DO NOT BUY THE NEW LANCER!!!

The car is great if you like the paint to fly off of your brand new car. I bought a black 2008 Lancer GTS. I drove the car for 50 minutes on sanded roads during a recent snow storm. I ended up with Hundreds of rock chips along both sides of the car. Mostly next to the rear wheels. The car looks as if it has been sandblasted.

I went to the dealership and they told me it did not fall under warranty. Instead, they gave me a $1500 dollar estimate to fix the damage. My insurance company would not touch the claim, stating it is a problem with the car's design.

I called Mitsubishi corporate and sent them pictures. They determined it was not their fault and suggested I buy mud guards from them. I advised them that they don't even make a front mud guard for the Lancer! The customer service rep said "oh." I told them the damage comes from the FRONT tire.

I have filed a compliant with the Better Business Bureau and consumeraffairs.com. I hope they can help me. I also requested third party arbitration that Mitsubishi is required to pay for. They said they will sent me the paperwork.

If you have this problem call Mitsubishi corporate so we can get a recall!!! 1-888-648-7820

Think about it. If this car can't be driven on any kind of gravel without extensive paint damage, you would think they would have put a warning in the manual. WTF!!!!!!!?

03/08/08 update

Do not drive on gravel with this car.

I received a letter today stating I can't go to arbitration with Mitsubishi due to the fact that the car has a design flaw and the warranty doesn't cover rock chips. So Monday I will be speaking with a lawyer that handles product defects.

I did order some touch up paint from www.drcolorchip.com. They claim their product works very well. If you have paint chips, check out this site.

03/11/08 update

It's not looking good. The third pary arbitration company advised me they could not take this to arbitration due to the fact that the problem has nothing to do with the warranty.

I spoke with an attorney today. He advised me we could win the case, but it would cost a lot more than a $2000 paint job. He agreed with me that the car is flawed. He further advised me that filing a claim with the Better Businss Bureau may help. If you state in our claim that you will be advising other consumers not to buy their cars, they may help you in order to shut you up.

I ordered some touch up paint from drcolorchip.com. I will try that when it arrives. Check out the site. The results look good.

03/25/08 update

Today I tried out the touch up paint that I received from drcolorchip.com. This stuff worked great on my black 08 Lancer. There was severe road rash and it completely covered it up, making it look factory fresh.

Everyone should buy some mud guards from rallyarmor.com when they release the new flap for 2007+ Lancers. I watched a video with an STI fitted with rallyarmor. This car was whippin' around a gravel and dirt lot at high speed. He also did some 360's. There wasn't hardly anything on the sides of the car when he was done.

I believe dr colorchip and rally armor are our best options for our Lancers. Check out the sites!!!!!!!

wow, dont even get me started on the paint... lets just say do not let ice slide off your car... I have 4 black cars in my household that have survived many years of ice sliding off and here is my red GTS with HUGE scratches on the hood from the very first snowfall

Never again will I buy MItsubishi, I love the car otherwise, but Id also like my car to not look like its 5 years old 6 months later

also paint omes off easy on sideskirts

yeah my dodge avenger had a mitsubishi engine in it..and teh paint job was terrible..also i seen alot of eclipses around all the way up to the 06 models all black ones i seen the paint was horrible..within like 4 years the whole car was that white color

maybe its just mitsubishi

hey guys
i'm glad i'm not the only one who noticed this on mine i just thought it was my roads but i noticed driving my car and then my girlfriends civic on the same roads the civic doesn't kick up nearly if any stones or anything up compared to the lancer. i'm gonna call that number tomorrow and state my claim. we need to rally to get this straightened out they need to atleast cover a paint job or give us all front and rear mudflaps whether we will put them on or not. i know mud flaps look so awesome on a little car like the lancer, but its just the fact of the matter.

You are right, it isn't the roads that are causing damage to your Lancer. I think it is a combination of not placing mud guards on the car and cheap paint. You should definitely call the number. They will give you the same snow job they gave me. After they deny your claim, which they will, ask for third party arbitarion paperwork sent to your home. I think this may be our best bet on getting some service.

I've deciced not to end my fight.....ever. If the Better Business Bureau, Consumeraffairs.com, and arbitration fails, I will be getting an attorney that handles product defects. If all else fails I will sit in front of my local Mitsubishi dealership with a sign, advising people not to purchase any defective vehicles.

When I went to buy my car....the dealer told me that it had 320 miles on it. The general manager was driving it....they had it....no one else did & I needed a car that day.... & the price was right.....so I went to buy it.
The car looked aweful! Tons of swirls all over the car...it looked like a couple of years old! My dad & I worked on the cart ourselves @ the dealership & got a bunch of the swirls out...figuring that we can work on it further at our place with our cleaning products....so I bought it. I just detailed it with my dad @ our warehouse & I noticed that the sides of the car had a bunch of little chips in it & the front of the hood as well. I already have the rear mud flaps on it, but the fronts are S.O.L.
Never thought that the paint could be so lousy.....though we did get 90%+ of all the swirls out & the car looked awesome, but there are still some scratches in it.
I just figured that well....it's that time of year where the cars take a pounding with all of the salt on the roads & whatnot.....but after reading this....it makes me worried about the car.
I plan on cleaning it this Sunday again & if I find more chips or damage, I will call that # & beeeeeonch up a storm!

