aragon20 wrote:I wouldn't even try to wax mine, I have tiny circular scratches in the top coat from using a sham-wow to dry my car. I honestly don't think you can protect your car from these kinds of chips and scratches. I have them on my bumper even. Good news is that it doesn't seem to be a problem with all of the Kizashi's. Hopefully yours is just fine, the car is great besides it. All I'm saying is that I wouldn't spend a huge amount of time and money trying to protect your car from this type of paint chipping and scratching to try to prevent this specific problem from happening because it isn't going to matter.
I just washed my Kizashi yesterday afternoon and I noticed a couple of paint chips on my bumper. Arrrrg
I am gonna call customer service about this issue and I only had the car for only a month.
It almost sounds like i may have the only paint job that is OK (?). I have 3300 miles, and have experienced none of the problems in this thread SO FAR. I did get the front end protected with film - largely due to early warnings from NJkizashi.
While the front is protected, I do not have any chips or scratches behind the margins of the film nor anywhere else. Note - there were a few very tine pinhead dings on the bumper before the film was applied, but nothing like the photos I have seen.
In addition, I got caught in a hail storm on a rural road (no place to take shelter) with initially pea sized hail then up to marble sized at the top of a grade. i pulled into a covered gas station when I got close to a major highway, and was sure i was going to see damage - but did not.
aragon20 wrote:Volunteer,
There are A BUNCH of tiny chips on the hood (and other places) now but they're hard to photograph ( along with the scratches) because I either keep on getting the reflection of whatever is oppoisite of it (the sky...my garage ceiling...) and when I use my flash, all you can see is the flash. I also didn't post all of the pictures since there are so many and I had a hard time figuring out how to do it. Something DID hit my vehice...a bunch of rocks. I understand rock chips will happen but I now count 52 chips in less than 2 months of having this car. I have lived in the same part of Colorado for all my life and in the winter they do use gravel but it's nothing really excesive. That doesn't even matter though, I should be able to drive down a gravel or dirt road anywhere and not have my car's paint ruined. My lasty vehicle had two chips and 3 scracthes after 3 1/2 years of having it. I take excellent care of my vehicles (along with my husband) and I would be the first one to bag on myself if I was treating the vehicle badly but I'm not. And even if Suzuki and you think that it isn't a defect, I know I will NEVER buy another Suzuki because I don't want a car that's going to chip and scratch this excessively. It pisses me off I pay for a new vehicle that looks worse that any other car I have ever had...and it has only been 2 months! I feel bad for anyone that thinks this is acceptable on any new/newer vehicle because it's not. I am complaining about this problem everywhere I can because I know if I had known about this chip/paint issue, no matter where the person complaining about the problem lived, I would've never taken a chance on a Suzuki car.
On a more positive note to others that are having this issue. I called Suzuki the Friday before last because I was concerned when Suzuki said on here that there was no record of this problem. Customer service was very friendly and DID have documentation of me bringing it to my dealership so that made me feel at least a little better. The lady was VERY nice and she has kept in constant contact with me about the status. All she has said so far is that my regional service tech is still researching the issue but it is nice she at least tells me that. I will (of course) post what the decision was and please let me know if anyone else hears a final answer first.
Aragon.......thanks for clarifying. Yes, definitely sounds like an issue if there are THAT many chips. Sorry if I spoke out of turn. Hopefully Suzuki will take care of you.
I have Azure Gray with 1,600 miles on it and two road trips at ave speeds of 80mph (which I got 30 miles per gallon). So far, zero chips.
Two things I did right away after learning about the chipping problem:
1) Bought the hood mask from Suzuki. You need to follow the directions and take it off when it gets wet or before you wash your car, but it's definitely worth the $70 and it makes the Zashi look even sportier. Hood mask is a must for long road trips.
2) Waxed my car with a high quality wax (I highly recommend Meguiar's NXT Generation Tech Wax 2.0). Once you do this you can feel a huge difference in surface friction and I believe it helps reduce the impact of road debris. It's just a theory, but I figure it can't hurt, plus I like my Kizashi to shine anyway.
I will keep checking for chips, but so far so good (knock on wood).
BTW, I live in Iowa so maybe there is something to the theory of location?
Hawkzilla wrote:
I will keep checking for chips, but so far so good (knock on wood).
BTW, I live in Iowa so maybe there is something to the theory of location?
Not at all like the Jersey Turnpike - just ask NJkizashi!
No, I imagine Iowa is a little less congested. I try to drive with rock chips in mind, so I stay back off of trucks and avoid messy roads. Really, we shouldn't have to do that though... I feel horrible for those with paint issues, I am not looking forward to that.
Also, for what its worth, I hand wash my Kizashi with low pressure water. Those high-pressure car washes are horrible on paint jobs.
Just checked mine... Manufactured in February 2010. That's pretty darn recent, so it remains a possibility that they fixed this problem. I look my Kizashi over closely on a daily basis, and not a single chip as of yet, but that doesn't mean they aren't coming.
