Paint blisters on doors

[servicepoint]

Slightly off topic but when I was washing Yeti today I noticed a blister on one of the front alloys, cars covered 15k miles and the alloys were off through last winter so have only probably seen about 10k miles. No sign of a chip or scrape... just a blister, pretty poor tbh.

[Glenlea]

Slightly off topic but when I was washing Yeti today I noticed a blister on one of the front alloys, cars covered 15k miles and the alloys were off through last winter so have only probably seen about 10k miles. No sign of a chip or scrape... just a blister, pretty poor tbh.

Get it back to the dealer ASAP. Only problem with my alloy's is the wife's driving scrapping them along the kerb lol :(  Small point on a previous post, if your car is under warranty I wouldn't recommend using anything but Skoda genuine parts eg wipers, bulbs etc may invalidate your warranty should something go wrong.

[pinkpanther]

Unfortunately the other door is going the same way

[Yety]

After several months of talking to the Cardiff dealer, and two lots of photos sent off to Skoda UK (allegedly), nothing has happened.

 

Last week I e-mailed Skoda UK Customer Services, nice friendly tone from me. Skoda replied straightaway with a Case No and a follow up phone call. In less than a week they have agreed to repair both doors under warranty, with a courtesy car which I declined - a lift home instead.

It seems the Cardiff dealer had not sent the photos to Skoda UK at all!!

 

All a bit strange, but it is going in next week for the work to be done further up the road at a well known paint repair shop used by the local dealers.

 

Also, I had the nod about rear black/silver boot door badges to match the front and wheel badges

 

ps: got to add that comments about minor "chips" are pretty trivual in the scheme of things - if you want to worry, crawl underneath and look at what goes on :think:

These are just cars, mechanical things which get abused by all of us. Unless there is serious corrosion, mechanical breakdown etc, just fix it and move on. Cosmetic appearance may be your main concern, reliability and performance on the road (or off-road in my case) is mine.

Just my 2p's worth.

Edited 30 September, 2013 by Yety

[Llanigraham]

Oh dear the curse of the Black Pigeon strikes again!!

Told you you should have been dealing with Sinclairs all along, Jerry, but glad it is being sorted out at last.

 

Agree about the last paragraph; I suspect some people would be horrified driving on some of the things we do!!

[Howzer]

My black Yeti hade a few blisters and I got all four door painted om warranty last year and the boot lid this year. Glad it was paid by warranty but the expensive "paint treatment" (don't know if that is correct english) was not included so I have to pay for that all over again if I still want it...

[Yety]

Took my car in yesterday and had a call from Skoda UK today checking to see if it was progressing.

 

Hopefully I'll get the car back tomorrow and report back to Skoda UK next week on the finished article.

[horn3t]

Fingers crossed that everything will be sorted out.

[Rapha]

I'm a bit concerned about this blistering and the wheel arch rust that some have reported. I was thinking of protecting my relatively new SM with the plastic wheel arch trims (to protect from stone chips that I think Graham has suffered with if I recall correctly), and 3M clear helicopter tape on the lower bit of the doors along with mud guards. I know the mud guards aren"t meant to be compatible with the wheel arch trim but I'm hoping they can be adapted. I also appreciate they aren't massively effective.

 

This is all a bit probably a bit excessive, and I am making the assumption that the blistering does require some surface damage, but I'm also wary that doing all this could make a warranty claim should I have a paint issue more tricky.

 

Anyone advice beyond telling me to stop being so precious?

[Yety]

I'm a bit concerned about this blistering and the wheel arch rust that some have reported. I was thinking of protecting my relatively new SM with the plastic wheel arch trims (to protect from stone chips that I think Graham has suffered with if I recall correctly), and 3M clear helicopter tape on the lower bit of the doors along with mud guards. I know the mud guards aren"t meant to be compatible with the wheel arch trim but I'm hoping they can be adapted. I also appreciate they aren't massively effective.

 

This is all a bit probably a bit excessive, and I am making the assumption that the blistering does require some surface damage, but I'm also wary that doing all this could make a warranty claim should I have a paint issue more tricky.

