shumax

I was detailing my wife's P5 today and was running the clay bar over the car. I noticed that the passengers rear wheel well has some rust in it! When I say rust I mean this; you know the spot where the ground effect molds itself around the fender lip down by the bottom of the rear passenger door? Well what had happend was that damn ground effect rubbed off a spot of paint about the size of a penny on the metal fender lip.

I was so god damned pissed I about kicked the f'ing car. After calming down for an hour, I went out and attempted to remove the ground effect. I got it half way off and then broke the rest of the clips that hold it on. I was hoping to remove the ground effect, fix that small spot and move on.

Now, I have a rust spot about the size of a penny and the f'ing ground effect won't go back on because the clips are broken. Does anyone know how to put that damn thing back on? The mounts for the clips all go different ways so it's not as easy as "snapping it back on."

I feel that this is a warranty issue. The rubbing of the ground effect on the metal fender lip was not a maintenance issue---wouldn't you agree? What is going to be my fault is breaking those plastic clips. They can't cost more than $10 for all of them---that's even considering the dealers HUGE markup.


I am hoping that you folks would agree this is a warranty issue to fix the rust---that it's not my fault the two areas were rubbing. I plan to call the dealer on Monday.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Curt B. Shumaker

Toru

While I agree that:

a) Rust is a warrantable issue and
b) You're on the hook for the broken clips

all you need to do is read the warranty booklet that was supplied with your car.

What you should have done is:

1) Moved AWAY from the car.
2) Freaked out a bit. Cursed, yelled, stomped around.
3) Taken a deep breath and left it entirely to the dealer.

Oh well, hindsight is what it is.

shumax

Actually, most rust is only covered under warranty if it comes from the inside out.


Yea. That would be easy if it wasn't my wifes primary form of transportation. Our dealer is 30min. south of us and she works 30min. north of us. For that reason, giving her car up for 2-3 days while they repair the rust wasn't appealing.

I was hoping to be able to remove the ground effect, lightly sand the rust, seal, paint and clear it and be done.

Hopefully they will give us a loaner car.

Curt B. Shumaker

hihoslva

Now that IS part of your warranty. The dealer is required to give you a loaner anytime your car is in the shop for warranty work - though I believe there may be a time limit, like the repair has to take a day or more or something.

Anyway - if the paint repair IS covered, do not HOPE for a loaner, demand it. Your warranty covers it.

~HH

shumax

Thanks for pointing that out about the loaner car. I wasn't sure and haven't had a chance to read the manual.

I will report back tomorrow after I talk to them.

Curt B. Shumaker

bb

Sir Nuke

considering your car is a 2002.5, I don't care where the rust is coming from it should be covered...and IF a dealer gave me any crap over it I would be on the phone and writing letters to the home office so fast it would make their heads spin.....there is NO WAY that a car this new should have a rust spot on it for ANY reason....if the side skirt rubbed the paint off...it was installed wrong....I have never seen or heard of anyones side skirt rubbing off anyones paint.

yep...you should have done as Toru said....and just taken it to the dealer...so you will probably have to pay for the snaps or whatever...but then you never know...you may get lucky and they may forget in the process..lol

shumax

After one week in the dealership, the car is back. They f'd it up once when I went to pick it up on Wednesday---they didn't do anything but put touch-up paint on the spot and then slap the ground effect on. In turn, the ground effect scraped the paint right off again---idiots!

After another 2 days they actually took both ground effects off. On the passengers they touched in the spot in question and allowed the spot to dry over night. The next day they put some clear plastic adhesive tape over the spot where the ground effect touches the metal fender lip on both sides. The thought was that the ground effect will rub on the plastic and not the fender lip. I just hope that moisture isn't able to get behind this "super-duper" adhesive tape and cause rust in and of itself.


Who knows---car is back and that's what matters. Oh yea---they wouldn't give me a rental car either.

This is why dealer work pisses me off. They wasted so much of my time it makes me sick. In my line of customer service work, I would have been fired for half of the "idiot moves" they made.

Curt B. Shumaker

sjdmp5

I just noticed a similar thing as well, except the paint has rubbed/flaked off the side sill at the front of the passenger side leaving the black primer? underneath. It goes into the dealer next week to have the clutch & flywheel replaced so i'll point out then.

hihoslva

If they wouldn't give you a loaner car, that means this wasn't considered "warranty" work. Yes - they did it for free, as they should, but rather than go through the hassle of calling Mazda, getting an authorization, paperwork, blah blah blah - they just went ahead and did the work.

The same thing happened to me when I had to have my front bumper painted - 1 month after owning the car, a spot the size of a quarter just flaked off while I was washing the car. Took me almost another month, waiting for them to get authorization, because someone had to "look at the problem", like a regional rep or something. They finally just got sick of my bitching and had it painted without Mazda's approval - and no loaner car.

It sucks either way - wait frigging months for a simple job so you get a loaner, or get it done *quicker* without one.

I complained up and down about not getting a loaner, because I had no way of working while the car was being repaired. But I never got one.

My local dealer (just the service dept.) is a bunch of ****-holes. I found another one - about 30 miles away - with good service, and although I have not needed a single thing since the bumper, I will use this other dealership for any work. They'll be getting my car just before the 50k warranty expires for a few minor things.

Hope it all works out for you, though.

~HH