Has anyone found a flaw yet with their new civics? I have dirt IN the clear coat on my roof and what looks like a knick (however you spell it), between the windshield and the sunroof. It's not a knick from me, its like a change in the paint and it looks HORRIBLE. Honda said they'd paint the roof for my but what do you think? Do you think they'll F'up and the paint won't match or get overspray on the sunroof or something? I need some feedback -

 

i have a problem with my civic's paint as well! i didnt even notice it until weeks after i bought it. My rear bumper is like a shade darker than the rest of the body! argh. my car is galaxy grey by the way

 

Just be sure you imply to them that you are very picky about your paint that you expect perfection. They will get it right if they know your serious.
EDIT: Edited by the department of the redundancy department


Modified by MooGoCow3 at 12:40 PM 4/28/2006

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AG DOOM &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have a problem with my civic's paint as well! i didnt even notice it until weeks after i bought it. My rear bumper is like a shade darker than the rest of the body! argh. my car is galaxy grey by the way</TD></TR></TABLE>

Even our 99 Accord had this slight color variation, as does my Atomic Blue 06 LX Coupe...

Ah, the joys of 5mph impact absorbent urethane plastic bumpers with a flex agent.

It is as it is.

 

A lot of cars end up at a body shop before they are ever sold to the public. All the cars that come off a boat, from a container, go thru an insepction and sent to a body shop for repairs if any are found from shipping.

It could be possible that your roof was damaged in shipping and was a poor fix job.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HondaGSX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Has anyone found a flaw yet with their new civics? I have dirt IN the clear coat on my roof and what looks like a knick (however you spell it), between the windshield and the sunroof. </TD></TR></TABLE>

What color is your civic?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AG DOOM &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have a problem with my civic's paint as well! i didnt even notice it until weeks after i bought it. My rear bumper is like a shade darker than the rest of the body! argh. my car is galaxy grey by the way</TD></TR></TABLE>

Read about this problem on 8th gen civic. Seems the civics (they say a lot of manufactures are doing this) are getting cheap with the paint these days. I may have to take a look at the civics (colors) on the lot and possibly get a white or silver instead of the galaxy gray.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Marauder &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A lot of cars end up at a body shop before they are ever sold to the public. All the cars that come off a boat, from a container, go thru an insepction and sent to a body shop for repairs if any are found from shipping.

It could be possible that your roof was damaged in shipping and was a poor fix job.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Correct me if I am wrong, but most of "Honda" is built right here in Ohio. A guy today was saying that the Honda plant in Ohio employs like 40,000. Again this is coming from a co-worker.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hybrid93Hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Correct me if I am wrong, but most of "Honda" is built right here in Ohio. A guy today was saying that the Honda plant in Ohio employs like 40,000. Again this is coming from a co-worker.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Most? I doubt it. Yes, a lot of cars are built in Ohio, but a lot of cars still come in thru containers from Japan into San Pedro docks (los angeles). I've seen the new damaged cars lined up at the autobody shop in San Pedro.

Then, a lot of vehicles are built in Canada, and there is also US market cars that are built in England as well.

But even cars that are built in Ohio can end up with damage on them before they get to a dealer, and sent to a bodyshop for repairs.

 

Honda has different facilities to paint different parts of the car. One place does only doors and mirrors, another bumpers, etc... This may be only the case for cars coming from japan and not US built

 

Cars don't go into containers anymore. Unless there privately owned and going overseas outside the US. They come on ships known as Ro-Ro ships. Roll on Roll off. with huge ramps. There able to carry over 5000 cars at a time.

But they still do get damaged as you said. More than some people can imagine.

 

Yep. I had/have one. It's being painted right now. I picked the car up at night and didn't see that someone had rubbed to much paint off under the clearcoat on the right fender

 

im 99% sure that USDM civics are built somewhere in north america because the JDM ones are based on the canadian CSX
lots of hondas are built in NA but some still come overseas like the rsx-s

 

Mine was assembled in Canada and shipped by train to NJ then by truck to NY. My dealer tracked it for me and let me know every stop it made

 

i have a nighthawk black si and my car had 3 paint swirls on the car and it looked like it was where they tried to buff out a small scratch. took it to the dealership and they fixed it. they didnt repaint it, i guess they just buffed it out

 

Ladies & gents:

After having read through Civic problems in various forums, the sad truth is that cars built at the Alliston plant in Canada have some SERIOUS problems and mine is no exception. Mine also went through Jersey and I bought it in NY.

Lucky for some of you a paint job flaw is not serious.

Here 's my problem and 1/2 dozen other people have reported the same problem in 3 other forums.

