Hey everyone. I'm dealing with swirl marks in my brand new (3 weeks) CX-5. I didn't notice this till a week after purchase when I saw the car in the sun. Yikes! The dealer attempted to fix this by reapplying the auto butler. Which is a lame fix in my opinion. I let them do it and it looked good till I "washed" it. And my washing I mean I rinsed it off with water. That was the most I was willing to do till I knew if the swirls were legitimately gone. They are not. They are back. Not as bad, but they are back. I'm really frustrated to be dealing with this on a brand new car. I was hoping some of you could give me advise? Is this an issue with this paint color? Is the clearcoat that soft? What's going on!?!?

 

Not the first time I've heard this complaint w/Soul Red. I don't know that the clear is any softer than any other multi-step paint (keep in mind, for what it's worth, that this is a 3 step paint rather than the more common 2-step). IMO, your first mistake was paying the dealer to apply a paint treatment (auto butler?!), but that's water under the bridge now. The dealer has twice proven their incompetence so I would not let them near the car again. Your next step would be to call Mazda Customer Satisfaction (or whatever they're calling it these days) at the 800# shown on their web site. At least that's what I'd do. You may end up having to get the distributor of the paint treatment involved since it appears to be application of their product that precipitated the problem. Good luck!

 

Well technically I believe the first application of Auto Butler was applied to the car before purchase. Would that have caused the issue? It really appears like it was from a buffer that went crazy. But I know little about paint issues.

 

Well yes, the buffer used in applying the product caused the issue. So whomever employed the guy with the buffer is responsible. This could be tricky.

 

Couldn't this just have been done by buffing not due to the paint protection application? That is done by a machine. How would I actually know where the actual cause lies?

 

Typically there is no reason to buff a factory paint job by the dealer unless they were trying to correct something or, as in your case, they were applying a sealant which pads their profit margin and runs the risk of having someone who doesn't know how to use a buffer do the application. The bottom line is the dealer sold you a car with paint defects and it's their responsibility to make good on it. If they can't/won't, your recourse is with Mazda USA, if for no other purpose than to act as an intermediary.

 

Have people had success contacting Mazda?

 

It really depends on the circumstances. What have you got to lose? It may be the best starting point.

 

On a related note, there is a line on my wife's soul red CX5 that looks like a water drip starting just under the driver's door mirror and extending to the trim at the bottom of the door. I just washed it before putting it in the garage while we go out of town in the Grand Cherokee and it wouldn't come off. There is no difference in feel when running your finger over it to the normal paint, but it appears almost like something bleached the paint. I have no idea what caused it, but it looks like a body shop job to remove it.

 

Try a good detailer.