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Aside from the miles racked up, also keep in mind the inevitable ageing of rubber in a top-heavy SUV such as the TUV 300. That's a deadly recipe for probable tyre blow-outs and possibly, a rollover. Moreover, the rich 75% aspect ratio in the TUV's tyres is a double-edged sword in that sense; how much does a TUV keel over on a fully flat tyre? I don't want to know!

5 years would be my chosen deadline in my TUV 300 to change its tyres - irrespective of the distance driven or even the actual health of the tyres. That's just the super-cautious me speaking. I'm as cautious as an on-screen Woody Allen character at the best of times stupid:

My January 2018 manufactured TUV 300 has rust formation in the forward quarterpanels, just behind the two front wheel-wells and slightly beneath the footboard.


I've already e-mailed Mahindra customer care for warranty coverage and shared my opinion on why this has happened - there are no mudflaps in any of the 4 wheel-wells. If no TUV 300 comes with mudflaps, that's a design defect IMO.

Without the mudflaps, sand has been constantly flung from the spinning front wheels onto this part of the painted body - this part has literally been sandpapered! Naturally, with the paint getting abraded, rust has set in. As a control in this 'experiment', I've looked carefully on the body and there's no rust anywhere else.

Thus it came to be that my car is with a Mahindra licensed bodyshop now. I'm waiting for that phone call from the bodyshop manager. Mahindra Customer Care had routed my e-mail to him and he has so far done right by me, starting with sending a driver to pick the car up from 35 km away where the bodyshop is.

Edit: Without mudflaps, I've also ended up plastering a S-Cross behind me with slushy mud once when my rear left wheel spun before finding traction. I knew right then that I should have gotten aftermarket mud flaps!

Did you check below the door beading? Silver and White TUVs have had the most rusting issues IIRC. On the WAG, I haven't seen any Red/Orange/Blue/Green TUV owners complain about rusting issues. Maybe the quality of paint for White/Silver or something about the process of painting other colors makes them less vulnerable to rusting.

I checked especially beneath the beadings. I remember the barrage of similar complaints shared on the WhatsApp group. But aside from my own findings, the bodyshop manager let me know just now that the fuel cap had rust on the interior-facing side as well. You're right - it could be that the silver and white painted models are more susceptible to rust.

I am facing similar issue. Rust formation exactly the same location on my TUV. I have been using mud flaps since day 1 from 3 years, I thought due to mud flaps the water got stagnated at that place and formed rust. I noticed other vehicles at my home do not face this issue.

Yet another screw up by MASS. After taking delivery of my vehicle, I have not used it for few days and it got a dusty. I decided to clean it today and noticed front bumper had some black touch ups. It is clearly some sort of black nail polish used to cover up bumper scratches made at MASS. This is unacceptable at so many levels. Just when I tend to forget my AMT issues, MASS did a great job messing with my vehicle.

I have emailed the regional manager and waiting his response on this. I should have noticed this earlier at the service center only, I would have never taken delivery if I had noticed earlier. I personally clean my car regularly and know exactly where it has scratches. Well done yet again Mahindra :Frustrati

No sooner had you and I suspected the White and Silver paint when Black got added to the list!

It beats me as to how your car has rust right there, since you have mudflaps. And even so, I suspect that it is the same sand-papering effect that I've (probably) faced and in your case it is despite the mudflaps existence. Do we need wider mudflaps perhaps? Or Ceramic coating on the whole car's body and especially at that spot...?

Beyond doubt, you've been getting properly shanked by Mahindra all this time. But still - do not rush into another new car purchase please...you know what I think about this.

It has to do with the sand paper effect. I used aftermarket mud flaps initially for 2 years, they then got damaged and after removing them I see the rusting. The previous mud flaps were longer and hence the rust size.

Update on my bumper paint mess up by MASS, The regional manager called and he said they are investigating the issue with MASS. I am sure MASS will deny this.

However, regional manager apologized and offered re-painting which I declined. I told him I want this to be investigated properly first and then we can talk on re-painting etc. I clearly told him this is not about getting a free paint job, this is about trust and being cheated by MASS. How can they offer free paint job without investigating is up to their imagination.

I restrained myself with the urge of new vehicle as of now, due to covid situation. No one knows when the economy will tank and the status of jobs are not that secured because of this. So did not want another 5 year EMI commitment during these testing times.

I visited a non branded car wash \ care center for a car wash a few month ago and they offered me a Wet sanding, rub and polish with wax for ~4000 for my Scorpio. There are some places where they do a full rub and polish for less than ~2500 as well. I feel whatever the likes of 3M offers to be a rip off. For daily drive vehicles, this inexpensive treatments from local shops will do just fine and if used along with rinseless wash , the shine will easily last a year. TUV should be using BASF paints, it wont need any additional UV protection.

