Hi! I bought my 2003 Eclipse new and am now starting to have the paint problem that everyone with a black eclipse from that year is having. I know very little about cars above standard care. I went to the dealership (ha!) and they said that I would have to have records for every smidgen of work I have had done on the car and pay for any little dings on the car as well as get my 60,000 mile tuneup from them (including timing belt, $1500). Then, they would seek approval from Mitsubishi to get the paint fixed but there are no guarantees. Its driving me nuts! I have a guy who has cared for my car under the table (thus, no records) who will do my tuneup. What can I do about the paint? Is there anyone who will paint it inexpensively? Any advice about how to get Mitsubishi to cough up a paint job before it gets worse?

Thanks for any help!

Price on paintjobs completely depends on where you live. Just call some shops in your area and get ballpark pricing. If you decide to pursue a paintjob, next step I would look for references on those shops or ask people in the regional forum who know the shops in your area.

and no - Mitsubishi will not repaint your car as a warranty repair. If you ask them to repaint, they don't paint - they will have a local shop under contract do it and just apply a markup. So skip the markup and go direct.

Best of luck.

where exactly is the paint problem. i have a 2003 eclispe spyder GTS and on both side of my hood there are paint scuff marks, its caused by extreme heat.

Hi! The paint began wearing away on the room, forward from the sunroof. Now it is starting to come off on the hood and around the spoiler as well. I have met 5 other people who have the same problem while out and about. It has to do with Mitsubishi not applying the paint correctly at the factory so, even though the warranty is up, it is their problem. They are just very difficult to work with to get this fixed!

This is not breaking news - everyone knows about the problem. There isn't a recall on it, so Mitsubishi isn't legally liable for repairs.

Like SC said it is not covered under warranty do not go to the dealer for this issue, You will be raped with a price and obviously other work. They are trying to screw you out of your money.

Call local shops and ask for quotes. Then do some research find out the best shop that you can afford and go there.

Thanks for the advice. It sucks. This was the first new car I had ever purchased; Mitsubishi had the opportunity to make me a life-long customer but the service I have received from them-for a problem that is their fault-is upsetting. Thanks to you guys for being so helpful; this is a great site!

I have a 2001 Eclipse that has bad problems with the paint. You can get on the Mitsubishi web site and there is a contact address to mail comments and complaints to. I tried to get them to fix mine but no luck. They said it was too old. You can try it wouldn't hurt. It seems to me that they have issues with the paint they put on these cars it is only the black ones that i have seen with this problem. good luck. As far as what the dealer told you, NO way!! they just want your money! and that is way to high anyway!!!

Actually - that price is accurate if you base it off the estimated # of hours scheduled for the repair at the standard rates.

Just bought an 00 Eclipse GT for my daughter. Picked it up way cheap because of the black faded paint. Saw instructions for a do-it-yourself, roll-on paint job in another forum, and we're going to give it a go. Very labor intensive -- sanding, sanding and more sanding -- but simple enough. I'll post the link below. Will update with pics when the job is completed (probably a week to 10 days). Best of all, cost is around $100!

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showfl...=0&fpart=1&vc=1

^^ I've heard decent results from this.

That charger looks amazing, looking forward to seeing the results

Depending on where you live, you can call your insurence and they will pay some if not all cost of a new paint job.
Being in el paso with the heat and sand storms, I can do that once a year. Call them and see what they say.
Good luck.

i have a friend that had the same prop and there was nothing he could do but pay for it himself. he tried the same route u did. looks great though he changed it to charcoal gray i think. anyways hes now sporting it in puerto rico.

Hello,

I have the same eact problem! I bought my car with 9 miles on it and same exact problem! It atarted on my sunroof and has now proceeded to the hood of my car almost the ENTIRE hood!! So terrible!! i take great care of my car but I do not feel like I should fork over a couple of thousand dollars on a paint job when this sounds like several people with our year and our car are having a problem with the clear coat. Have you had any luck with this problem?? I am hoping you will respond:)

Everybody will face this problem regardless of what year it is. And NO Mitsubishi will never do anything to fix this problem, because if they do, they'll just repaint it with the same crappy paintjob as they did before. So you're better off spending a little extra money and getting it redone right.