Don't know specifically who you were asking, but I'm in the US - Wisconsin. I also asked my Mazda rep if the warranty issue is the case for me as well, and if I just inadvertently helped alleviate Mazda of any responsibility moving forward...

Hi, I was wondering if all CX-5 (Soul Red Crystal Metallic) have this paint problem. I am on the fence to buy one, but after reading about so many complains it feels like a deal breaker.
I asked my local dealer about this issue, but they told me that "ONLY A FEW" have been reported so far and I should not worry, even if something like that happens, warranty will take care of that.
I know they don't want to admit to this problem and they want to sell me their car, which I like a lot, but I don't want to deal with warranties and have in a few months new car that needs to be repainted.
Would you buy this car if you knew about this paint issue?
Your opinion is highly appreciated.

byab,

I consider this conversation the most compelling reason to join a Mazda forum. You have information based on dozens of the Mazda faithful that there is a problem with Mazda's red paint. As to the extent of the problem, it is clearly a significantly greater issue with the Red than other colors. My current Mazda is blue with 75,000 miles I have only a few chips and the only one that is significant enough for me to address was so deep that there is actually a dent in the hood from the impact. There are no significant discussions on the forum about any other color.

I would not buy a red Mazda at this point.

The sales person's comment that Mazda would cover it under warranty is also mentioned in this conversation. It has taken months to have some members problems addressed and others are ignored. It would not be worth the risk to me.

Earlier in the thread is a comment containing paint codes, and that the problem in theory was addressed and the one paint code from 2018 and later supposedly doesn't have the issue. My loaner from the dealer is another 2018 CX-5 with the red paint. But I didn't see any code on the door, so I can't attest if there's a different version that doesn't have the issue, but this 2018 DOES have the same issue, the hood looks horrible, tons of chips everywhere.

Since we've seen people all over with this issue, and to me, just the fact that Mazda USA *intervenes and gets work done for free* to me indicates that this is a well known issue no matter what they may try to say at dealers and such...

Personally, I wouldn't buy one until this was known to have been dealt with definitively.

Thank you all for your input. I appreciate it.

I was at the local Mazda dealership last night with my daughter, who wants to buy a CX-5 in Soul Red Crystal. That colour costs an extra $450 (CAD), which I always saw as a price negotiating point. The sales manager told my daughter that Mazda Canada is now wrapping every new Soul Red CX-5 and CX-3 with 3M protective film - the entire car - at no cost to the buyer. The CX-5 in the showroom is wrapped.

When I asked him why, he said that Mazda wants their signature colour to remain at its best for many years. I asked him if the Soul Red paint is more fragile than the other colours but he said no, it's just a special thing for Mazda. I was skeptical so I joined this forum to see if SRC is a problem. I see that it is. So is Machine Grey Metallic, apparently.

My daughter's heart is set on the Soul Red so my question is, how long will 3M wrap last and will it actually protect the paint enough to prevent chips? If so, she might take the red and plan on changing the wrap every few years.

I have Soul Red 2014 Mazda 3 (5 door) and 2018 CX-5
 

I have had absolutely no chips caused by rocks on either. BUT, my wife has a wheelchair and I have about 2 dozen chips on the top of the back bumper of the 3 from putting it in and out. Because of that, I had them put the optional chrome strip on the CX-5 back bumper - but still have 2 chips on it already. Bought the 2018 stainless steel Mazda 3 strip for my 2014 Mazda 3 and plan on touching up the paint on both.

By the way, the single part little touch up tube from Mazda for Soul Red is useless. The paint does not match the 3 part factory Soul Red. I plan to buy the more expensive 3 part touch up paint.

I just got back from the Mazda dealer and checking out the Soul Red Crystal CX-5 in the showroom. I don't know how the salesman left me with the impression that the entire car was protected by PPF - it's not. (And I should know better than to believe a car salesman.) The PPF has been applied to the entire hood, the whole surface of both front fenders, the A-pillars and about 10" of the leading edge of the roof. So NOT the whole car. Still, that has to cost them several hundred dollars and they're doing it at no cost to the buyer, other than the extra cost for the Soul Red paint. They wouldn't do that unless they're hoping it prevents having to repaint a bunch of cars.

I would love to see THAT after a few years... Seems like a bad idea to do the protection only 10 inches into such a large area... If it protects against UV and such, I wonder what kind of visual difference there will end up being and how long it would take to show the difference.

Until today, I'd never seen a hood covered completely with PPF; they all stopped some 10 or 12 inches back from the leading edge. My new Subaru hood has PPF on only the first 10 inches. So the roof would be no worse than a partially covered hood.

For how long? I'd be concerned about weathering and any sun damage compared to the protected part over time.

