I've had the car 3 weeks and today I noticed two small flakes of paint where the plastic bumper meets the metal fender. As you can see from the pics, the gap between these two panels is very narrow beside the headlight but wider near the hood -- shouldn't the gap be consistent?

I have not run into anything, but there's a chance someone else backed into the car (though there are no bumps or scratches on the bumper). Would that have caused this? The way the bumper is designed it looks like any impact to the bumper will press against the fenders and cause the paint to chip.

Is the front end of this car really that fragile? Or is this a bumper that was not properly fitted from the factory? (If I zoom in on pics taken 3 weeks ago I see the inconsistent gap between these panels, but I don't see the paint chipping).

Am I just worrying too much?

driver's side, paint flaking beside the headlight



another driver's side



passenger side, same problem but not as bad

 

Its something that happens but shouldnt happen... have your dealer try and fix the problem

 

i have that same problem on my rear bumper where it meets the quarter panel. Mine is a bit worst than urs but whatever its a car a small flake here and there wont kill me....unless someone inspects it and thinks it was repainted

 

With it being at almost exactly the same spot side to side, I'm leaning toward something that was done at the factory when they installed the bumper. I'm not sure if the parts are painted separately and then installed later? I would think the body of the car would get painted - then the headlights installed, then the front bumper added at the end. It might be worth a stroll through the lot at one of the dealerships to see if you see any similar damage.

Sadly, the paint quality on the G is not like the old Q45s, so you're going to have a lot more of these "what the hell happened there?" moments with your G.

Heath

 

Just a thought -- I had some spots that looked a bit like your pictures (i.e., it looked like paint chips). It turned out that it was only little bits of material left over from the protective white film that covered the car when shipped. When gently rubbed, it came off and everything was fine.

 

wow...talk about nitpicking

 

I had the same problem on my 08 g35S IP sedan 2 weeks into ownership. It was happening on both sides for my case. Unfortunately I bought the car from a dealership about 500 miles from where I live. So when I took it in to the dealer near my home they were like You bumper have been repainted by dealer you bought it from so you got to take it there for repair.

I was not happy with this response so I contacted the original dealership ( i know the sales guy there) and he confirmed that it was not repainted. Now I could drive it down and get it repaired but that was way too far and gas way too expensive.

Anyways I went back to my local dealership and showed them the SAME exact flaking on 2 brand new G35 on the lot and on a loaner they had there. Service manager was speechless. Anyways I called Inifiniti Customer service and complained and told them how upset I was with this issue. I spoke to (Jessica). After a couple of days the regional manager approved for it to be fixed at my local dealership under warranty and they also replaced the chipping chrome grill.

So you need to first check with your local dealership and see if the will fix it, if not call infiniti customer service number and maybe ask for Jessica, only one Jessica works there, and explain your problem to her.

 

I think the problem is that the fender and bumper rub against each other when the car flexes causing the paint to flake off. Get that fixed ASAP before they say you had it repainted bla bla

 

Im sure when he was washing his car, he noticed it. This is a 35-40K luxury vehicle, and these kind of paint issues should not be occurring on such a new car.

 

Thanks for the feedback. It looks like the two panels are rubbing against each other with the normal flex of the body. I kicked the front bumper a few times to see how it would react to a small parking lot bump, and the bumper has a lot of flex in it -- so the bumper itself will absorb most of the shock without transmitting it to the other body panels.

Is there an risk with having the bumper removed and reinstalled? Could it cause rattles that aren't there now? Would this have to be done at the body shop, or could a dealer tech do this in the service department? (I don't think Nalley Infiniti in Decatur has their body shop at the same facility).

Does anyone else notice an inconsistent gap between these two panels in their car?

 

ummm no dealer has their own bodyshop. They sent my car to the bodyshop they always work with to get it repainted under warranty. I had a loaner for the 3 days while the car was being worked on. If the bodyshop is good there should be no problems. If you do end up getting it fixed... make sure you tell them NOT to blend by painting hood and fenders, only the bumper. Since this will be fixed under warranty and by infiniti dealership, you can always go back and ask them to fix whatever they dont do right.

 

Wha?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are not serious are you? kicking a new car !!!

 

I have the exact same problem on my car too. it's only a month old. 2008 g35x. in exactly the same spots. i only noticed it when i was washing my car last weekend. i'm not really too worried about them though.

but odd huh?

 

thank God I don't have this problem... (knock on wood)... I'd definitely be harassing the service manager if it were me

 

Just noticed the same thing on my car, but it doesn't bother me as much.