I can't believe this......
 

Let me start off by saying I am that person who when they get a new car I park AWAY from all other cars in the parking lot.

I went to a self service car wash today to give my new 2015 Alabaster Silver EX CVT Fit a good wash!

As I was using the pressurized hose on the back bumper (as I am not a big fan of going through the car wash in a new car) some of the paint peeled off as I was hosing the car down. I just about had a heart attack in the wash bay!!!!!! :hyper:

I will be going to the dealer body shop tomorrow. I do not believe that the paint on a 3 week old car should have been peeling this easily. If the dealer gives me a fight about honoring the damage under warranty I am going to get it fixed regardless. Since the rear bumper appears to be its own piece it looks like the bumper can be primed and repainted w/o a major paint job. No where else on the car did I have a problem.

If I can figure out how to post a picture of the peeling paint on this thread I will. The peeling happened on the part of the bumper that contours (below the hatch door and above the black vent).

Be careful if you use a pressurized hose when washing your new Fit! I have seen on prior threads that there were issues with the paint on the new Fit. Let's just say once I get my bumper fixed I will be a regular hose and bucket kind of washer!!

Overall I still love my new Fit!!!

P.S. If someone can post on this thread how to attach pictures I will post a picture.

Have seen paint issues on a variety of new Hondas in the past month or 2. I have a Odyssey, a Civic Si and a CRV all set to go to the bodyshop for bumpers with peeling paint issues. See your dealer and expain what happened they should take care of it unless you have impact damage that may have caused the problem.

Just remember to keep your cool at the dealer, I know I would be insanely angry. Whenever stuff like this happens I try to remember it's not the service person's fault and the nicer I am to them the more willing they will be to take care of me.

I never use those high pressure washers on any car, not just our new Fit. I had a Ford F-150 years ago (1986), that I purchased new, and remember watching the pressure washer peel paint off the side. I was thinking I even saw in the Fit owners manual a note about being careful using those pressure washers. If I am not doing myself, I use the "touch less" systems, but even then I worry about the chemicals they use. Sorry that happened to you, it would (and has), really upset me as well..

@ 15BlkPrl - Definitely no impact damage. Out of curiosity what are the years of your Hondas that are going back to the dealer with bumper issues?

@hellgiver - I totally agree with you. I am going to the dealer tomorrow as cool as a cucumber! I work in the service industry so I know how it is to get reamed out over something by a customer when the issue that they are upset about was not your fault. I always say that you get more with sugar than you do with S@%&! :thumbups:

@Vanguard - I hope you are wrong about the warning in the Fit manual or I won't have a leg to stand on at the dealer. Its funny you mentioned the touchless car wash because that is where I was initially headed however I had alot of bugs on my bumper so I figured the pressurized hose would do a better job of cleaning the front bumper off. The funny thing is its not the front bumper where the paint peeled off. The paint peeled off right on the top contour of the back bumper.


I am going to the dealer tomorrow. I will post how I made out. Here is another question. I purchased my Fit from a Honda dealer that is further away from where I live than a Honda dealer who I have had previous experience with doing body work on a '06 Civic that I own. Should I take my Fit back to the Honda dealer where I purchased it from or should I take it to the Honda dealer who I had the previous body work experience with? If the bumper is honored under warranty it shouldn't matter which Honda dealer I take it back to. Right?

They are all 14-15 MY cars.
Warranty is warranty no matter the dealer

Paint
 

I live in a painted brick home. Whenever I decide to repaint I use a power washer to take off the old paint. Maybe if I wanted to paint my Fit I would do the same.:)

Why don't you hand wash the car? Anything else is just going to introduce swirls.

@15BlkPrl - Thanks for the response.

@Rosienme - LOL! Yes! I am sure you would have NO problems getting that paint off with that pressure hose if you decided to repaint that Fit! For heaven sake I wanted to wash the car not take it down to the primer. LOL! Thank God the bumper was the only area where the paint peeled off. When I purchased my '06 Civic 8 years ago I used pressure hoses to wash it and had no problem!!

