Hood has tons of 'chicken scratches'

[Visitor92014]

Hello all!

I can't get a good picture of what I'm about to describe so please forgive me :(

My car is a 2008 Honda Civic EX-L and the paint on my hood is completely ruined. It literally looks like a chicken walked all over it. The only thing I can attribute it to is 1) I got sprayed by some silt/tiny rocks from an 18 wheeler on the freeway or 2) the paint went berserk and shrunk or something.

The scratches are deep enough to catch a fingernail on and I can see the primer.

My question is if anyone has seen paint do this before because of it being bad. If it's likely to be from road debris, I know I'm outa luck and will have to have it repainted. Small portions of my fenders are affected as well and that makes me believe it was from the road :(

Would it be a waste of time to call my dealer from which I bought it and ask about a recall on the paint? It's out of warranty.

[LegacyGT]

Probably clear coat failure :(

Sorry to hear, I have some failure on my daily driver as well.

[shoeless89]

Hello all!

I can't get a good picture of what I'm about to describe so please forgive me :(

My car is a 2008 Honda Civic EX-L and the paint on my hood is completely ruined. It literally looks like a chicken walked all over it. The only thing I can attribute it to is 1) I got sprayed by some silt/tiny rocks from an 18 wheeler on the freeway or 2) the paint went berserk and shrunk or something.

The scratches are deep enough to catch a fingernail on and I can see the primer.

My question is if anyone has seen paint do this before because of it being bad. If it's likely to be from road debris, I know I'm outa luck and will have to have it repainted. Small portions of my fenders are affected as well and that makes me believe it was from the road :(

Would it be a waste of time to call my dealer from which I bought it and ask about a recall on the paint? It's out of warranty.

Its hard to tell what it is without a picture. If it is clear coat failure I would for SURE call your dealer. A 2008 isn't that old at all. Clear coat should hold up at least a little longer then 4-5 years, even without being waxed. I know there are certain climates, conditions, paint, ect. that all factor into it but still.

[tw33k2514]

:( that blows man.

If you can get a picture I am sure one of us can tell you what it is.

But without the picture it does sound like clear coat failure.

[Visitor92014]

Thanks guys! I'll get a good camera tomorrow and post a pic that will hopefully come out better than my other attempts.

In the meantime, I'm going to call and ask the dealer about this as well since I know its possible failure ;)

[Armenakadino]

take it in to the dealer they ended up repainting the front end of my civic due to the crows feet cracks, its basecally a clear coat failure, its under warranty and they might still do it if its out of warranty

[Visitor92014]

Thanks everyone. I called the stealer and they will look at it next week. I was given some hope that since it's still such a new car that Honda might help out somehow. ;)

If it wasn't for the tip about a clear-coat failure, I'd not have gotten this far. Thanks again!

[FUNX650]

Thanks everyone. I called the stealer and they will look at it next week. I was given some hope that since it's still such a new car that Honda might help out somehow. ;)

If it wasn't for the tip about a clear-coat failure, I'd not have gotten this far. Thanks again!


Depending on the remaining time of the original 36 month Honda warranty:

-At first let the dealer do his thing....
They might say: "Sorry not much we can do for you".
Maybe this: "What have you used to wash and wax it with...probably removed too much clear-coat with your buffer."
Or: "We'll have to get the Regional boys involved in this matter, and that will take some time".
And even this: "The engineers will have to take a look at it also....You'll have to leave your vehicle with us...We can't allow any more mistakes to happen".

That's OK....Because...After all of the dealer's options have been weighed/considered:

Ask them about Honda's:
Limited Warranties (Extension of original)
Honda's Hidden/Secret Warranties
And most importantly...Honda's Goodwill Warranties.

Then as one of the last resorts: State Lemon Law reports will include any warranty issues for your Make/Model/Year vehicle, and how to file a Claim.


Above all...Remain reserved/calm during your quest. Be polite and smile a lot....That sometimes confuses folks that may not want to genuinely assist you.


Just a few ideas you may want to consider.

:)

Bob

[Mike Phillips]

From the way you describe it, kind of sounds like lacquer checking even though it's not lacquer paint...


Anything like this?

http://i1084.photobucket.com/albums/j403/pat3472/My%20745/2011-12-10_13-48-58_153.jpg





Or smaller looking cracks/chicken scratching?


:)

[C. Charles Hahn]

Typical Honda... paint system failure. Seen it many times.

[Mike Phillips]

Owned a new Honda Pilot and the hood had paint cracking that looked like chicken's feet... Wish I would have taken a picture while I still owned it...

Basically the cracks looked like Peace Signs without the circle, if that makes sense, like this? (Only very small, like 1/4" cracks)

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/722/ChickenFeetCracks.jpg


If this is the problem with your car's paint there's nothing you can do to fix the problem except get the hood repainted...


:)

[Armenakadino]

Exactly google crows feet cracks on honda you will see there's plenty posts on 8thcivic

[Visitor92014]

Thanks everyone. Here are two pics I was able to grab. These are magnified 4x through a macro lens attachment. There are literally thousands of these all over my hood:

http://i.imgur.com/QI13e.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/YjKGr.jpg

[RaskyR1]

There have been lots of other threads covering this topic, especially with Honda's. Below is a post I made in another similar thread....



"Paint failure" would be a more proper term for this IMO.

I've seen this on a lot of Honda's lately, some of which are only a year or two old. It seems to be most common on the darker colors, and on the panels surrounding the engine bay...so heat appears to be a large factor.

In a repaint application, some common causes for cracking is excess material, too much hardener/catalyst in the paint, or insufficient flash time between coats

I'm not sure what going on with the OEM applications, but I don't believe the cracking is limited to just the clear coat and it actually originates in the primer or base coat. The panels needs to be stripped down to bare metal and repainted.


Rasky


The other thread... (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/33555-clear-coat-cracking.html)

[Visitor92014]

There have been lots of other threads covering this topic, especially with Honda's. Below is a post I made in another similar thread....





The other thread... (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/33555-clear-coat-cracking.html)


Thanks for the link Rasky. Knowing everything I've read in this one post has given me enough knowledge to go up against my stealer. Honestly, I don't expect them to help me at all but at least I can fel better knowing this isn't from road spray ;)