 

Anyone advice beyond telling me to stop being so precious?

This "blistering" is comparativly rare, the wheel arch stone chipping is also rare. I wouldn't assume the "bilstering" is caused by stone chips - it might well be a galvanising process defect which occurs in rare cases and erupts from behind the paint skin.

 

Although the front mud flaps are not very effective, they do stop a lot of stuff hitting the side of the car. I'm fitting some polyurethane rally type flaps of my own on top of the existing OEM flaps to avoid further gravel rash..

 

The wheel arch kit effectively "hides" the painted edges of the wheel archs - not a lot but enough to work.

The front mud flaps fit with the wheel arch kit with only a little minor adjustment with a craft knife - when done it looks fine.

 

I think it might depend on the surfaces you travel - Graham and I use a lot of gravel/dirt roads during rally set up/radio marshalling etc

[Llanigraham]

Agree with Jerry's comments above.

 

I suspect that the "damage" to the near side rear wheel arch has been caused by the rough and wet roads I regularly drive. I rent a Council garage from Monday so can now set about fitting the wheel arch kit I bought recently.

 

Also started another "project" for the car, so watch the relevant space!!

Need to find an alloy welder locally; my initial contact has gone quiet!!

[Yety]

Took the car in at 08.30 Wednesday morning, still not finished. I foolishly declined a courtesy car, electing to to have a lift home, which failed to materialise, so I had a 45 minute walk home.

 

Hopefuly it will be ready Monday - either it was a tricky job, or they left it until the last moment as it was a warranty job.

 

Skoda UK have been really good so far, authorised a warranty repair without question, I had follow up phone calls, and they want me to ring them when I get the car back with a satisfaction report.

[keithclinton]

My own Red 2010 Yeti is also affected - rear doors resprayed (superb job by Sinclair Swansea) but more rust now on front doors and the centre of all the alloys are corroding from the badges outwards - so not stone chipped. I'm not very impressed. Had the aircon condenser replaced free under the last day of 3 year warranty. All these issues must cost Skoda dearly. I was at the Frankfurt show the other week and was surprised to notice that the new facelifted Yeti still had no protection for the aircon condenser - nor did it have protective foils on the back doors. So no progreess there. Other than the paintwork issues my 50,000 mile Yeti is still a joy to drive - shame about the paint - it's on a par with my old 1974 VW Beetle that rusted before my eyes.

[Yety]

Still no word from the dealer    Can't imagine what they're doing. Getting a little impatient now.

[Yety]

Got it back today - looks fine.

 

Washed inside and out as well, but no clue as to what the problem was :wonder:

[Llanigraham]

Well at least you have finally got it back Jerry.

 

Have they refitted the foils?

[Yety]

Well at least you have finally got it back Jerry.

 

Have they refitted the foils?

 

 

Ermm, if you had read earlier, it was the lower front doors      

 

I,m now working on extra front mud flaps 

[Llanigraham]

Doh!

 

My excuse is I'd been up since 0410!!

 

Rally flaps!! The old 3mm spec seem to be very cheap now the MSA insist on 4mm!

[bargee1759]

I've got the same problem with my Yeti. I wash the car at least fortnightly due to the mileage I do & muddy lanes I have to use, so have a look at it regularly, but last monday I noticed a 10p sized chunk of paint missing from the lower driver's door & no primer / zinc coating at all underneath. There's also another tiny spot further forward, so I went straight to the dealer & they sent me to their approved bodyshop who confirmed that it was a paint fault & not stone chipping. He said most manufacturers suffer this not just VAG. He then found an area under the paint on the front passenger door that's not broken through yet - it looks like they've painted over a tiny spider! I've got mud flaps fitted too & the foil on the rear doors is perfect. I think the significant thing here is that there's rust. Even with stone chips, the whole idea is that the etching effect of the zinc primer makes it adhere far stronger to the steel than normal sprayed primer & prevents rust starting even when the top coat is damaged. Mine's just got no zinc there! This paint process isn't as good as proper galvernising but I'm led to believe the car can't be dipped at such extreme temperatures needed for galvanising for fear of warping the bodysheel & galvernising is difficult to paint over, but the zinc treatment should be a damn good half-way house. The bonnet has a couple of stone chips that are fine, rust free.

