New wife's accord has window adhesive in paint

[asmiths1]

Morning everyone,

Two weeks ago we purchased a new 2008 honda accord coupe 4cyl ex-l, Nighhawk Black Pearl. Prior to purchasing, we both looked over the car, but only noticed a small scrap under the spoiler. The dealership touched it up the next day.

Fast-foward to this past weekend. After washing the car and while we were drying it my wife noticed something very strange. The passenger door sill (interior) next to the rear quarter window was partially blue, from the top of the quarter window to the bottom of the quarter window (about an 1.5 inch wide x 1 ft down). You can only see it well in bright light. In addition, on the outside of the car at the back of both driver/passenger quarter windows there seems to be faint white teardrops into the paint. The same is true in the trunk area just below the rear window with blue and white streaks/drip markings going across the majority of the lip.

We showed the service manager and he had 2 of his service advisors come out as well. They hadn't seen this before and asked that I wait 'till the district manager came by to see it before anything is done. I stopped by a professional body shop and they could only think of the window adhesive used to stick the windows on could have leaked into the paint.

Honda Corp. is aware and plans to come out w/n 2 weeks. When I spoke with Honda they said it was good that I called so soon into ownership and asked that I take pictures for support purposes. My wife has about 15 digital pictures and I will try to add some this evening.

Right now, a re-paint of the areas affected was the initial thought and I'm not sold on this because if correct, the passenger door, trunk, and possibly rear panels would have to be sanded and re-painted... on a two week old car.

Anyone else ever heard of window primer/adhesive bleeding into car paint?

Other than the paint issue, the car drives great and it is very quiet inside with no tweeter rattles or steering wheel creak like the RL had in my first month of ownership.. Still love the RL though!

Thanks in advance.

[VoicesInMyHead]

Sorry you have a paint issue. I have not heard of that, but it sounds interesting... keep us updated on this! I'll be interested in the pictures... it's definitely something I'll look for when we replace my wife's car in a few months!

[25 Year Honda Owner]

This is very strange. Is your car made in Japan or Marysville, OH? I have had 12 Accords and never a paint issue of any kind. My current Accord is a 08 EX-L 4 door with the Polished Metal Metallic color. I think it is one of the best fit and finish vehicles I have ever seen. Also great paint on my DCP RL!! Think I would insist they replace the car since it is only a couple of weeks old. No body shop can do justice to a Honda factory paint job!!

[Exbox]

New wife's accord has window adhesive in paint

Congatulatons on your new wife!

[Andy-Montreal]

You mentioned that the adhesive is "inside" the paint and not on top of the paint surface. My limited understanding of basic automotive mfg is that the body first gets painted and the trim,including windows, get installed afterwards. This would mean that the adhesive would be on the paint surface and not inside it.

An elastomeric-type of caulking or body sealant is commonly used on panel edges to cover raw edges of sheet metal that are left bare prior to painting. It could be that some body sealant, applied by assembly robots, may have dropped onto the surface where a line inspector missed the mishap.

If this adhesive or sealant is just under the clear coat but ontop of the paint, that is definitely an issue to take up with Honda of America.

BTW, many people may not know this but the blue specks in the Nighthawk Black Pearl are actually mixed into the clear coat and not the color base coat. A lump of blue adhesive-looking goop may actually be a by-product of the clear coat painting process that went wrong due to the blue specks jamming up the robot's paint gun.

[BillB]

No body shop can do justice to a Honda factory paint job!!

What dream did you just wake up from? The Ridgeline has about the worst factory paint job of any vehicle I have ever owned.

[25 Year Honda Owner]

Originally Posted by BillB

What dream did you just wake up from? The Ridgeline has about the worst factory paint job of any vehicle I have ever owned.

My 2 RL's have been great, never bad paint on any Honda! Have I just been lucky? My 1st Honda, 1981 was silver. Nearly every silver US vehicle at that time had peeling paint. I have seen some silver Ford and Dodge PU's that were showing black primer on the hoods in less than 1 year!!

[chisoxjim]

Originally Posted by BillB

What dream did you just wake up from? The Ridgeline has about the worst factory paint job of any vehicle I have ever owned.

I have to agree with Billb on this issue, the RL paint is very thin, and cheap(especially on the front end regading chips) compared to my previous Jeeps, BMW, and even Chevys.

As for this thread doesnt this thread belong in the "Other vehicles section" and not the "problems and issues section for the RL, since it is about an issue with an Accord, and not an RL?

[asmiths1]

The car was manufactured in Marysville, OH.

Some asked if it is on the outside surface of the paint. The blue is on the interior of the paint on both the passenger door sill and trunk area. The white cloudy portions looks like it baked into the paint at the back of each quarter window and trunk area, which come from underneath the rubber surrounding the window. If you pull up the rubber tubing on the door sill attached to the door, it is also shaded in blue...

The body shop did say the paint is done first and then windows are added, but they think the paint may have not dried enough and when the primer/adhesive was added, it baked into the paint.

Lastly, while at the dealership with the service team, we did look at 2 other Black coupes and both didn't have any issues.

Sorry for posting in the problems area, but as an RL owner I thought it would be ok.. After all, the accord is a Honda.. just not all-wheel drive and 4500lbs of fun.

[Andy-Montreal]

Originally Posted by chisoxjim

I have to agree with Billb on this issue, the RL paint is very thin, and cheap(especially on the front end regading chips) compared to my previous Jeeps, BMW, and even Chevys.

As my body shop expert once told me, "Honda's paint is so thin that they put just enough paint and clearcoat to cover the metal.". He also told me that in some rare cases, he's seen detailers overbuff stamped body panel edges to the point where the clear and paint wears right thru. Beware of those offering to "clay" your car.