neded to paint the urathane bumpers right was bad it can spider when you bump it. Even the flex paint will spider if you hit it hard enough.

"To strive to seek to find... and not to yield."
Michael J. Kulaga
Michael_97RS@2gntDSM.zzn.com
aol IM: MJKulga
http://highlander.dsmpower.com/

Thanks for all the information and best wishes.
I haven't bumped anything at all, and I've had the car for about 12K miles and it never had this problem until recently.

I did notice that towards the back of the mouth area (where the FMIC is normally put) the paint looks like it's starting to bubble a bit, which means the paint must have sucked, and that they probably didn't put enough coats on.

This is making me start to worry about the rest of my car, though I've not had any problems yet.

It's reassuring that there are others that have had the problem because that gives leverage when talking to the dealer.

Has anyone that has had the problem fixed had the dealer fix it (icjeclipse)? Did they give you a hard time? I know they're going to cause problems, but I'm not going to give up... that's about $300 worth of mods I would be blowing to fix a problem I didn't cause.

Well that happened right after i got my car out of the body shop after a front end crash. I just went back to the body shop that did it and they resprayed the front bumper. Never had a problem after that.

Ian
95 Eclipse RS
http://www.geocities.com/icjeclipse/index.html

I have the same flaking problem on my front bumper (where it seems that the clear coat is peeling off) and I talked to the dealership and they said that a fix for it is only covered with the 36,000 mile warranty. That sux!


Two of the most powerful elements in nature interact to create a most awesome machine!
Whodatt1
97gs

I'm not giving up that easily if that's what they tell me. This was not our fault and we should not be responsible for fixing a factory mistake... especially since it's going to cost them time more than anything else, which we should not have to pay them for since they caused the problem.

I'll let you know what I end up figuring out. I wanted to push this thread out to find things out, and I'm going to be making my calls tomorrow.

Also, Any More Info is greatly appreciated.

Thanks again guys!

UPDATE -

I spoke with a few service people at first, and then went to the Area Service Manager as Josh (CluckeRMC) suggested and I got the same response as Whodatt1 did. Paint defects are only covered under the 36K/3 YR warranty, and being that I'm out of that, he could not authorize it because they wouldn't receive compensation from Mitsubishi.

So... I pursued it a bit more with him and he suggested that I call the Customer Satisfaction and Assistance line which he gave me to address the issue with them, and if I could get it okayed through that route, he would be happy to handle the work...

So... I'll post another update once I clear this up. Hopefully, tomorrow.

so wait a minute here. mine is chipping like that and i can get a free paint job on the front of my car because i only have 33k on my car and its a 99? sweet!

aem cai
pacesetter headers
gs-t exhaust
red altezzas
rims, tires, and a bunch of other little stuff....that list is way too short....more will come!

Yeah, but you better get in there quick.. before you hit 36K

Hey 97CustomGS, let me know how it goes with that phone call... I really want to get mine redone, and hopefully not have to pay for it... :) hehe


Two of the most powerful elements in nature interact to create a most awesome machine!
Whodatt1
97gs

First call didn't go well at all... the woman I spoke with was somewhat nice, until I got the wrong answer (it's not covered because you're out of warranty) and I kept pushing, she wouldn't escalate the call... So, I'm making another call tomorrow if they're open Saturday, or on Monday (didn't have any more time today.. at work). And, I'll take it to their supervisor if I get the same answer from the next person.

We should NOT have to pay for a factory defect, regardless of whether SATAN decided to put a recall on it (which they HARDLY EVER do for ANYTHING they cause a problem with, unless safety related) or being out-of-warranty.

Could EVERYONE who has had this problem with their factory paint post in response to this post letting me know, so I can point this out when I call back and talk to the next person.

I'm going to be one persistent SOB.

i have the problem. cayanne red 33k...give them hell!!!

aem cai
pacesetter headers
gs-t exhaust
red altezzas
rims, tires, and a bunch of other little stuff....that list is way too short....more will come!