Hello all, I took my car to the local hand car wash and when I got it home noticed around the drivers side front wheel arch the lacquer /clear coat had peeled off. On this discovery I took my car back to the car wash but they told me its caused by stone chips and happens on red cars. After threating to not come back they agreed to fix it for me so I've giving them a week to get something sorted before I go get a quote myself. Has anyone had a problem like this before? 

More common in places with lots of sunshine, but, anecdotally, red paint seems more prone fade and failing top coats. How old is the car?

 

I don't know anything about paint chemistry but I assume different colours use different pigments, which  have different properties...

 

@Jaymz  You would be best checking that that area is the Factory Paint and not already a resprayed area.

By the lacquer in the pic it looks like it might not be the original paint.

 

Go to a Body Shop and get them to look at the paint.

A Kerbside Auto's touch up painter will blow that in easy, maybe rubbish job.

Maybe the work the car wash place will have done.

 

Cheap Chemical cleaners for Commercial Vehicles and the likes used by 'Hand Wash' Places are an issue.

Get the dirt off & wash them quick and get another car through.

 

Red Paint as used by VW / Skoda is not the same for issues as the crap on Vauxhall / LDV postie vans and the likes.

 

@freemansteve

Decades back Fiat started having very good Red Paint to try out, and it then was used by Alfa Romeo, 

& then Ferrari charged extra for the Special Red over the standard red.

The Special Red was already standard on the Fiat's.

Edited 8 December, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot

I imagine paint improves as time goes by. But I guess almost all cars use paint from only 2 or 3 suppliers.

 

Edited 8 December, 20196 yr by freemansteve
missed a word

@freemansteve   Lots of suppliers, not the issue in the Skoda Factory though.   Damaged in transit repairs are another matter, and VW Approved Repairers.

I am a time served spray painter. Vehicle then on to Commercial / Industrial.

Many changes now with Water Based Paints since i started spraying lead based, cellulose, acrylic, then 2K.

 

I still do some cellulose painting.

Edited 8 December, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot

Big difference between suppliers and originators - big production will deal direct with a small number of volume originators who cater for serious volume operations. I've been there. I don't disagree that companies like vauxhall always bought the cheapest rubbish - and maybe that's one reason they are essentially gone, and paint, for each iteration of technology has got better. Nevertheless on older cars, on average, red can be a bad choice! Do we know the year of the OP's car or any other details? Maybe he parks under lime trees?

 

Red pigments and that used in Orange was the issue. I have had several cars in both colours back when that was an issue, and ones since it stopped being.

(My 110 Landy never faded and my Jimny faded badly. just the difference in the pigment of the paint used.)

 

I know the OP's car is a Citigo and that means not as old as when there were issues.

 

This was my favourite Skoda Fabia, and it is a 2010.

I have painted a fair few red cars over the decades.

 

Had a few repaints...

Edited 8 December, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot

Had a red Alfa Cloverleaf and Clio 16v back in the day, and paint stayed pretty good from new, at least for the 3 years I had them. As you say,  any Citigo cannot be very old so there must be a reason for the problems (i.e. not a generic issue).

 

Nevertheless, and no offence to Up/Citigo/Mii owners with red ones, but I don't think red suits them - particularly Up models! At least the Citigo versions inherently look more "grown up" to my eye...

 

To me, from the photo provided, it doesn't look like peeling lacquer. It looks as though a pressure washer has lifted the clear plastic film that is used to prevent stone chips around the wheels. It's an adhesive cutout made from this sort of thing:

 

https://www.3m.co.uk/3M/en_GB/car-wrapping-uk/paint-protection/

 

Run a finger nail gently along where it is lifting, and if it continues to lift in a straight line, then I'm certain it's not the lacquer.

 

Dealer should be able to source a replacement for you to stick on.