[Blue_17AD]

Hey all - I was hoping for a quick sanity check.

I purchased my 17 Limited (Ulsan) back in May of last year, and the paint already appears to be flaking off the hood. Currently have 10K miles on the clock. I understand that rock chips are unavoidable, but these defects don't look like normal rock chips to me. I have attached 5 examples of this, but there are at least 15 more scattered about the hood. I am not counting the first 10 that I touched up with a Dr ColorChip kit last year either.

Before I start pestering my dealer/Hyundai, I wanted to see what others thought about these. Also, how does the paint look on your AD? Aside from the flaking, I have tons of orange peel and the paint just feels so thin. I love my Elantra, but the paint job feels like the weakest link.

I also have a 2016 Ford Fiesta base - it was the cheapest new car I could buy at the time. The paint on that car is holding up way better than my newer Elantra - despite being older and with more miles on it. It has a few rock chips too, but none of them have exposed bare metal like on the Elantra. The paint on the Fiesta just feels thicker too.

 

[HoosierHyundai]

Only 6 mo on my E Ultimate (Quartz White Pearl, Alabama build). I have one paint chip in the roof just above the windshield and I know EXACTLY when that stone hit me (BAM!!!!). Doubt any auto paint would have survived that one. Other than that one I find my paint has held up well.


BTW- How did you like the Dr Chip? Hyundai's touch up paint (proper paint code) does not match for me (a shade dark).

 

[Chesten C]

I've had mine since April 2017 (Quartz White Pearl, Alabama) and only see the typical paint chips on my hood and front bumper.
I have double your mileage and I don't see any of the paint problems that you've attached.


HoosierHyundai, I've had good results with Dr. ColorChip, I've used it on 3 cars and they seem to color match the paint better. I'm using Hyundai's touch up paint for the small rock chips (can barely notice the difference). Also, I heard 2 rock chips this week hit the roof and hood (so sad).

 

[Miga]

I have the same problem, actually. My Elantra Value Edition's only 6 months old, 5200 miles.

I've honestly been tempted at seeing about getting it repainted with a higher quality paint -- the paint on this thing seems really weak.

 

[Blue_17AD]

@hoosier - Dr ColorChip is great, the color was right on, and it was easy to apply.
@Miga - I had the same idea, but I don't think we should have to do that. Hyundai should be capable of applying a paint job with reasonable durability. I was recently helping a friend car shop, and we looked at a CPO 17 Elantra - the paint was fine on it and it had 15k miles. I am wondering if we just got bad ones. What color is your car? Where was it made?

 

[Miga]

@hoosier - Dr ColorChip is great, the color was right on, and it was easy to apply.
@Miga - I had the same idea, but I don't think we should have to do that. Hyundai should be capable of applying a paint job with reasonable durability. I was recently helping a friend car shop, and we looked at a CPO 17 Elantra - the paint was fine on it and it had 15k miles. I am wondering if we just got bad ones. What color is your car? Where was it made?

Mine's electric blue, made in Alabama.

 

[NicholasD]

Now they are grinding up tires with steel in them for road surfacing, that sure looks like spatter that has become the latest problem. Looks like rust in tar.



Clay bar and a ton of elbow grease that gets that off. Mineral spirits also helps, won't hurt the paint. Find the hood to be unusual, front and doors sure get it.



Son is a bit irritated, used sticky stones on his road, not only vehicles, but stick to the bottom of your shoes on my grandkids, if they don't take their shoes off, really miserable to clean on carpet.



Ha, I guy on this board was asking how to keep his new Elantra clean, easy, just put on an addition to his home like a dealers showroom and leave it in there. Rumored that our vehicles are designed for the showroom.

 

[Blue_17AD]

@NicholasD - I WISH it was just tar spatter. Unfortunately those are spots where the paint has flaked away, revealing bare metal. I'm going to visit a paint shop, and see what they think.

 

[NicholasD]

Something is amiss, Hyundai claims all of their sheet metal is galvanized, this does not rust. Take it back to your dealer.



Really disliked the paint on our Cruze, very porous, bugs would stick to it like glue, with our Limited, water hose gets most of those off just by spraying, stubborn ones need the help with a rag.

 

[CyprusCorner]

my coworker used to work for hyundai in their paint department as an engineer. Their paint is more likely to be damaged from things like rock chips, but it shouldn't affect the primer coating. I live in arizona where there's a lot of gravel, so I have my fair share of rock chips, but all of them have a black coating exposed. The black coating is the primer. The primer should stay intact most of the time (unless it's a big rock). Your pictures look like the metal is getting exposed though (and rusted? where do you live, somewhere humid/rainy?). If that's the case, then something is definitely wrong with your primer coat.

 

[OkieRich]

Only 6 mo on my E Ultimate (Quartz White Pearl, Alabama build). I have one paint chip in the roof just above the windshield and I know EXACTLY when that stone hit me (BAM!!!!).

I could have written this post. Verbatim. Exactly the same here. One tiny, almost invisible chip to everyone but me (and you) and a couple at the roof edge above the windshield.

Same color. Same build point. Sigh!