My LX coupe MT will NOT track straight. It exhibits great instability at highway speeds and even at lower speeds. It 's squirrelly and continuesly goes left & right. It drives you crazy at times. I have to "work" hard to keep the car in its lane and not hit others on the highway or a curb. It's unnerving and stressfull especially with my 160 mi. commute round trip. I have not checked the alignment yet but other that had wheel alignments are still experiencing the same problem. Even if you take your eyes off the road for 1/2 sec. to look at your mirrors or whatever, when you put your eyes back on the road the car is always going to a different direction. You have to keep both hands on the steering wheel which doesn't make it for a relaxing commute or an enjoyable drive. Most others don't even want to jump into their new cars and some are not even driving them anymore. Some of the dealers have acknowldged the problem but say they can't do anything until Honda tells them how to correct this. They don't know what the problem is but they all have one thing in common: they 're all built in Alliston, Canada.

This must be a new plant or something. I haven't researched it but it could be they don't have their sh*t together over there. Another possibility is that one of their heavy machinery is not calibrated properly or keeps loosing its calibration and they 're putting out crooked frames or chasses. One guy took his car to the dealer complaining the car was "crooked", like the wheels were pointing to one side and the body another. The dealer acknowledged it but wouldn't do anything. Others have shown major CASTER discrepancies. The caster is off on one side by 1/2 degree in some cases. I think it's inexcusable for cars to come from the factory with screwed up caster. Out of spec caster on one side would cause the car to wonder and not handle properly which is what we are experiencing. Some like me with the driveability/instability issue, are also experiencing torque steer and our cars handle in a weird manner. Others have tried different tires, alignments, different wheel/tire combo, nothing - problem remains. It seems to be it's a major defect in a suspension component or the subframe and maybe frame.

This is my 4th Civic and I 've owned 6 Hondas, most of them built in the US or Japan. All my previous Hondas tracked straight and were a joy to drive. Hopefully it's just the Canadian plant putting out crappy cars and not a flaw in Honda's engineering. They probably have people working at the Alliston plant that never built cars before.. One thing is for sure. If I don't get this issue resolved soon I 'm going to sell the car (as others are doing as we speak) and will probably never buy Honda again mainly because I 've seen their QA go down hill over the years and they 're cutting too many corners with all the cheap hard plastic and crappy seats that are getting more uncomfortable with every gen. I mean what's up with this plastic shifter and the loud clunking every time I shift? It's BS that's what. Where is the refinement I keep hearing about? In the instrumentation and lighting? Flashy speedometers and nice exterior design is not what cars are about. I 'm definitely not getting another Civic. Getting too old for Civics and for some reason to me they seem to be getting worse with every gen. I 'd rather be driving my '01 or '97 & '93 Civics I owned. Maybe a new Accord when it gets fully redesigned.. don't knokw. A friend's Mazda 3 I test drove impressed me and was way better than this Civic I got from the damn Canadians. It handled better, clutch/shifter feel was better, was more comfortable and it drove STRAIGHT as an arrow. That's what the Civic should feel like too but (mine) doesn't.

 

I haven't seen any paint defects or anything on mine. but, i have a hybrid and the first letter in the vin is a j if that makes a difference.

 

A lot of the manufacturers will crush dammaged cars or sell as salvage titled cars. My Father works for a major auto carrier and the haul for Porsce, BMW, VW, GM, Honda, Kia and Hyundai.

He gets company cars and he had a 2001 Honda Accord EX v6 Leather that had the roof ripped off because it was on the top rack of the car hauler and the truck driver went under a low bridge. The car was repaired as a salvaged title and the trucking company bought it o use a a company car. Which is now forsale for 10k with 75k miles. Right now he has a 06 Jetta that was hit in the rear that was repaired. You can tell in the seam of the bumper but other than that the car is flawles and normal to he untrained eye.

So what I am saying it may have very well been repaired it was just a scratch. I may ask my Dad to see what Hondas policy is on cars damaged during shippment. Porsce crushes there cars no matter what. They don't save to motors, suspension or anything.

 

Nothing's stopping you from trading it in.

 

i have one.. its called an a**hole, atleast thats the name they called it. its where there is a circle in the paint. it looks like the base dark blue missed a spot and the light blue pearl painted over the primer. i have fiji blue.

when honda fixes major paint problems they usually take it to a body shop in your area. they dont do it themselves.

mine will be fixed in a few weeks, im taking it to my own body shop, honda is paying for it.

a minor problem.. on my wing, there were two dull marks that just needed a good buffing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Marauder &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Most? I doubt it. Yes, a lot of cars are built in Ohio, but a lot of cars still come in thru containers from Japan into San Pedro docks (los angeles). I've seen the new damaged cars lined up at the autobody shop in San Pedro.

