Paint Lacquer Peeling

olie93

Active Member
Jun 7, 2014
74
3
Whittlesey
Hi All,

Just wanted to check if anyone else has had issues with the lacquer peeling. I have multiple places on my car where it is starting to peel off. Most look like the have originated from some sort of stone chip.

The car is comming up for being 2 years old, but i have never had this on any other car i've owned, including our 2nd car which was a 17 plate Leon.

20200616_133944.jpg

20200616_133949.jpg

20200616_133958.jpg
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
Have you been going too close with a pressure washer?

pressure washers will lift the laquer if it has been chipped by a stone chip?
 

billman

Active Member
Dec 20, 2009
119
19
The same thing happened to me after having it washed at a local petrol station with a pressure washer.
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
Something I dread getting on a car as I don't suppose it's easy to fix?
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
Something I dread getting on a car as I don't suppose it's easy to fix?
Nah be full respray of bonnet and bumper that one, you might get on of these chips away places that try just blend that area but i wouldn’t be sure they could get a 100% perfect repair
 

SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
2,388
1,279
Yes, a pressure washer can inflict damage to paintwork, especially if the pressure washer lance is held at the wrong angle to the car so the water is hitting the bodywork panels head on. It’s good practice to always hold the lance at a 45 degree angle (or less) to the panels being washed to minimise the risk of damage to paintwork.

I used to work with a guy who had an Audi and he was being a little over enthusiastic with his pressure washer while cleaning the car and managed to remove a saucer sized area of clear coat! He reported it to Audi and they told him there was evidence of a substandard repair in the area where the lacquer had been removed.

@olie93. Have you owned the car from new? If not, is it possible that the panels where you’re experiencing lacquer peel have been repainted? If so, then if the repainting was in any way not to factory standard (e.g. preparation of panels before painting, poor or unsuitable environment used for drying the painted panels etc), there probably is a greater risk of lacquer peel than there is with the original paint. That being said, there have been a few instances of lacquer peel on plastic body parts such as bumpers reported by some VW owners on various forums where the affected plastic panels had never been repainted. I think plastic bumpers are more prone to this problem then metal body panels - especially if they’ve suffered stone chip damage.

As your car’s less than three years old, you could get your Seat dealership to inspect the affected panels to see if, in their opinion, the lacquer peel is covered under the paintwork warranty. However, I suspect they’ll say the damage is the result of an external influence rather than the result of a problem with the factory paint / painting process.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mr Pig
Genuine SEAT Parts and Accessories.