[ssbiitm]

Hello All,

Firstly, I request the moderators to excuse me for posting this thread here. Two grounds:
a) this is a 1 yr old car and so, I do not know whether to call it initial report or a long term review (though I suspect it to be the former)
b) this car belongs to a close friend who is not a team-BHP member, but since I also have an i10 from the same dealer it does concern me indirectly (as it does all other i10 owners)
So, if the mods feel fit, this thread can be shifted to an appropriate location.

The car I am talking of is an i10 1.1 Era bought from HMP Chennai in the last week of December 2008 and has done only about 2200 kms in 1 yr. At the third free service (1 year mark) carried out at HMP, the service advisor called up the owner to inform her that the paint had peeled off at the bottom beneath the doors. Of course, in a most unapologetical manner the service advisor said that they would re-paint the area for free, but refused to explain how or why the paint has peeled.

I have attached several pictures below. You can see the peeled off portions are below the door and on both sides. It seems to have taken place in the lowest panel section which is the part that bends from the side to the bottom of the car. This is not a smooth surface, like the panel immediately above (at least that is what it seems to be in my own i10 1.2 Asta). The peeled off portions look like mud splatter marks and that is what we initially thought them to be. Only on closer inspection it was found to be the peeled off paint!

HMP collected the car yesterday for the "re-painting" work as they called it and when it was returned, it looked like they had tried to simply do a touch up job with dabs of paint. In fact, it was a poorly done job and there were blobs of dried paint all along the surface. Such a shoddy work!! The car was sent back to HMP rightaway with strict orders that it is to be returned with a perfect paint job and an acceptable explanation as to how this could have happened. (Unfortunately, we missed out on taking some photos when the car had come - were too busy arguing on phone with the service engineer/advisor.) The car is yet to come back and we wonder with what degree of "re-painting". Several phone calls, Emails and complaints have made/sent/registered with Hyundai and HMP, but there has been absolutely no response so far.

Now, the point is that the car has been driven mostly in the city, that too over fairly good roads. It is parked in a garage and in an area not so close to the sea (corrosion should not be an issue here). Chennai has a very short rainy season and considering the lifestyle of the owner, the car was rarely, if ever, driven on water-logged roads.

So, the question is: How can this happen in the case of a car which is practically new? Has anyone ever encountered such a problem before? Was there an issue with this batch of cars? I tried to search through this website and other websites, but did not directly turn up any results. If any of you do know something, I would really appreciate your response. Suggestions are most welcome.

I have an i10 1.2 Asta, which is 6 months old (also bought from HMP) and have done about 6100 kms (inclusive of a 2000 kms drive in the last 10 days through Karnataka). The paint at the corresponding portion of my car seems fine, though like I wrote, it is not smooth here but has a matte finish. Should I be taking some precautions? I did do a 3M anti-rust treatment about 2 weeks back during my second service, but I am not sure if this section/panel gets the treatment. Incidentally, this treatment was not done in case of the i10 Era where the paint has peeled. But not doing this treatment cannot be a reason!

Looking forward to a response. Going by the wealth of information here and the think-tank of team-BHP, I am pretty sure that if I dont get the information/solution in respect of this problem, I am hardly likely to get it elsewhere.

Happy New Year to you all.
Cheers,
ssbiitm

[jkdas]

They drove the car over thinner or some kind of acid? Or it was a badly repainted area.

[pramodkumar]

I feel the paint had peeled off during preassure wash, the reason bad quality of primer or no primer used at all, but i do not understand how can such a job clear the QC at hundai. This is a bad example of paint job done by hundai. I hope they do more stringent QC for all their cars. Get the complete pannel painted if there is even a slight color mismatch. Send these pics to HMIL and get a response from them, this is totally unacceptable.

Pramod

[ssbiitm]

@jkdas - as you mention, it appears like the car has been driven over a thinner or acid. But, why and when? Must be a poor paint job.

@Pramod - yes, will take your advice and blast HMIL. This really is unacceptable!

I suspect a poor paint job which got exposed during the pressure wash. I wonder what QC they have for this. Because if you think about it, the final QC will not be able to determine whether or not there is a primer and of what quality it is.

Anyway, HMP has asked us for an "appointment" this evening - they have not talked anything at all about the car! Let us see what they have to say.

Will keep you folks informed. Thanks & Cheers,
Ssbiitm

[ssbiitm]

@jkdas - it does look like the car had been driven over some thinner or acid, esp. if you look at the direction of the splatter marks which seems to come from the wheel. But why, when and how? So, I guess it must be a bad paint job.

@Pramod - will take your advice and blast HMIL. This is really unacceptable. I suspect a poor paint job coupled with a pressure wash, though I am at a loss to explain the direction of the splatter (which is roughly in the same manner that mud or any liquid would get thrown on the body from the wheel! I wonder what sort of QC HMIL has for this kind of thing. Surely, they cannot be checking right at the end, since it will only reflect the quality of the final paint job, which in this case was fine.

Anyway, HMP has asked us for an "appointment" this evening - again, puzzling because they said they wanted the appo to talk to us, but never mentioned anything about the paint job or the status of the car. Lets see what they have to say.

Will keep you all updated. Thanks a lot and cheers,
Ssbiitm

[ImmortalZ]

Hmm, the shape of the paint peel off at the start of the running board is a bit telling. Either the car was driver over a pool of thinner/acid/corrosive liquid or regular rough weather use has destroyed a badly done paint finish.

