Joni Savolainen from Europe received his Tesla Model 3 on March 29, and a month later on April 29 started noticing that his car’s paint was wearing off. On complaining to Tesla, he was informed that they were not covered by the warranty. This came after Tiaan Krige, owner of AP3 Protection Services and a specialist in paint protection, said the problems were probably a production hiccup, according to Inside EVs. Savolainen on his part asked the Finnish Chamber of Commerce for goods inspection, and report states that there is incomplete paint around “the front and rear hinge, from the underside of the doors, the A and B pillars,” and that the fitting of doors and hatches is inadequate, which in turn contributes to the damage on the paint on door openings.

The report further states that the wheel arches also contribute to damages since it allows the wheels to throw small rocks on the paint. Thickness tests showed the paint job not being even and in some places averaging 106 microns, which is well below the industry range of 110-150 microns. Incidentally, some areas had just 70 microns of paints. A test on hardness called Wolff-Wilborn pencil scratch test gave Savolainen’s Model 3 an “F”. The standard is normally 2H or 3H. Reports suggest that these inconsistencies could be because of the company rushing things up to deliver Model 3 units in the beginning and they should probably address the issue rather than shrugging it off as not being part of the warranty.