The area were the rear door meets the rear fender is in the direct line of fire of anything being kicked up by the front wheels. What makes it worse is that the seam where the rear door meets the fender is flawed. The door is slightly (very slightly) lower than the body exactly in the area that gets bombarded by rocks. Because of this, the edge of the body is exposed at a right angle in the trajectory of the rocks, which is why the seam in this area gets chipped while the surrounding area only gets sandblasted. The best way to notice this flaw is to look at the rear doors after you haven't washed your car for a while. There will be a heavy concentration of dirt where the door meets the body, but a little higher up from the area that gets hit by rocks. This is because there is a turbulent flow around that area and dirt gets redistributed in that area (like a mini whirlpool). This is caused by the fact that the rear door and body aren't exactly flush in that area. The air flows down the side of the car, hits the corner of the body that sticks out, and becomes turbulent. The reason why the dirt concentration is only higher up on the door is because the lower portion of the door gets cleaned by rocks hitting it. I noticed that this problem also exists on older versions of the lancer. I was getting an oil change when I saw an older lancer with the same distinct dirt concentration on the rear door. The only difference was that there were no paint chips because the body style didn't flare out into the path of rocks. They have mud flaps for the lancer, but not for the GTS because of the lower body accents. Its a shitty situation. There wont be a recall because this problem wont kill anyone and hence wont be cheaper to fix than to settle wrongful death lawsuits. I figure I am just going to wait till its warmer, fix the area, buy some of the mud flaps and modify them to fit. For the meantime I attached clear door trim just in the area with the exposed edge. It stopped the chipping problem but still gets sand blasted.

would highquality and frequent waxing help prevent this? will they have mudflaps for the front in 09? thannks im waiting for the 09 to bw available

Check out my post at the top of th page. I've placed updated info.

First of all for 59 Vampire, if they don't have mudflaps for the 08 Lancer yet..... how the hell would we be aware of anything for the 09?

Secondly for the thread owner, I definately admire your course of action in trying to sue Mitsu and write the BBB etc. I urge any owner of a Lancer who has been done wrong by Mitsu (they're many) to write your BBB and the president of Mitsu at their North American Headquaters. you can easily google the information, or PM me for the addresses/names in Canada or the U.S.

I can tell you right now as you probably know, Mitsubishi customer service is completely useless as they do not respond, they don't care, and their number one mission is to get you off the phone. I know this from personal experience as dealing with both of the ONLY 2 customer service reps in Canada, one (Yoseff) ignored the phone when I asked if he could help me/care about my poor experience as a customer when my Lancer was over 7 mths late. The other gem, Elana Weir wrote a rude letter stating that they are not at fault for fraudulent rebate offers I received, false vehicle shipping invoice (yep), and the continous mis-treatment I endured at the expense of their company. If you read some of the threads on this site, you will see that over and over again, Mitsu customer service reps have no clue about any mitsu parts, service, and basically don't give a s%^t.

I wrote the president of Mitsu Canada and told him simply this: I am never buying a mitsu again. And you know what's sad?... they don't care.

go to "www.ripoffreport.com"; this site is for consumers not satisfied by the BBB results or other means. They will post your complaint on most search engines, and are frequented by lawyers and other organizations seeking class action lawsuits. I WOULD DEF POST THERE TOO!

THIS USER IS WARNED FOR VIOLATION OF FORUM RULES

(59Vampire) REPORTED- Might want to brush up on forum etiquette.

59Vampire - has been warned.
Keep the thread clean, no more offtop!

Today I tried out the touch up paint that I recieved from drcolorchip.com. This stuff worked great on my black 08 Lancer. There was severe road rash and it completely covered it up, making it look factory fresh.

Everyone should buy some mud guards from rallyarmor.com when they release the new flap for 2007+ Lancers. I watched a video with an STI fitted with rallyarmor. This car was whippin' around a gravel and dirt lot at high speed. He also did some 360's. There wasn't hardly anything on the sides of the car when he was done.

I believe dr colorchip and rally armor are our best options for our Lancers. Check out the sites!!!!!!!

Where all the pics, ???

So the rest of us can see how bad your paint really is.....

I'm having the same problems. I took some pictures and took my car to the dealer. The dealer representative took some pictures himself and sent me on my way, promising a phone call. I got the phone call 2 hours later (not bad!). The body shop manager told me that no car company typically covers rock chips. But he said in the case of a design flaw (um, hello? that's exactly what this is), the company may make an exception. He also said that in his 13 years working at a Toyota dealership, he frequently saw Toyota covering vulnerable spots with clear film, something Mitsubishi obviously doesn't do.

Anyway, the body shop manager said he'll talk to Mitsubishi, do some tests on some Lancers, and get back to me in a few days.

Fortunately for me, I'm a design engineer in the aerospace field. I know a thing or two about physics, fluid dynamics, and corrosion mechanics. I can make a pretty strong case that Mitsu screwed up badly. I mean, c'mon... I have a 5 month old car that is starting to rust!

Check out the pictures.

Same here, after only 4200 miles...

Attached thumbnail(s)

Hey...how did you get pictures of my car??!! :P


I just totaly waxed my car again on Tuesday. The amount of little chips that I have is soooo painfully sad. I love the car....but is it wrong for me to wish that someone totals it? In 5 yrs. this car is going to look so aweful!
I called & complained to the service manager which yeilded nothing....but again he been told about it. They have been really cool with me on everything at my dealership, but the paint thing is really pi$$ing me off.

You may consider bringing up the 7-year corrosion perforation warranty. Tell the manager that, with 6 years, probably even 3 at this rate, he will be fixing a much bigger problem by replacing whole sections of your car. Tell him to cut his losses and just fix it now.

This, of course, only works if you have the same problem as me: rust showing through.

Guys, I need an advice from you regarding the paint chips that I showed above.

My car is leased; what should I do about the this problem? I don't want the dealer to make me pay for the repair when I will turn the car in, in a few years.

Do you think I should let them know so they have it documented, and hopefully put some mudguards on the car on their own expense?

Thanx!