Paint 'Bubbles'

Faults and Technical chat for the Volvo XC40
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Sven
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:23 am

Post by Sven »

Hello everyone

Happy Sunday to all...We wondered if anyone has had a similar problem appear on their paintwork to us. We buoght our Onyx Black XC40 in March 2019, and are generally happy with it, but noticed yesterday, when cleaning the car, that two 'bubbles' seem to have appeared one on the roof and one on the bonnet. They're about 5mm diameter and we at first thought they may be tar spots, but on inspection they're actually the paint itself pushing up from the surface of the metal. It looks to me like some sort of corrosion or other chemical action under the paint pushing the paint out.

My question for the community is: has anyone had a similar experience, and if so what was done about it? The car is still under warranty (until March next year) and so we'll be contacting Volvo/dealer tommorrow, but I wondered if anyone out there has had similar experience.

On a similar note, the paint finish in general seems very prone to minor scratches (I know there's been some commes on this forum about this before), and wondered if anyone has found a way of getting this improved 'after the fact': I believe if we'd paid for a 'ceramic' coating this might have protected against this minor scratching issue but this, to me seems to be not the right answer: Volvo should provide a paintwork suitable for purpose. Anyway, if anyone knows how this paintwork could be 'restored' (and don't mentiont T Cut!) without a respray that would be of interest.

Anyway, any knowledge/experience/advice anyone can provide most welcome. Pics attached.

Cheers.

Sven

XC40PaintBubbleRoof2.jpg

XC40PaintBubbleRoof1.jpg

XC40PaintBubbleBonnet2.jpg

XC40PaintBubbleBonnet1.jpg

2019 XC40 D4 Inscription Auto 4WD

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Greggspies
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Post by Greggspies »

I am absolutely no expert but the way the surface of the paint is blistered, it looks like a surface reaction to a solvent like paint remover. If it was from underneath I would expect to see the surface intact. Either way, it's going to need a repaint.
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Sven
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Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:23 am

Post by Sven »

Thanks for the reply. The car hasn't been subjected to any solvent or anything of that sort, it's garaged, and, due to covid, hasn't been out much. We noticed the bonnet one about a month ago (not sure how long it's been there) and the roof one has appeared in the past week or so. There's very little likelihood of the car having had contact with solvents, so I don't think it's that. I can imagine the dealer/Volvo will say a similar thing, we'll see how things go.
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morganj
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Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2020 7:50 am

Post by morganj »

Are the "blotches" in a straight line by any chance?

You mentioned the car is garaged, do you have a motorized garage door? Maybe something is dripping from the mechanism?
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Sven
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:23 am

Post by Sven »

Hi Morgani

Thanks for the suggestion, as there are only two blotches, it's hard to say they're in a straight line: they are both on the left hand side of the car, but not parallel to an axis I can imagine. We do have an auto door opener so that's a good suggestion, the only thing with that is that the car is always parked with the right hand side under the opening unit, and the blotches are on the left. Also the box is electrical, and looking at it and googling, there don't seem to be any items that might drip from the box, lubrication is done at the sides where the springs and rollers are. Nonetheless it is a good suggestion and will investigate. Do you have experience of this? Or does anyone else have experience of 'drips' from auto garage door openers (it's an upandover installation).

Cheers.
2019 XC40 D4 Inscription Auto 4WD
XC40Warwick
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 1:23 pm
Location: Dordogne, France

Post by XC40Warwick »

I would be inclined (if you can) to get a first opinion from a professional paint shop before you take it to Volvo. Then you will be able to smell the BS that they may well try to fob you off with.
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Sven
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2019 10:23 am

Post by Sven »

Hi Warwick

Thanks, good advice, though it's hard to get such input without paying. As regards the 'garage drips' that's definitely not an issue, there's no liquid or oil of any sort, and the positioning of the defects on the car means those areas aren't consistent with the location of the mechanism anyway. There is, however, a posting on another forum about what sounds like very similar issue on an XC90, wonder if it's a similar issue...
https://www.swedespeed.com/threads/car- ... ng.594315/
.
2019 XC40 D4 Inscription Auto 4WD
step2534
Posts: 58
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2021 4:49 pm

Post by step2534 »

Thats bad, a few yrs ago I had a new defender and the back door bubbled for no apparent reason. Land Rover put a new door on, they didnt paint it. I suppose it was quicker and probably cheaper.
XC40Warwick
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2018 1:23 pm
Location: Dordogne, France

Post by XC40Warwick »

It does happen to many manufacturers, even Aston Martin suffered a spate of paint issues a few years back, due to poor preparation and cleanliness.
Hopefully Volvo will accept its an issue and deal accordingly, I would recommend contacting Volvo customer services just to 'get it logged' as a fault and possible claim.
XC40 FE D4 Crystal White 20" with LAVA
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