@mike410b - I learned the hard way today but I will be hand washing from now on. Trust me! I didn't even think about the swirling issue. I owned several Hondas and never had this much of an issue with washing the car. I live in Upstate NY so I can't imagine what the snow bush will do to the paint job on my Fit when I have to clear the snow off of it!

It would be a good idea to keep the car waxed, at least a fresh wax job every 6 months . This should help your paint longevity.

i read somewhere new car paint isn't "completely" cured yet.

Modern "eco-friendly" paints don't have as good of adhesion as older paints. I wouldn't spray modern paint with a high pressure hose.

That said, I'm surprised that a Honda would shed paint like this unless the nozzle was put right up to the paint.

@BillBogey - I will definitely get the car waxed once I get my bumper fixed. No more pressure hoses for me.

@xxryu139x - I wish I had heard that BEFORE I attempted to blast - I mean wash my car! SMH!!! Ruined my whole day!!!

@GeorgeL - I would imagine if my bumper peeled due to the pressure of the hose I would have more peeling than on the contour of the rear bumper. The distance I held the hose from the car was consistent throughout the time I was washing the car.

like how many inches away did u hold the end of the nozzle to the bumper???

@xxryu139x - I was standing atleast a foot away from the end of the nozzle to the bumper. What's crazy is that there were some bugs on my front bumper so I had sprayed in closer with the nozzle on the front bumper to get the bugs off and there are no issues with the front bumper.

<1 foot is high pressure.

Wow, FitasaFiddle, so sorry to hear that. That should not be happening. I have gone to self-service car washes all the time and used high-pressure hoses on the Hondas I have owned ('03 CR-V, '06 CR-V, and now '12 CR-V) and have never had the paint removed from the bumper by a high-pressure hose! Seems pretty outrageous to me.

I hope Honda gets wind of it and does something about it, whether it's using extra coats of paint at the factory or some other procedure that can ensure a stronger bond of the paint with the metal (I know nothing about how vehicles are painted).

And I hope you get some financial satisfaction from your dealer.

@xxryu139x - From today going forward anything more than a garden hose and a bucket of soap is high pressure! No more pressurized hoses for me!!

well i hope u don't mention that u used a pressure washer incorrectly. i'm pretty sure they'll turn around and blame you not the car.

Most 'natural' waxes lose what little protective qualities they have after a couple weeks.

If you want to protect your paint, use a clear bra or a high end paint sealant.

@pjaymac - I agree. Prior to purchasing the '15 Fit I own a '06 Civic (which has 233k miles on it) and I owned a '01 Accord where I used pressurized hoses (at the same carwash) on both cars when I first purchased them and I never had a problem with peeling paint.

I am going to the dealer in the morning. I will post tomorrow night how I made out.

@xxryu139x - I don't want to lie to the dealer because using the pressurized hose is how the damage in fact happened. I am going to get it fixed regardless of whether or not the dealer covers it under warranty. The car is 3 weeks old and I live in NY where the winters are harsh. I don't want any rusting or the bumper to continuing peeling. If I have to pay out of pocket to have the bumper fixed I will chock it up as a lesson learned. The way it's been raining hard in NY recently I wonder should I be concerned with peeling paint from high pressure rain??

@mike410b - Thanks for the advice.

Honda has had this issue for so long with there plastic bumpers! At least there not as bad as GM back in the 1990's when all the paint would come off of the car!! O_o

-Using High Pressure Cleaners
• Keep sufficient distance between the cleaning nozzle and the vehicle body.
• Take particular care around the windows. Standing too close may cause water to
enter the vehicle interior.
• Do not spray high pressure water directly into the engine compartment. Instead,
use low pressure water and a mild detergent.

This is the note from the manual. Doesn't say not to do it, but you might want to emphasize that you were at a sufficient distance.