If the paint is factory, I have a hard time believing it would peel off like that. Factory painting is done differently with immersion booths and such techniques used. It would be hard to get it wrong so badly.

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by ImmortalZ

Hmm, the shape of the paint peel off at the start of the running board is a bit telling. Either the car was driver over a pool of thinner/acid/corrosive liquid or regular rough weather use has destroyed a badly done paint finish.

If the paint is factory, I have a hard time believing it would peel off like that. Factory painting is done differently with immersion booths and such techniques used. It would be hard to get it wrong so badly.

Correct thats my point, I have heard horrifying stories of hundai dealers selling test drive cars to people disguised as new. I hope this is not the case. But dealers usually do not try covering up the cases like they did in this case. They were ready getting it painted free of cost. Any ways speak to HMIL and see what they have to say about this.

Pramod

[vigsom]

If peeling of paint is seen even on the floor pan(the portion just next to the running board),then it is because of teh car being run in corrosive conditions(cars which run in salty conditions or in some industrial areas see such damage over a long time - 3 years or more)

Prima facie appears to be a bad paint job

[xenxer]

i doubt this is happening due to mud splatter. It can happen that he is mostly (or might have) driving through some areas where Some chemical factories are situated. These chemical wastes from the companies get mixed with mud catch the bottom of the car and can cause the issue.

This cannot be a bad paint job. if so why isn't not happening else where.

[ssbiitm]

This is the most puzzling part - the owner has, for sure, not driven over any areas where there might have been corrosive fluids. After all, the car has been driven round primarily within a campus where the roads are good, the drainage excellent (hardly any water, if ever, standing on the roads) and out of campus trips have been very short over reasonably good Chennai roads with no factories nearby. The odo reading is only 2200 km after a year! Yet, as many of you have pointed out, it did look like some kind of splatter from the wheel. Of course, pressurised car washing carried out after raising the car on the usual hydraulic jack platform could appear like that. One thing I did miss out mentioning - it appears that the peeling off increased almost overnight since the second service and was not really noticed earlier. So, the washing or whatever servicing that HMP did must have had something to do with the peeling.

One thing is clear though - the paint has peeled off only on the hard rubberised panel that is below the door. This hard rubberised panel, according to Hyundai, reduces noise as well as vibration to the interior (I am not very clear how). The paint on the metallic surfaces have not been affected. A shoddy paint job should have shown up even on the metallic parts. So far, HMP has been unable to explain how or why. This evening they brought the car back with the affected area having been re-painted all over again. A better job this time, but on close inspection one could still see tiny white/pinkish dots visible from the layer underneath. We refused to accept the car and HMP has taken it back with a promise of returning it tomorrow with an additional coat of paint! Now let us see where this leads. Whatever it is, there has been absolutely no sign of an explanation or excuse or sorry from HMP.

Shall keep all you folks updated.
Cheers,
Ssbiitm

[Jaggu]

Peeling supposed to have taken in that sound deadening rubberized part i guess, bad paint preparation and pressure wash might have done the damage. Just a guess.

EDIT: its the same matt/rough finish area you are referring to in your car also.

[vigsom]

one of the pics shows some kind of peel off near the left front door handle - or is that a reflection?

if the peel off has been in this hard rubberised portion,it could also be because of

1. poor surface preparation prior to painting
2. use of some unrecognised solvent during pressure wash to remove grime/tar (watha kerosene adi machchii)

BTW,is the campus IIT Madras?

[ssbiitm]

Originally Posted by vigsom

one of the pics shows some kind of peel off near the left front door handle - or is that a reflection?

if the peel off has been in this hard rubberised portion,it could also be because of

1. poor surface preparation prior to painting
2. use of some unrecognised solvent during pressure wash to remove grime/tar (watha kerosene adi machchii)

BTW,is the campus IIT Madras?

The door handle thing is a reflection, not a peel. In fact, there is no peel off anywhere on the metal surface. So, it has to be bad surface preparation of the hard rubberised part. Unlikely to be a solvent alone because that should have affected the metal surfaces also. I am just trying to use some logic!!

Yes, you are right! It is IIT Madras campus. What gave it away?

Cheers,
Ssbiitm

[vigsom]

Originally Posted by ssbiitm

The door handle thing is a reflection, not a peel. In fact, there is no peel off anywhere on the metal surface. So, it has to be bad surface preparation of the hard rubberised part. Unlikely to be a solvent alone because that should have affected the metal surfaces also. I am just trying to use some logic!!

Yes, you are right! It is IIT Madras campus. What gave it away?

Cheers,
Ssbiitm

Ha ha ha ssbiitm =ssb+iitm ; also when you said out of campus trips are less,i said this could be iitm

[satyamkaushik]

Have a 6 year old Santro Xing.
It met with an accident when it was just 2 months.

I got everything repaired and replaced at Himgiri Hyundai.
The bonnet and the dicky had to be changed.

Now after around 6 years the paint on the bonnet has started coming off.
I haven't used any kind of polish or any other substance on the paint.
I was wondering the cause for it.
Is it the poor quality of paint used by hyundai or something else ? Because generally a car won't loose it's paint just at a age of 6.

What shall i do now ?
Contact himgiri hyundai or get it repainted ?
Or any other solution to it ?

Attaching some pictures.