Those stock tires are good for about 40 ~ 50K, best to change them afterwards, the Bolero size would give you nice tire options in Bridgestone Dueler and Goodyear Wrangler to name a few. Install and underseat Subwoofer from . In Bangalore I know some nice leather wrap folks in JC road, their work is very neat. Having two TUVs in my friend`s circle, I would skip the headlight upgrade and install a pair of Hella driving lights, it would be cheaper than buying new headlights later once they blacken due to the intense heat from 130W. For floormates - Visit the elegant mats website and order it, they are very responsive on whatsapp and mats are excellent quality.

PS : Honda too charges ~700 INR for sanitizing a Brio.

Unfortunately in my hometown there is no other detailing workshops available. They only do "Teflon Coating" and charge 2,500/- bucks which is just a waste of money and a scam. I was not satisfied fully with 3M job anyway. I would give a 3 rating out of 5, I still see few swirl marks but almost 70% of the swirl marks are gone.

For Bridgestone I got a quotation of 6,500/- per tire, MRF 5,100/- and Ceat 5,500/-, cheapest I got was 4,400/- for non-branded korean company (Which I would never go with) I want to limit my budget so I may go with MRF this time, but I kept it on hold and will get them changed after lockdown period (or maybe during unlock 2.0).

My spare tire is 3 years old and not used even once. I was thinking instead of buying 4 tires I will buy only 3 and use one of existing one as spare? Any recommendations or issues in this approach?

Update on my front bumper debacle at MASS: They called me and asked to visit their service center, the manager inspected it and was in denial mode (but deep down he was 100% sure they messed it up there).

I took him on a journey of my existing scratches on my vehicle and told him I know exactly where scratches are there on my vehicle and this one is a shabby cover up job by your guys. He said he will get back to me in 2 days. I expect full bumper colouring and would not settle for less.

After an hour the manager called me back and agreed thay it was their fault and offered re-painting. He requested to bring vehicle after a week as they are fully overloaded with vehicles and under-staffed. I agreed as it was nothing urgent. Please stop shanking me M&M.

What you really need them to do is the compounding / polishing prep work (labour intensive) bit before the coating. So if you inspect the first stage and see that swirls are gone, you can ask them to apply a wax instead of other coatings.

Wax lasts a long time as long as you stick to rinseless wash routine, use water only where there is heavy mud and stuck on dirt. Mahindra body shops do not recommend regular washing.

I remember paying about 4700 per wrangler RT of the same size almost two years back, Bridgestone was more expensive even those days. Please buy 4 at a time, if they are a few months apart, it's okay but many years apart is probably not a good idea.

The Zulaikha Mahindra bodyshop in Ambattur, Chennai, have returned my car today - practically from the other side of the city - with Rs.0 charged to me clap:

The following parts had rust and they've abraded those parts, applied primer and then painted over those parts:
1) The panels that I'd shared earlier in my picture, just behind the two front wheels
2) Parts behind the front and rear bumper that had rust
3) Inside of the fuel door
4) Inside of the bonnet (which I didn't know of)
5) They've even painted over an old accident-hit spot on my front fender, for free!

I asked them whether the primer coating and the repainting is enough to ward of recurrence of rust. They've assured me that since corrosion hadn't set in, this should be enough.

Here's the dark lining in the silver cloud:
Why would there be so much rust in a Jan 2018 manufactured car? :Shockked: How can I trust that this isn't going to end up like an Alfa Romeo? (Jeremy Clarkson once brought a pile of rusted metal in a bucket to their TopGear studio and said that this is all that remains of an Alfa Romeo, as expected).

Can I avoid further rusting if I get ceramic coating done?

Does it have anything to do with your location? Coastal areas have high humidity in air and may lead to rusting? You may have to compare notes with people from Mumbai, Goa and Vizag area owners on the rusting bit. I only have rusting near mud flaps and it is due to sand paper effect only.

A ceramic coating should provide paint protection by acting as a shell against paint damaging sources. However, it is overly priced in workshops. I got a bottle of ceramic liquid for some 500 bucks on Aliexpress a year back and used it on bonnet. It lasted for few months only, if not done by professional it will leave ugly marks (speaking from experience).

I spotted a gentleman from Mumbai on the Honda Jazz official review thread stating that he has spotted many relatively newer (~ 3 to 5 year old) Jazz and City models with rust or paint bubbling owing to underlying corrosion. If the almighty Honda's cars face this fate in Mumbai, then I can perhaps be a true communist by taking joy in the misery of fellow car owners lol:

I intend to get wide mudflaps to prevent further sandpapering near the wheels; never mind that it'll look ugly. Then I can ask about getting body wraps in specific spots on the body to prevent rusting. And I've heard of the merry effects of WD40 on this forum before....that's my action plan.

@locusjag @ramnaresh 2000 - How often are these vehicles water-washed? Just curious looking at the water spots and the place where the rust is formed. Please inspect the area under window seals and under the doors as well.

Mine gets water washed only every 3-4 months. I couldn't see rust under the doors or seals :thumbs up