Paint peeling from my E53 X5 - is yours peeling too?

[Zestar001]

In additition to BMW, other automakers such as Ford, Lexus (Toyota), Kia, Honda and Chrysler are having paint issues. Most consumers are not aware that three paint companies: BASF, DuPont and PPG are responsible for nearly the entire market on exterior finishes. The auto industry uses technology in selective plants that measures the durability (paint thickness) associated with vehicles. Thousands of vehicles with thin paint have been documented as being released to the market. The auto industry is aware of the factory paint defects being released to the market. Essentially the paint industry is taking advantage of the auto industry, and the auto industry are letting their customers take the hit. Ford owners have been very successful in obtaining repaints thru small claims. Since 2010 Ford owners with paint issues have won in CA, IL, IN, NJ, MA, MI and OR. Ford dealers have also agreed to repaints in NY and ID, avoiding the whole small claims court process. The basis of all these victories was beginning with the facts: the paint thickness measurements of each of the individual layers associated with your vehicle's paint finish. Do a fast google search for "nbc chicago, ford paint peeling" or type in: "Car Owners Upset About Bad Paint Jobs" and you will see in the September 2011 newscast how rampant the problem is, impacting all automakers.

[Milla]

personaly, i dont believe anything previous owners say. they could say anything to make it sound good to the buyer. as someone stated, everyting isnt in car fax so you never truly know what happened to that vehicle. maybe it is indeed just crappy paint. maybe it was repainted. regardless, that sucks. im sorry the op has to go through this.

and to you, critter7, i didn't read through b/c i had something to do at the time. i intended on coming back later to read through them, as i did. lets play nice.

Never repainted, tested by the local BMW body shop.

That looks like a primer problem to me. I would guess the from the factory that X5 missed a step in the painting process before the color coat or a lower layer of paint was sprayed poorly.

Exactly what I was told. primer issues. not paint.

My 4.6 paint seems to be amazing, only 1 or 2 rock chips after 140k miles.

The locations of your peeling are really weird.

Take it to a high end body shop, they will be able to inspect the paint and measure the thickness to tell you if it is factory or not.

Either way BMW is going to tell you to take a hike, regardless of how many people claim to have the same problem.

I have it in writing like I said, BMW has been nothing but good to me so far. I hope you're wrong on that last statement

In additition to BMW, other automakers such as Ford, Lexus (Toyota), Kia, Honda and Chrysler are having paint issues. Most consumers are not aware that three paint companies: BASF, DuPont and PPG are responsible for nearly the entire market on exterior finishes. The auto industry uses technology in selective plants that measures the durability (paint thickness) associated with vehicles. Thousands of vehicles with thin paint have been documented as being released to the market. The auto industry is aware of the factory paint defects being released to the market. Essentially the paint industry is taking advantage of the auto industry, and the auto industry are letting their customers take the hit. Ford owners have been very successful in obtaining repaints thru small claims. Since 2010 Ford owners with paint issues have won in CA, IL, IN, NJ, MA, MI and OR. Ford dealers have also agreed to repaints in NY and ID, avoiding the whole small claims court process. The basis of all these victories was beginning with the facts: the paint thickness measurements of each of the individual layers associated with your vehicle's paint finish. Do a fast google search for "nbc chicago, ford paint peeling" or type in: "Car Owners Upset About Bad Paint Jobs" and you will see in the September 2011 newscast how rampant the problem is, impacting all automakers.

Impressive. Were you affected, that's how you know all this info? I'd love to hear more of what you know. I'll also do my own search. Thanks for the information!

[EpDarks]

Can you scan and post whatever you have in writing?

I'm not sure if you are on xoutpost or not, a search yielded me very little regarding peeling paint. That makes me think it's not a common issue.

My money says your truck has been repainted.

[Zestar001]

The auto industry use two broad metrics in determining the quality of a vehicle finish: Appearance and Durability.

The parameters use for durability are the film thickness measurements associated with the typical individual layers that comprise a vehicle finish: E-Coat, Prime, Basecoat, Clearcoat.

Note: When doing an internet search, it will yield more results if placed with the automaker's name in front of it: ie. "Ford Paint Problems", "Ford Paint Peeling" etc.

We have worked directly in the auto industry with Honda, Mazda, GM, Ford, Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz.

[MJFX328]

Looks like its never been waxed.

Looks like its never been waxed. Soap type and wash intervals will make a diff. I wax my car all the time and I've experienced peeling and fading

[Catfshxxx]

2003 4.6 with some door jam paint problems. up in wa state and bought it in tacoma so no florida sun

[Alex77ae]

hey there. im an e53 owner 02 3.0i and oxford green II color, same issue with paint on door pilars and stuff. not as bad as your front though. only my car is a 1 owner and purchased in boston mass and lived its life in maine and now back in mass, so only new england weather and similar paint problems. when you open the door, its white spots

[tmvE39E53Z32TT]

Never had that problem with my wife's or daughter's E53s

[jpyles]

Milla, I just joined the forum so I could reply. My wife's 2003 X5 has the exact same problem. I noticed some small cracking around the door jambs and hood, and recently the area right above the windshield looked the same as yours. It didn't take long for the paint to start coming off completely in that area, since it is exposed to a lot of airflow.

Please contact me ASAP with any info you've learned from contacted BMW NA. I intend to also follow up with them.

[M3BimmerBilly]

Look at that windshield moulding and roof rack. The plastic has been absolutely torched. This car has sat outside in florida sun everyday of its life.

Why buy a car with a history of peeling paint in the first place?

[syee74vt96]

Milla, I have a 2003 X5 4.6is Estoril Blue that I purchased in 2010. It started to peel, much the same way as yours. My body local shop said it was bad factory paint and pointed out to me how to tell it was factory and not a re-paint job. What's the latest update / status on your claim with BMW. I will like to add my X5 to the list as evidence and to get in on a repaint if possible.

[cfmistry]

Your situation is extremely strange. As mentioned above, it's easy to see from the underlying primer that the car has not been repainted at all. My '02 X5 had 115k miles on the titanium silver paint and never had any peeling at all. I wonder what could've caused this?

[Xallarap]

I am the original owner of a 2002 X5 4.4 with 56K miles and the car has been in North Carolina all this time... It is not the Florida sun!

My X5 is presenting similar issues (door, back, hood) but not as bad as yours. In my case the paint is not peeling the way it shows in your pictures but is kind of washing away with the rain.

I noticed the issue some time back and took the car to the dealer but the could not respond why it was peeling/washing away. They initially offered to re-paint the problem areas but back then it was so minor I decided not to do it (back then it was only a small line on the door on each side). Now the issue is significantly noticeable that I decided to google it and found your posting.

I have not taken my X5 back to the dealer since some years back I got into an argument with them. Over time, my X5 has had all 4 window regulators failed/replaced with the driver side failed/replaced twice. The warranty only covered two of them and I got upset I had to pay for what is clearly a bad design. So, I promised myself never to take the car back to the dealer.

Either way, have you or anyone been able to get some kind of positive response from BMW? Is there a place or contact number I can issue a complaint or add my car to the list?

I can send pictures if needed.

Thanks

[DannysM3]

My brother in law has the same X5 04' and same color .. His hood and front bumper started peeling so much that he had to get it re-painted. The paint is 100% original. After seeing his in person and looking at your photos I would definitely say that you have original paint and it is a defect from BMW.

[Milla]

I have enough replies and I'm contacting bmw. I'll contact you guys individually

[Xallarap]

Any updates from BMW? Perhaps we contact them with the same issue?

Thanks.

July 23, 2013 update.

I sent an e-mail to BMW Customer Service/Relations (customerRelations@bmwusa.com) including a couple of pictures of my X5 and a link to this forum.

Today, I was contacted by RuthAnn, BMW Customer Representative, and she basically stated that all they can do is to log a complaint. My 2002 X5 is well over the 4 years/50,000 miles warranty and there is nothing that BMW can do.

I explained that this was clearly defective workmanship on the part of BMW given the amount of problems on these model years, but she stated this issue was due to the elements and I should take my car to the dealer to make an assessment of the problem. However, even if the dealer determines it is due to a bad paint job from BMW, there is nothing BMW can do since the car is out of warranty.

I tried to explain that I have had cars from Ford and Nissan older than my X5 and they never presented a paint peeling problem. Yet, here I have a luxury car with less years than my old cars where the paint work is peeling away with no warranty coverage. No response there.

At the end all I was able to get is to have the complaint logged and be disappointed by BMW once again.

[Xallarap]

I sent an e-mail to BMW Customer Service/Relations (customerRelations@bmwusa.com) including a couple of pictures of my X5 and a link to this forum.