 

[Blue_17AD]

@CyprusCorner - It's just the poor lighting in my photos - I don't see any rust forming yet. (I live in Phoenix too) But I do see tons of that black primer, and also bare metal. Honestly if there wasn't any exposed metal, I probably wouldn't care all that much. I counted 60+ spots on my hood that were missing paint, and I'd say at least half of those spots also had exposed metal to some degree. Also - I found a new chip on the rear passenger door - again down to metal. I work from home, and only put 10K miles on it in my first year. This damage just doesn't seem right.

I contacted Hyundai about this, and they wouldn't help me until I took it to a dealership. So I took it down yesterday, and the service adviser basically said: "Yep, those are rock chips." I will be contacting Hyundai again, and see if they will help me.

 

[CyprusCorner]

do even your small chips have paint missing, or is it only the larger chips? Paint problems are going to be hard to prove to a dealer, I don't have any advice there.

1) Do you live in a climate where rock chips are prevalent? yes
2) Is you car supposed to protect itself from most of them? yes
You're essentially trying to prove point number 2 wrong

Just curious, what part of town do you drive in? My rough guesstimate of the top factors that contribute to rock chips in phoenix are as follows:

1) following a landscaping, granite hauling, or lifted truck without mudflaps
2) highway/freeway driving at high speeds
3) the highway you drive on - roads where there's only a concrete barrier on the side of the road (like the i-17 stretch from downtown to the 101) seem to be the worst, where places like the 101 in scottsdale aren't so bad because there's gravel on the side of the road. My theory is that whenever loose gravel is on the road on a place with only concrete barriers, the gravel will never find a "home" on the side of the road, and will continually get kicked around and build up, resulting in more rock chips per mile driven for everyone. Whereas a place like the 101 in scottsdale, if a piece of a gravel makes it on the road, it may only get kicked up once or twice before it bounces off the road and finds "home" inside the gravel area.

 

[Blue_17AD]

@CyprusCorner

Yep, a good number of the smaller chips are missing paint too.

I live out in east Mesa, near the Gateway airport. Between the nearby desert and all of the brodozers, I know that rock chips are inevitable. All of my cars show signs of rock damage - chipped clearcoat, exposed primer, embedded grit, chipped windshields, etc etc. I just expected the paint on my awesome new Hyundai to fare as well as my other cars.

Unfortunately, I think you are right about proving this to be a defective paint job. I believe it to be, but convincing Hyundai is another story. I'm expecting them to tell me to piss off - but it doesn't hurt to try.

 

[CyprusCorner]

Give it a shot, best of luck. I'll see if my coworker has any suggestions since he formerly supported that process.

 

[Blue_17AD]

Thanks Cyprus - I appreciate that.

 

[snydertech]

I have the exact same problem. I see at least 10 chips on hood, fenders and roof. One is rusting already. I have an '18 Elantra, Red, built in Alabama. I am going to call the dealer.

I do have 35K miles on it.

I have 2 other cars, older, that have little to no chips, driven on similar roads.

I have had 20+ cars in my lifetime and nothing chips like this car.

 

[Miga]

As I've been driving I've noticed that the paint chips have only become worse. I travel bi-weekly between Phoenix, AZ and Flagstaff, AZ and it just seems like it's absolutely destroying the paint on this thing every time I get on the I-17 -- and I only have a little over 8,000 miles on it!

So now I'm considering having it repainted with a better quality paint and maybe having something neat done like a two-tone paint job (lighter blue and darker blue) but I'm not sure yet. Never run into a situation before where I've reconsidered having a repaint done on a car that's not even a year old yet...

 

[grcauto]

IMO.....The brush or spray touch ups look worse than the chips. I would use the brush on chips that go through to the metal to prevent rust and leave the others alone. If you do a lot of highway driving like I used to the chips will be numerous after a 2 or 3 years. Having done body work as a professional I would do the entire face every 2 or 3 years depending how bad it was. Looked like new after 7 or 8 years and had a much better resale value. If you are even remotely decent with a spray system you'll be much happier doing it that way. Use a quality paint and buy a pint. I used PPG and mb1 exact match. Not cheap but will still be painting well after 10 years without needing more paint. So long as you know how to blend you are good with a pint for the life of the car or truck.

That's been my experience.

 

[Blue_17AD]

Hey Miga, Synder

I'm sorry to hear about your paint issues - but I'm glad I'm not the only one. It means I'm not completely crazy. : )

Here is what has happened in the last two months:

- Called Hyundai Customer care about 16 times. Had my painted inspected by dealer, was within spec. (~4.x mils). Hyundai very politely told me to go pound sand, refused to help.

- Went to independent paint shop. The guy said OEMs are skimping on paintwork to save a few pennies. He didn't recommend completely repainting the car, as it wouldn't be as durable as the factory finish. He recommended touching up each spot (80+ in my case), applying clear on top, then sanding to get it even. He was gonna charge me like $100 for that, which seemed pretty reasonable.

I'm probably going to pay that shop to touch up those spots, and just do it every few years. I'm not letting Hyundai off the hook though. I am having my friends and fam shame them on facebook/twitter. I am also going to make a decal that I will proudly display on the back of my car. "Thinking Hyundai? Think again. Ask about my lemon" I'll make sure Hyundai knows about my mobile billboard. It's only going to cost me $30 bucks for the custom sticker, I think it will end up costing Hyundai much more.
@Miga, @syndertech - I will gladly buy you both the same decals. If Hyundai refuses to help you guys, let me know. I'm dead serious. : )