Am I being too picky?

doze · October 11, 2022

Had a brand new car (only a week old) tinted today and noticed these 2 defects after picking up. Small melt mark in the top of drivers door trim and noticeable gap on the LH side of the rear hatch window. Would you demand a new door trim seeing as it's a brand new car? And what are your thoughts on the tint gap which is only on the one side? The right side is tinted all the way under the trim.

TNTLady · October 11, 2022

Yes, too picky on the fact that the film is not coving the ceramic coating all the way on the rear hatch. The thing is is there is no daylight. I for one do not like to lift the film and move it once it has been laid on the glass of a window with defrosters because it will leave ghost lines in the glue on the film.

Now the door panel is not melted but appears to have had something put pressure on it an cause a dent. Could possibly come out after the sun warms it up for a few days and cause the contraction and expansion?? Or not. Did the tinter do it or was it already there? Who knows.

DynamicATL · October 11, 2022

I agree with @TNTLady about both. Your glass has a ceramic border around it. If the film is all the way past the border, then technically it is fine since no light is shining through and the gap can't be seen from the outside. Now, would that bother me seeing half of it is tucked behind the panel and other half is not, absolutely. So I would ask them to see if they can redo it going behind the panel. I would if it was my vehicle. Is it being picky? Yes. The other photo is definitely not a burn mark, something was pushed into the panel caused that. This could of been caused by the tinter but it also could have been there previously. I would ask them about it and see if they took any photos of it before starting on the vehicle. We walk all vehicles doing this because there is always more damage than the customer realizes. Anytime people buy new cars, they feel they are perfect or should be but generally that is not the case. Before you ever signed a line, that car has been moved around the country, loaded/unloaded from trucks, employees jumping in and out. So most new cars will have minor issues by the time they arrive at the dealership. Teslas are notorious for this, I've seen a new Infiniti Q50 with less than 10 miles on it with scratches all over, I even saw a $500k Ferrari with burn marks inside the headlight without ever seeing a mile on the road. The tinter will most likely say they didn't cause the damage and they could be 100% correct or 100% wrong. No way to know for sure.

doze · October 11, 2022

Okay thanks for your input guys. I didn't think the tint was acceptable, but now I understand it's quite normal. so gives me some perspective on how I should handle the phone call when the tinter contacts me.

The small mark is quite minor but annoying in a new car, guess I'll just have to not sweat the small stuff.

Dano · October 11, 2022

6 hours ago, DynamicATL said:

Anytime people buy new cars, they feel they are perfect or should be but generally that is not the case.

I saw some crazy stuff when I was preloading dealership inventory.

Just last week a new $80k Mega Cab came in that looked like the whole left side had been repaired. Definitely not 'factory' alignment on the sheet metal. Less than 100mi on it and just delivered to the lot a few days prior. I was told by a transport shipper that it doesn't count as damage as long as it's still in the manufacturers custody.

DynamicATL · October 12, 2022

2 hours ago, Dano said:

I saw some crazy stuff when I was preloading dealership inventory.

Just last week a new $80k Mega Cab came in that looked like the whole left side had been repaired. Definitely not 'factory' alignment on the sheet metal. Less than 100mi on it and just delivered to the lot a few days prior. I was told by a transport shipper that it doesn't count as damage as long as it's still in the manufacturers custody.

Wow! Teslas often have dents on the rear doors that is caused by whatever machine they use for the lifting them. We know a guy that does paintless dent repair and half of his work is fixing just that.

Dano · October 12, 2022

8 minutes ago, DynamicATL said:

Wow! Teslas often have dents on the rear doors that is caused by whatever machine they use for the lifting them. We know a guy that does paintless dent repair and half of his work is fixing just that.

I know some pdr guys that used to go to different plants fixing dents on the assembly lines until they get the robots retooled/programmed. Saw some vids of them chasing the cars while fixing them as they moved down the line.

If people only knew that car manufacturing is just like building models at your kitchen table, only bigger and about the same quality.