Sucks to hear about this man... I hope Honda makes it right.

Good luck with this and keep us informed.

I have heard of people pressure washing their dirty engines, I was afraid to try this because I thought it might force water into somewhere it doesn't belong.

Sorry....
 

Your experience, along with the other stories of GK paint issues, does not bode well for me....


Generally I am seeing paint-jobs as an area a few manufacturers are cutting back in, which is disheartening since In NYC/NJ between the contruction vehicles stray rocks, and lack of road cleaning (seriously check the BQE for bottles rocks, pieces of accidents past, shoes), a vehicles paint and front end will take a beating.

I was looking forward to the Mazda 3 (killer reviews) but havent seen a solid paint job on these yet....whereas the CX-5 has a pretty good one.

The imprezas and crossteks look ok, but between the paint job and the thin body panels (reminds me of my mom 's old a 2000 accent) I had to walk away....

So I'm between the Fit, Soul, and Forte5 ....and depending on how Honda handles these recent quality control issues and how aloof they've become with their offerings (civic si ranked very poorly), I might be down to 2

Kia in particular seems to be filling the same void Honda filled in the early 90's....

I really hope they repaint that for you.....I've used those bays on 2 occasions...and the high pressure streams arent high enough to peel paint....they are put in a car wash to be used......



My 09 has held up ok.....though I had my front repainted.

Went to the dealer this morning and told the estimator exactly what happened to my bumper. He thought that I said that the pressurized nozzle hit the bumper which caused it to peel. I kindly corrected him and said that I was standing atleast a foot away from the car while spraying when the paint started peeling. The estimator agreed that the paint should not have peeled off the bumper if in fact I was standing that far away. He immediately said it sounded like a warranty issue. Without any hesitation the estimator went into his office and got a camera to take pics of the bumper, my Vin#, door jamb plate and odometer. The estimator explained that he will write an estimate and submit photos to Honda for authorization to repair. He said I should receive a call within a week from them to schedule the repair.

I will keep you posted.

Good for you for standing up for your rights! I'm glad he was willing to document and submit the claim for you!

Well at least they're going to take care of it. That shouldn't happen at all. Stuff like that is not normal and nobody should be blaming pressure washers lol I had a $150 back alley paint job on an old car of mine and that didn't even peel using pressure.

I've been using pressure guns weekly sometimes as close as 1" away to spray off tar on my GE and no issues. I blew out the aftermarket window trim Safelite installed on my hatch glass though LOL just put it back with trim epoxy.

Seriously? :rotfl: The OP did nothing wrong. If you can't go to a CAR wash and wash your car than every manufacturer would have warnings in their warranty about pressure washers. This is a warranty issue over defective paint, plain and simple.

:worthless:

@john21031 - How do you post pics on this thread? I had indicated in my original post that I would post pics if someone could tell me how.

I've been wanting to go with a clear bra for a while -- anyone have a recommendation for a good (effective but not outrageously expensive) option?

Clear bra is great. No chips at all and it didn't peel at all in 7 years. Just changed the colour a little. On a white car may show...
I only did the front of the hood and part of the front fenders, bumper and mirrors can't rust...

Linking and Embedding Images &ndash; Photobucket Support

The photos are posted on any free photo hosting site, then the link is pasted into this message (using the little picture icon on top).

Update!!!!
 

As of yesterday my bumper has been repaired and my Fit looks good as new again!! :wiggle:. I am very satisfied with the repair and it did turn out to be covered under warranty. I asked the body shop person when I could wash my car seeing as though the bumper was just repainted? He told me I could go through a touchless car wash at anytime but he would recommend I wait a month to go through a touch car wash to give the paint time to set. I don't do touch car washes until my car is atleast 2-3 years old. Even though the temperature where I live in NY is an average 50 degrees this time of the year I will be washing and rinsing my Fit with a bucket :thumbups: