Well I've um'd and ah'd about taking the strips off so today while it was beautiful weather I thought "Gan on then!"

Oh dear, half a dozen bubbles under each strip, it doesn't look too bad but it's still bubbled! To say the air was blue is a bit of an understatement!

Wish I'd left them on, even though it looks better without them! :(

Just wondering wether to have a trip out to the dealer and see what they say when I ask them about the 10 year paint warranty! :confused:

Paint warranty is only three years.

Perforation warranty is 10 years.

Go for it, they can only say no.

Mine has bubbled . . . Im not relishing the prospect of a hefty paint bill.

How did you go about getting them to sort it? I bought my Fabia second hand and i live nowhere near the garage it came from. Can i just take it to my local Skoda dealership?

Just wondered if they could be sorted by a mobile SMART repairer?

Obviously this would be a lot cheaper than going through a bodyshop who'd probably want to spray the whole door to "blend it in properly".

Opinions please folks?

You need to tell the dealer that the trim was coming away and then you noticed the paint defect, so removed the rest to investigate it fully. If you say you were removing them for personal aesthetic preference then they'll say you were altering the car from manufacturers spec and deny the claim. It seems very common from what I've read on here, so surely there's enough history of this now for it to become recognised as a manufacturing fault !

Mines has this on all 4 doors! Badly may i add also.

Cars 4 years old and only covered 34k so going to the local skoda garage on friday to see what they say

has anyone got any pics, before and after look,of trim removed... and i take it this is just purely for looks:P

would like to see why so many people are removeing trim...surpose it makes you go faster...less weight

just poping out to take the valve caps off... bet no ones done that yet....

I did it for a cleaner look, and it makes it easier to wash and polish. When I want to reduce weight for a track session the rear seats come out, they weigh a bloody tonne.

Before....

After...

Out of sight out of mind is what I say.

It appears the bubbling it limited to 'METALLIC' painted cars ???

The car would have been painted and laminated during manufacture before strips were fitted to door panels, and this lamination layer now appears to have lifted, (bubble effect) with some areas exposing the flat paint beneath.

No signs of rust or exposed metal work visible in photos supplied??

My guess would be, the adhesive which holds strips in place is having a definite negative reaction on the laminate finish.

Would like to see a photo of the same strip removed from a non-metallic painted Fabia model.!

If the car doors were correctly painted, whether mettallic or not, I can't see water getting past base coat, undercoats of paint and then onto the door itself.

Feel sorry for those owners who have discovered this problem, by removing plastic strips, and would thank those owners for prompting me not to remove mine. Out of sight out of mind.??

Ian. 05/09/2009. :eek::rotz::confused:

I removed the strips on mine shortly after I bought it (16months now), and there was lots of dirt under and around them that cleaned off easily, there was a few imperfections left, could be described as bubbles I guess, but unless you look REALLY closely you'd never notice them.

Will try and get a decent shot of them next time I wash the car.

Alan

I got this as well. Have gone to Skoda directly instead of Uncle Arnold.

Just back from Skoda. They have taken pics and sent them to HO, to authorise the painting of all 4 doors free of charge. Will here back tomorrow