Your fleet running reports

[Mr Pish]

Also, Mito - you really really need to get a job.

He can detail my car anytime

[Mito Man]

Not sure what else I’d do anyway this weekend when it’s been pissing it down with 40 mph winds

[IanF]

Yeah that puts me right off

There does seam to be some inconstancy with Tesla paint, from my perspective, it’s a tool and it’s going to get abused by other people (car park dings etc) so as long as the external finish passes ‘WBAC’ inspection it’s fine, paint correction, PPF and detailing add nothing to the value if you PX to a dealer or sell to an online buyer, they work on book plus there % adjustment less remedial work. Options add very little to the value as well. Arnold Clark told me I didn’t even need to have washed it.

If you have something interesting / rare or of high value then it may be worth investing in the paintwork, or of you have OCD.

While it might not matter for most owners, or the terms of the lease, it doesn't bode well for the long term appearance and just confirms many people's thoughts that they're designed to be disposable motoring. Which if turns out to be true isn't great for the 'green' credentials they try to sell them on.

It does make you wonder if they can't get something as basic as getting paint on the car right what other shortcuts and bodges are they making under the skin where you can't see it?

Last paragraph is my concern aswell.

[Sundayjumper]

It does make you wonder if they can't get something as basic as getting paint on the car right what other shortcuts and bodges are they making under the skin where you can't see it?

Last paragraph is my concern aswell.

Assuming I'm not misreading the posts - I'd actually think the the opposite - that the engineering inside is probably sound and it's the finishing (aka "the arty stuff") that's lacking. They're probably dealt with by completely different departments.

I'm more worried that poor paint leads to terminal corrosion of the shell, than a motor packing up.

[Mito Man]

Surely the chassis is dipped for rust proofing so poor paint on the body panels shouldn’t affect it? (Of course the really dodgy model 3 linked earlier is an exception!). Defenders have no rust proofing but they keep going forever so I don’t think even some rust would lead to a sub 10 year old car being scrapped.
It’s clear the bottleneck at production must be the paint which has been rushed. Looking at the car again I would say that it’s been painted quickly and not received adequate paint in all the corners, not cured long enough, then assembled and had the water ingress test hence all the water spots in the clear coat, then it failed QC, had the lower half resprayed by hand this time but they did a crap job. Came to England, failed PDI, had more paintwork done yet again...

[NotoriousREV]

Surely the chassis is dipped for rust proofing so poor paint on the body panels shouldn’t affect it? (Of course the really dodgy model 3 linked earlier is an exception!). Defenders have no rust proofing but they keep going forever so I don’t think even some rust would lead to a sub 10 year old car being scrapped.
It’s clear the bottleneck at production must be the paint which has been rushed. Looking at the car again I would say that it’s been painted quickly and not received adequate paint in all the corners, not cured long enough, then assembled and had the water ingress test hence all the water spots in the clear coat, then it failed QC, had the lower half resprayed by hand this time but they did a crap job. Came to England, failed PDI, had more paintwork done yet again...

Defenders have a separate body and chassis. The chassis is steel and rust proofed (not necessarily well), but also it’s relatively simple to replace corroded sections. The bodies are aluminium so don’t rust (although they can corrode), but the bodies aren’t structural (because of the separate chassis) so that corrosion isn’t catastrophic unless bits of bodywork start falling off.

Nearly every other modern car doesn’t have a separate chassis, because they are monocoques (Latin for One Penis). The bodyshell is structural and contains the strength and stiffness. Corrosion in the bodyshell weakens the whole thing and can be difficult to repair depending on location, those corner bits being a) especially important to strength and b) especially complex to repair.

[Mito Man]

It is sort of a body on frame

(Model S)

[V8Granite]

Anything that expensive has no excuse for being shoddy.

Dave!

[16vCento]

Anything that expensive has no excuse for being shoddy.

Dave!

Which one, the Defender or the Tesla!

[V8Granite]

I think everyone gave up telling Land Rover about the Defender in the 90s

Dave!

[Mito Man]

I just remembered there’s another newish American car here which costs the same so its more of an apples to apples comparison.
Had a look through the Camaro’s wheels to see the chassis is also not really painted, just has overspray

Same on the Tesla

Made in Mexico!!!
Then the Tesla boot - unpainted

But at least it doesn’t have exposed speakers and wiring

Tesla door shut is painted though

In fact it has too much paint with some runs on the rear ones.

I worked out how to change the audio settings and must say it has an excellent sound system, checked out the rear for the first time too, seats are much firmer than the front and stepping in the floor sounds like an oil drum

[GG.]

Managed to get the wheels swapped over on the 911 and the thing cleaned despite what felt like (and I’m pretty sure nearly was) 48 solid hours of rain.



Can’t quite get used to the wheels being silver again. Still think I prefer anthracite. Visually it does make the car much more eye catching (at least when they’re clean).

As for the tyres... well, let’s just say they’re rather traction limited compared to the Michelin’s. To be fair though - it’s still way too warm for winters so that can’t be helping.

[Rich B]

Silver wheels are epically better on a dark coloured 911.

[GG.]

I knew you’d appreciate them

[McSwede]

Silver wheels are epically better on a dark coloured 911.

The new wheels look awesome and RIC!

[mik]

Yup. Like them.

[240PP]

Definite improvement. They look spot on.

[Jobbo]

I love that design of alloys, and they have to be silver. Gorgeous.

[Coaster1]

Car looking good GG. Atlas Grey looking very blue in this picture

[Matty]

Well now I'm going against the grain and say I do prefer the anthracite, although that design of wheel is nice.