Thank you, I appreciate your response. I will look for the technical service bulletins and call Honda.

 

Is this still an ongoing issue with the 2008's? I plan on buying a Fit Sport in March/April.

 

I'm at the dealership now for my 5,000 mile service. I pointed out the paint problem, and they're going to schedule an appointment with the body shop to get it taken care of. No fuss or haggling, at least not from my dealership. Also going to try to get a discount on a clear bra when I take it to the bodyshop -- hopefully whining about all the chips in the bumper of a 6 month old car might sway them.

 

Just dropped it off today to have the bumper problem fixed, and I pointed out the paint chips (got a brand new one last week). Enterprise put me in a Dodge Caliber for the 2 or 3 days Honda will have my Fit ... gotta say, for the 30 minutes I've driven this lumbering atrocity, it really makes me appreciate my Fit.

 

that's exactly how my loaner was, even though it was an '07 accord, it just was too big for my taste.

 

Just got my Blue 07 back from the shop AGAIN! THe front bumper was repainted about 7 months ago and it Re-peeled. The Fools at the shop (FIX AUTO in Ontario, CA) thought they could get away with repainting the CORNERS where the paint peeled. They had the car for OVER a WEEK and had only taped off the front bumper. They where also repainting my back bumper that was damaged in a collision. I had taken it back to them since they had done my front bumper.

When i picked it up the 1st time, the back bumper had a visible line of primer, and wasn't properly clipped back on. Plus it had been left in the front parking area with the damn key in it. and there was overspray on the rim. I told them to keep it and get it done correctly because "this is unacceptable". They had it for 5 more days and couldn't get the clip right. I took the car, called Penske Honda Ontario and Mercury Insurance. They said take it back. My buddy (also a Fit owner with 2 painted bumpers) noticed the damn paint had the too much metallic in it. So I took it back for that and he also noticed the front bumper was re-peeling.

Well after being there for a week and not hearing anything from them, i showed up unannounced. ANDY the advisor, was saying it was almost done. Just had to be detailed. He didn't want to show me the car. So me being 6'4, I just poked my head up till i found it and walked over to it. He was nervous! I saw the tape and said NO WAY! I ended up getting hold of the manager. Told him no way he was just painting the corners and the whole bumper needed to be repainted. He said id have to pay for the bumper refinish.
I told him that if the back bumper wasn't fitting maybe they needed a new skin not just replacing 5 different clips. He was an ass. I threatened him with both my lawyers and the fact that i was talking to the service director and Mr. Penske himself and would do what i could to have them dropped as a preferred shop.

WELL! suddenly next day I called back the manager( because he didn't call em back liek he said he would) and suddenly i was getting a new rear skin, the whole front bumper would be resurfaced and repainted at no charge. and would be done in 4 days !

Now were all cool, and had them install the spacers at all 4 corners.

 

Took my Blaze Orange Sport in this morning to have the passenger wiper arm replaced (it was rusting!), and pointed out just a hint of folded paint (but no peeling yet) in the front left and right rear corners. I also had a copy of the May 2007 Honda Service News that was linked to in a different thread (and specifically mentions this problem, even though there is no "official" bulletin or recall). The service rep. had argued with me on a previous visit (for an oil change) that Honda hadn't said anything about this bumper problem, so they wouldn't do anything. No arguement this time, and they even explicitly mentioned Honda Service News on the work order and invoice. They also added the space washers and touched up inside the gap. Everything looks slick - hopefully I've headed this problem off before it really became a problem.

For those interested in VINs, mine is just north of 35000.

 

my bumper JUST started to peel. but im kinda happy about it because once it gets worse it will prompt me to start collecting the parts for the jdm front end! so yay for peeling bumpers!

 

When you guys say installing washers around the 4 corners...what corners do you mean? Also, do they still have that problem...just wondering because im looking to buy a new one next spring.

 

Skim through earlier parts of this thread for more details, but in short:

The bumpers are connected to the body on each side with a bolt (or screw, I'm not certain). This joint is too tight, which causes the rubbing and peeling. By placing a washer on this fastener, between the bumper and body, you can prevent the rubbing while keeping everything rigid. The washers that the dealer put in mine are not visible from the outside. If you know they are there, you can see the washer edge, recessed in the bumper/frame gap. The real noticable difference now is that there is a gap (about 1/16").

 

Ok thanks. Ill have to ask my local dealer about it. Does Honda know about this problem?

 

wash and waxed my fit today and on the pass side rear its starting to bubble i'll be calling honda in the morning. to tell the truth i will still be pissed if they do repaint the bumper my fit is taffy white with 847 miles this is bs. i didn't buy a new car for problems

 

the only positive aspect of this problem i've noticed is that since mine have been repainted with quality paint, i have absolutely zero paint chips. and i am on the highway for the majority of my drive each day. before i got them repainted, there were rock chips everywhere.

too bad the quality couldn't have been that good from the get-go.

 

thats the truth all these year all you hear about is honda quality

 

On one of the threads here I saw an official Honda release about inserting washers to protect the bumper seams from paint bubbling. I looked through all the messages here and could not find it. Can anyone give me a link? I want to print it off and show it to my dealer.

Also, is this a continuing problem with the 2008 model or have they fixed it?

Thanks.

Chuck

 

took my fit in this morning and they knew about the peeling problem and inserting washers or shims. so oct 9th i'm taking it in to be fixed and sadly they had 6 08 fits and one of them had peeling paint on the front bumper.

 

oh i would like to add that having a new car with 840 miles that needs a repaint really sucks. and to add the dumb ass dealer drilled my front bumper for their free advertisement its a insult. over the years ive had a 2002 ep3 si, 2006 accord vp, 2 2007 fit sports a 2007 civic ex coupe and a 2007 accord se. the 02 si , 06 accord and the 07 civic i never had any problems at all so to me honda quality is going down the drain . if i have any more problems with the fit i'm talking to my lawyer about a class action law suit lets see if that gets honda's attention . sorry for the long rantand i would like to thank the members who started this thread and called honda cause its on the dealer's computers that its a problem. without you all doing this honda would still not know this is a ongoing problem

 

Why did they drill through your front bumper? the stock license plate holder is held on by two 10mm bolts in the grille area of the car... take the two bolts off, the plate bracket should come off with no holes in the bumper..... may have some scratches from itthough i left mine on for a week after buying it, and it had a few minute scratches around the top of the license plate bracket from it flapping in the wind and hitting the bumper....

 

here's the hole they used

 

So if the Fit has been available for many years, how come this problem hasn't shown up before? Is it isolated to the NA spec Fits and not the Euro/JDM Fits?