Appreciate that this thread is about Soul Crystal Red, but agree that there are also issues with the older 2016 Soul Red. The paint is VERY thin, approx 70 micrometres compared to the 140 micrometres on my European car. My bonnet is covered in chips and I actually have rust appearing on the roof from chips that have suddenly appeared (they can't be more than two weeks old). Mazda have refused to help. I'm fastidious about keeping the car clean and touching up chips as I notice them. I'm on the way to a dealer this morning to get rid of it before the value plummets.

I note that Mazda industry press releases are praising their paint tech for allowing thinner coats, thus reducing VOC and weight.

My "insider" has suggested that all '+' models from Aug 2018 production onwards have resolved the Soul Crystal Red issue, but we will wait and see.

What are people's experiences with Artic White?

I've similarly been put off the Machine Grey as an alternative: apparently this paint is extremely expensive, being a similar formulation to that used on certain Rolls Royce colours, although slightly easier to work with compared to Crystal Soul Red.

The method of applying film also requires the use of a very sharp knife in proximity to the car body to cut to the exact shape and profile of the panel. Unless you have a highly skilled and patient technician, do you really want to risk barely perceptible knife cuts in the paint that could ultimately rust down the line?

Glad to know I'might not going crazy !
 

As I suspect, the "original" Soul Red Metallic is generally accepted to be not fit for purpose. The paint does not stand up to normal day-to-day and environmental driving conditions. Any attempt to quantify the extent of the damage should be related to the milage covered by the car. That is, at 10,000 miles my car had 14 definite chips through to the base layer. At 15,000 miles it had 25 "chips". Extrapolating to 30,000 miles I would envisage there being in excess of 50. Given that there are another two winters before I reach 30,000 miles, and that I first noticed the chips after last winter (possibly related to the paints performance in cold weather/ salt covered roads) I expect the damaged may be much worse. Even at 30,000 my car will still be under warranty. I have logged this issue with Mazda UK and with the manufacturering plant in Hiroshima. No luck with either at the moment.

Of course, it's not just the aesthetic issues of having chips: once they are formed there is always the risk of rust even with a touch-up as water may have already penetrated the surface. This is my problem with the slightly off-topic Soul Red on my 2016 Mazda 6: rust on the roof from chips even after repair

In my fourth week now of them having my car, no contact yet from them. Fun fun fun...

Week 4 started for me today. Spoke with my dealer's service adviser today as well, he said the painting will start on Thursday, implying it took them 3 weeks to take the car apart. Also confirmed that only the panels with the chips/flakes will be painted, and the adjacent unaffected panels will be blended in. I assume that means I will have a partial Mazda warranty on the unpainted panels, and a partial body shop warranty.

Just got the call from the dealer - mine is done and ready for pickup. I have no paint expert I can pay to come inspect it, so I emailed him my concern about others who have had issues afterwards and how I'd prefer to avoid a battle should I find something that's a problem AFTER I've picked it up, so I'm hoping to get some kind of confirmation in email I can use should something happen at least... I'll give it a really thorough lookover regardless, so I'm hoping I'm not one of the horror stories...

Keep you all posted.

John

John, how did it go with the pickup/inspection?

Good at the time. I immediately drove it to the Jeep dealer to get a trade value and they came in even higher than I had hoped, beyond KBB trade value.

Paint looks good but yesterday I found that they didn't assemble something right under the right front wheel well, i opened that door, heard a "scrunch" and saw some black liner that is behind the sheet metal on that front quarter bodypanel was pried out by the door. I had a couple fasteners broken on the garage floor. I was able to nudge it in place so it stays, but need to get them to fix that if I have the car long enough, looks like they may have the jeep I want at a nearby dealer and if they can pull it to my local dealer I'll be selling the Mazda today or tomorrow.

I was surprised at the job they did. I checked around the doors as well, to see how they did, and I can't see any obvious defined spot where you can see anything new was done.

Surface all looks about perfect. One thing I realized as I got into work this morning was I hadn't opened the sunroof to look around that inside part to see how it appears, I'll do that later today weather permitting.

If the worst thing was a plastic panel not fastened right I would call it a win, but I also think if that was off, what else may be off that I wouldn't find till later.

I have in writing their assurance that any issues will be handled by both Mazda as well as the dealer body shop at least... But since I'm trading it in that may not be an issue for me...

Thanks for the update John! Good luck with the sale and whatever new vehicle you'll be getting.

I have extreme chipping on my 2016 CX3, i just received word Mazda Canada is going to fix the affected areas. Not good enough for me, I want the whole car painted. It is like having two broken bones and only one gets a cast!

