MITSUBISHI/FIRST TEAM AUTO REFUSAL TO STAND BEHIND PRODUCT, BLAME CUSTOMER FOR DEFECTIVE PAINT, REFUSAL TO ASSUME ANY PORTION OF COST FOR REPAINTING VEHICLE CHESAPEAKE Virginia

White blotches and cracks started to appear on my black 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse in February of 2005. During the summer of 2005 the blotches and cracks started to worsen. I stopped by the Mitsubishi dealer and requested to have the paint and body manager look at the car.

The paint and body manager looked at the car and asked how often I had waxed the car. I told him twice a year. He said that the car should be waxed at least four times a year.

Note: I have a truck which is parked at the same locations as the Eclipse, is exposed to the same conditions, receives the same maintenance (washing and waxing) and is the same color as the Eclipse. The truck shows no signs of paint aging, fading or any sort of paint failure.

Since talking with the Mitsubishi manager, I have met with three professional auto painters with many years of experience. All of them have told me the same reasons for the failure of the paint on my Eclipse. Each has said that sometimes clear coat is added to a car's paint before the underlying paint has completely dried and cured. Over time, the paint and clear coat will separate from each other and cracking of the clear coat will occur.

The Mitsubishi paint manager said the car would have to be completely sanded to bare metal and repainted. He estimated that this would cost about $2000. I went by Maaco and received an estimate for $1350 to remove all the paint and repaint the car.

All top surfaces of the car are now covered with cracked clear coat and the car looks like crap! It really sucks that a consumer should have to bear the burden of paying for repainting of a factory defective paint job. This is my first and last Mitsubishi. I never do business again with anyone who fails to stand behind their product.

Bill
MOYOCK, North Carolina
U.S.A.