Today, I was contacted by RuthAnn, BMW Customer Representative, and she basically stated that all they can do is to log a complaint. My 2002 X5 is well over the 4 years/50,000 miles warranty and there is nothing that BMW can do.

I explained that this was clearly defective workmanship on the part of BMW given the amount of problems on these model years, but she stated this issue was due to the elements and I should take my car to the dealer to make an assessment of the problem. However, even if the dealer determines it is due to a bad paint job from BMW, there is nothing BMW can do since the car is out of warranty.

I tried to explain that I have had cars from Ford and Nissan older than my X5 and they never presented a paint peeling problem. Yet, here I have a luxury car with less years than my old cars where the paint work is peeling away with no warranty coverage. No response there.

At the end all I was able to get is to have the complaint logged and be disappointed by BMW once again.

[JWalker]

Not to rain on anyone's parade... It is a 12 year old car at this point. Was the paint likely defective from the factory? Probably. Should they (BMW NA) be responsible for it until the end of days? Absolutely not. The car had a warranty when sold new/cpo.

[Xallarap]

The car is 11 years old but it has only been driven 56K miles and been garaged about 1/2 that time.

Other postings in the web appear to show the problem earlier than 10 years but the key point here is that they all have the same problem in the same areas: door seams, hood, and body section next to the rear door.

I wouldn't expect BMW to be responsible through the end of days. But, come on, I wouldn't expect a BMW to start shading the paint a few years after it goes out of warranty. I have seen older BMWs with the paint holding really nice but this case is clearly bad BMW workmanship.

[Critter7r]

If a paint job lasts 10 or 12 years before starting to peel, is it really "defective"? Maybe inferior, but certainly not defective.

I saw 2 or 3 of those blue X5s peeling within the 4/50 warranty, and BMW took care of those without us even having to consult our regional manager. Two more happened after the 4/50 warranty, but prior to the vehicle being 6 years old, and BMW split those repairs with those customers 50/50. FWIW, all 5 of the blue X5s that I remember had one thing in common. They drove on dirt roads more often than most people in our area. We have a lot of dirt roads in the area, but most of our driver's go around puddles of water, and much less actuially drive on dirt. However, of these 5, 2 lived on a dirt road, and 3 had "places up north", which usually implies some extent of dirt roads.

My personal suspicion is that the paint was inferior in some capacity, and the cavitation that occurs with the dust-filled air in the gaps bewteen the doors and hatch area body-gaps is what causes the paint to peel. And cars that don't get exposed to this extra-dusty air either don't exhibit this problem, or at least don't exhibit it as soon.

But I think that by the time the car get to be 12 years old, you're on your own with any vehicle.

[Xallarap]

The key point here is that the car has been driven an average of 5K miles a year and has been taken care of. (Yes, less than 5000 miles a year driven on highway roads). This is why it is taking longer to show the same issue. The paint problem is still not as bad as the pictures provided by Milla but, knowing it is going on that direction is not a good feeling.

I agree that a high milage 12-year old car driven all over the place should show some paint issues. However, I disagree I should expect the same paint issues from a car that has been parked most of the time. Specially when we are finding out that an inferior paint job was done on a specific BMW model for a specific year range. I don't see how this is acceptable.

I am not asking BMW to cover the whole repaint job but at least provide some type of compensation based on the low milage on the car. Not on its age. But, same as BMW, I guess some people disagree with this.

In either case, I have already started looking for paint shops in the area to take care of this. The car is still in excellent condition and plan to keep it for a few more years.

[Critter7r]

FWIW, every one of the peeling paint X5s we saw was whatever-blue, I forget which blue, but they were all the same. So Yes, I imagine that the problem was with the paint formula. Some of the other cars were over 100k before the owners brought them in.

[Xallarap]

My 2002 X5 is Steel Gray Metallic.

In comparison, my 2001 330CiC is Bright Red with over 120K miles bought when it had 66K miles from Texas where it spent 4 years... Other than road rash, this car has no paint issues whatsoever.

[nickmpower]

maybe its possible the heat is making the paint peel on the inside too? Looking at the window seal, that car has spent some serious time baking in the sun.

[Greg C]

Just came across this thread. I have the same issue with my 2003 x5 and bought it new back in 9-2003. It is only on the inside doorsills.