My other 'alf's A3 had a new driver's door under warranty last year because it had rusted through from inside out. I can't really say anything about the rest of the paint - most of it isn't what it left the factory with!! She doesn't get to drive my Yeti!!!!

[Glenlea]

Looks like the stone chipping is a bigger problem than Skoda will own up to. I've had a problem with the paint chipping since new,the doors were repainted a month after taking ownership in 2010, I discovered chipping and blisters along all the doors again not what you expect from a car just over 3 years old.My car is out of warranty now and  I've been fighting with Skoda for 4 months now. All I can say at the moment is Don't give in or up.

Once my case is resolved I'll post it on here. I've been quoted around a £1000 to have the doors re- sprayed. It's a pitty Skoda have not come up with a solution in the 4 years the issue has been on the go. I really like the Yeti but would never buy another due to this issue on some models.

[Glenlea]

I had the peppered rear doors as well (April 2010 car, no protective strips) but the next owner inherited that little problem. I wonder if the front mud flaps improve matters? I didn't have any fitted.

No the Yeti mud flaps don't help. I'm trialing a rally flap attached to one of the Yeti ones to see if it helps i'm needing some rain and mud. Dealers are looking out for chipped cars reducing your trade in to cover costs of covering up the problem for the next owner.

[Glenlea]

Echo domhnall's comments - on any forum the problems get shouted much louder than the benefits.  I've had mine nearly 4 years and had 60,000 miles of virtually trouble free motoring (1 breakdown call out - my own stupid fault for allowing the battery to drain).  Yes a few niggles (rear arch foils, paint blisters & 1 sensor) - but the positives far outweigh these - to the point I am giving serious consderation to placing a new order in the next few days.

 

@ Glenlea - did you speak to normal SkodaUK customer services, or did you try the direct route (MD)?  I tried the normal CS approach, but found them to be only partially helpful; talking via the MD's office got a better line of communication and the correct end result.

 

To the post above, talking to the (was at the time) bodyshop manager, he has seen this on many cars within the VAG range, not just the Yeti, or the Skoda range alone.

Skoda UK were useless kept saying they would call me but didn't, yea a friend of mine phoned CZ Republic spoke to wereners secretary amazing how the phone calls came in. I'm still not finished with Skoda UK yet but will hopefully have a result end of next week it's been a long 4 months but hopefully worth it.I didn't complain to the werener about the paint it was the abysmal customer service in the UK.

[Glenlea]

My own Red 2010 Yeti is also affected - rear doors resprayed (superb job by Sinclair Swansea) but more rust now on front doors and the centre of all the alloys are corroding from the badges outwards - so not stone chipped. I'm not very impressed. Had the aircon condenser replaced free under the last day of 3 year warranty. All these issues must cost Skoda dearly. I was at the Frankfurt show the other week and was surprised to notice that the new facelifted Yeti still had no protection for the aircon condenser - nor did it have protective foils on the back doors. So no progreess there. Other than the paintwork issues my 50,000 mile Yeti is still a joy to drive - shame about the paint - it's on a par with my old 1974 VW Beetle that rusted before my eyes.

When dealing with Skoda head office I directly asked them if they had dealt with the chipping problem on the facelifted model or come up with a solution to the current owners problems surprise no answer given. the dealer I spoke to told me the face lifted model will have the same issue on some models.My yeti is a red as well,1 month after owning it along the doors were all chipped, repaired under warranty.Just waiting to see if they are going to repair it this time as it's out of warranty. If you look at a lot of the SUV's they tend to have black plastic protection along the bottom of the doors. I'm thinking of having the clear foil fitted along the bottoms of the doors can't afford to spend £1000 every year having the doors sprayed.

[Glenlea]

   Just a couple of pictures showing the chipping issue. As you can see thousands of tiny chips 

[JohnD52]

Just wondered if any colours seem to be particularly vulnerable?