Then, a lot of vehicles are built in Canada, and there is also US market cars that are built in England as well.

But even cars that are built in Ohio can end up with damage on them before they get to a dealer, and sent to a bodyshop for repairs.</TD></TR></TABLE>

4 out of 5 Hondas sold in America are built in America Some Japanese models like the Fit are obviously not so check your Honda sticker to see where your car was built ---- but this stat is directly from Honda

But any car can be damaged from the factory to the dealership no matter where it comes from --- I have seen some damaged on our lot from customers (accidents)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">They don't know what the problem is but they all have one thing in common: they 're all built in Alliston, Canada.

This must be a new plant or something. I haven't researched it but it could be they don't have their sh*t together over there.

This is my 4th Civic and I 've owned 6 Hondas, most of them built in the US or Japan. All my previous Hondas tracked straight and were a joy to drive. Hopefully it's just the Canadian plant putting out crappy cars and not a flaw in Honda's engineering. They probably have people working at the Alliston plant that never built cars before..</TD></TR></TABLE>

1: All Civic coupes are built in Alliston. Great work, detective.

2: Honda has been building cars in Canada since the 1980s. my 4th-gen Civic Si was built there. Until they opened the plant in Alabama, all minivans were built in Canada.

3: Toyota is building a new plant in Ontario, rather than taking getting huge tax breaks in Alabama or Mississippi, because the workforce in Canada does a better job. They said it in an official press release.

Perhaps your tracking problem has more to do with the road surface than the car. In any case, I can tell you that the problem has nothing to do with your car being built in Canada.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sugar Shane &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

1: All Civic coupes are built in Alliston. Great work, detective.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I thought some were built in Ohio?

 

Sedans are built in OH. Coupes come from Ontario. Honda Canada has been producing Civics for the USDM since the 80s.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Sugar Shane &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

1: All Civic coupes are built in Alliston. Great work, detective.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I said "I haven't done any research", newbie. Read my post again and don't try to be smart. Nothing good comes of it..

I drive on 2 of the smoothest roads in NY and NJ to get to work. The NY State Thruway which was repaved a few years ago, and Rt. 287 in NJ which is the newest highway in NJ built about 15yrs ago.
I 've been around for a while and have owned 10 new cars and some one dozen used ones. I 've experienced all kinds of problems. I 've been racing for 7yrs now and if it were as simple as crappy roads or radial pull or something similar I would 've caught it the first day. I have an appointment with the dealer on Wed. and I 'm hoping the wheels' alignnment is the only problem causing a squirrelly steering wheel (always moving) and the inability of this car to track reasonably straight. When I spoke to the service mgr he said they have had a couple of Coupes with really wacky alignment settings. I 'm hoping that 's all it is but I 'm not keeping my hopes up. It just pisses me off that I have to take 1/2 day off from work for this. Fiinally one lady in another 8thgen Civic forum said most of her problems disappeared once the dealer did a proper alignment. This lady left her car at the dealer for 2 weeks because she felt it was unsafe to drive and the dealer told her that's just the way new Civics are. I told her to call Honda customer care and open a case. She did and then the dealer agreed to check the alignment. The printouts they gave her shows the rear toe was at .02" left (normal) and the right 0.22" ! That's a 1/5 of an inch difference in toe which would definitely make the car wander. I 'm hoping that 's the case with my car and I 'll take anything bad I said about Honda back The only thing I didn't like about that lady's alignment (before & after) was that her front caster had 1/2 degree difference between left and right wheels. Caster should not be that much different between wheels on a new car. Caster can also make the car wander. She says the car is not perfect but much better than before. If my caster is off by .5deg., I 'm going to ask the dealer to check the subframe or correct the problem because that will only get worse over time making it impossible for the car to track straight or handle properly (also left & right turns will be different) even with good wheel alignments. If the caster difference between the 2 front wheels is only off by .1 or .2 deg. I will leave it alone, but .5 is a considerable difference that should not be present in a new car unless it hit a major pot hole or was mishandled on the transport truck, bending something before it got to the dealer.

 

Toe is pretty easy to check yourself in the driveway, even with just a tape measure on the tread. That might help you focus in on the problem quicker. Bad alignment is probably a delivery inspection oversight since a lot of time when transporting my racecar over long distances I'd get some toe or camber change. I don't remember if alignment check is on the delivery inspection for new cars or not.

Of course if you've been racing for 7 years, you have toe plates, right?

 

Back on the paint topic: I washed the car for the first time yesterday and it looks like some black silicone or adhesive on the paint near the windshield. Nothing I really care much about to make a fuss. I also have a nice pair of paint chips on the driver's front fender- but that's from being behind a car with race tires at Willow Springs.