ROFL. This CX-5 was my 17th new car in the last 23 years. Jeep will be my 18th. By far my least favorable experiences have been with Mazda. This was my second Mazda, the other was a special edition yellow 2002 Miata. This will be my 5th Jeep. Jeep is the only vehicle other than my one Nissan (Juke) that never had to have anything fixed. So yeah, I know I'll have a lot of luck with this move. Based on experience, not some junk I read in a magazine... :) Of the only two manufacturers I've ever done more than once, the Mazda has been an utter flop. Jeep? Stellar.

Here's a few pics. I'm hearing that panel in the front right quarter panel moving and thumping a bit on bumps now that it's moving after the fasteners broke off. I also hear a few other noises I never heard before. The paint looks alright, but up near the edge of the sunroof there's sprayover you can see, that's rough to the touch. If I would expect anything to be a point where things might peel or separate, it would be there based on how it feels to the touch...

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...bb6fe42453.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...56a92bf4e9.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...c0bc229e23.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...9389788a69.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...0bf5c7367c.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...fe5bc89bee.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.maz...9e1f008993.jpg

And so are we to assume this blanket condemnation of Mazda products is based on one poor paint job?

You should not so assume any more than you should assume that Jeeps are problem free based upon his experience.

Seriously, what on earth is your problem? This thread was on topic until you come in to troll, bashing other cars. No, I had more issues with this than the paint and had many problems with the Miata. But none of that should even BE in this thread because the rest of us stayed on point. If you need to troll go somewhere else.

Sweetpete any update?

Supposed to get it back tomorrow or Tuesday. Once I get the call, and whether I accept it or refuse to take it back because of a substandard paint job, I'll post my "review" here. Thanks for asking!

Hope it goes well. Remember also check all the plastic panels behind everything, wheelwells, etc... That was where I had issues, they didn't get the things assembled right, doors caught and pulled and broke it when opened... Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

My condolences on the lack of action over there. That definitely isn't acceptable considering what Mazda USA is doing for people with this issue. Clearly they know there's an issue if they're doing what they're doing for people here in the US. It's not like the problem magically vanishes outside of the borders here. In addition to social media you may want to start contacting some people in the auto magazine trade as well, and ask if they've ever looked into the issue for a story. Would be nice to see someone in the field actually research and write up the problem in a trade magazine to help bring more awareness about the issue... Just don't give up, keep nagging, keep pushing. There's clearly a defect and you shouldn't have to go through this much effort to get them to make it right...

Over a thousand chips on hood, pillars, roof, front fenders and both side of the car. After going to my dealer, they sent me to the paint shop for a quote, $5000 to paint the entire car. The paint shop told me they paint a Mazda once a week. They are the only one that accepted to paint the crystal red as they cannot reproduce the exact color. He told me that he has to apply 5 coats of clear coat, one of which is a tinted clear coat. They have to paint the whole car since they can't match the paint. A Mazda dealer in Donacona Quebec don't let crystal red car leave the dealership without a 3M film on the hood, bumper, pillars, mirrors and 6 inches on the front of the roof. One month later the paint shop called me in order to bring the car to get painted. Mazda came through and they at least will fix the problem. Now lets see what the paint will look like.

Ewww... They had mine for a month, so I know it's a long process. SweetPete's was out even longer...

Haven't heard from SweetPete yet for how his delivery went. My paint looked alright except in the areas where the door closed, and the inside of the sunroof. You could see overlap in those areas. Just make sure you check everything - all the hidden black plastic panels behind the exterior panels, like the wheel wells, doors, hood, etc... Those were the areas I had problems and things hadn't been reassembled well. Do not drive out until you've opened all doors, hood, trunk, etc.... In my case, opening doors on the passenger side when I got home ended up with plastic fasteners broken on the garage floor....

I will be looking for a perfect job, nothing less. It is a new car and I expect to receive a new car. I have the full blown model with white leather. The car drives amazing and winters are no longer a problem. They told me it is a 60 hours job. We'll see. Thanks for the heads up.

I was lucky, I was trading to something else so I had more freedom to just get out of the situation. And yes, it's a surprising car. I was first turned onto it by reading all the articles about how Mazda clearly listened to customer feedback and addressed issues like road noise and such. It wasn't the most expensive care I've owned despite being their most loaded model, but it was by far the quietest. The lack of road noise, wind noise, outside noise, it was just amazing compared to anything else. And while some people have complained about the infotainment control knob, that's the one thing I miss the MOST - it was SO convenient, right there where the hand hung when my arm was on the armrest. Never had to touch the screen or reach out for nearly anything. Well designed in so many respects, but man, they really dropped the ball with their special, extra cost paint... Good luck!