It isn`t possible that I missed this drip...

**Jngrbrdman** · 07-08-2007, 03:17 PM

I just can`t see how this could be possible. I`ve owned this vehicle for a year and I`ve never ever seen this drip. This is on the driver side on the edge of the rear bumper.

I have no idea where that came from. It doens`t just flick off though. At first I thought it was just a drip from being washed, but it didn`t wipe off and I looked closer. Sap maybe? Nope. It is dripped paint. How could I possibly not notice this for a whole year??? It is so obvious from even a distance. I can`t have missed it. I assumed the rear bumper had been repainted when I noticed paint over the tops of the screws on the inside of the fender, but that is the only indication of a repaint. Wherever it was done they did an excellent job. This drip was definitely not there a year ago, or even a month ago.

At the very top edge of the bumper I can see where the drip originated it looks like.

You can see a bit of a trail all the way down to the halfway point where this drip is at right now. It is hard and set, so I have no idea where it came from. There is just no way that I missed this drip for a year and am now just noticing it. It stands out a mile away. I`m obsessive enough about this sort of thing that I just couldn`t have not seen it.

Any ideas on how this could have happened more than a year after the panel was painted? I`m at a total loss. There is just no way that I`ve missed seeing this with as many times as I have polished and waxed this truck in the last year.

**nikro000** · 07-08-2007, 06:27 PM

Hm!
It looks kind of clear to me. Clearcoat maybe?

**Jngrbrdman** · 07-08-2007, 06:42 PM

I guess it is possible if they were kind enough to touch up their damage and then blob on some clear coat on top. I think it is touch up paint though.

**dr_detail** · 07-08-2007, 09:41 PM

I think someone needs a hobby!!

**Jngrbrdman** · 07-08-2007, 09:52 PM

And what is that supposed to mean? I suppose if you found evidence that someone damaged your car and then tried to cover it up poorly then you would just let it slide?

And I do have a hobby. It is in meticulously maintaining my vehicles and this is the sort of thing that I would have noticed.

**dr_detail** · 07-09-2007, 01:24 AM

Nothing personal, I know how obsessed you are when it comes to your finishes & just thought you might see the humor in it -- guess not

Anyway, to me, it looks like a factory blemish seen on many vehicles. One of my clients has a Maserati with one on the trunk lid that gets me every time. It looks just like a water drip on the corner. There is though that possibility that someone did repaint it -- and if it`s the case that someone damaged your car and then tried to cover it up; least, IMO, they are better than most -- for I think most would just deny any liability.

**jaybs02** · 07-09-2007, 06:29 AM

I had something similar on my wifes Sonata. The car was never repainted, but yet under the rear bumper there was a small drip of clear.
They keep trying to build cars faster and cheaper, so somewhere they are going to have to take a shortcut or 2.

"J"

**GearHead_1** · 07-09-2007, 09:04 AM

Well there are one of two possible directions to look. First you missed it, as hard as that is to believe. Second, someone has had access to your car and had time to paint or touch it up without your knowledge. Which ever is more likely. Now`s the time to talk to the wife and find out what she did to the car while you were gone.

**Jngrbrdman** · 07-09-2007, 10:14 AM

I thought about those options, but it just isn`t possible that I missed a drip like this for a whole year. This is something new that happened recently. I`m sure about it. The rear bumper had been repainted before unless it is Honda standard to paint the screws that hold it together. I suppose that is possible. Either way, paint just doesn`t suddenly drip many months later. I`m going to contact the dealership today and see what they have to say about it. You never know... maybe someone will fess up to it because they don`t know that it dripped. I`m going to pose the question to the salesman that sold it to me and have him ask the shop. I think the dealership will be more forthcoming to one of their own than they would to me. I trust my sales guy, so if it is possible to get to the bottom of it then this is the way I`ll have to do it.

**GearHead_1** · 07-09-2007, 10:27 AM

So what are you saying? Has the car been back to the dealership for maintenance and while there damaged and repainted? I missed this part of your post. You take a lot of pictures have you got any of that area from an earlier time?

**Jngrbrdman** · 07-09-2007, 10:44 AM

I`ve got pictures of the truck, but they are all from kind of a distance. I don`t know that any of them would show the absense of the drip. Unless I took a picture right before I took it in and then one after, I don`t know that it would prove much.

I had the truck in at the end of June to have the safety stuff done before registration. It was a couple days after it came out that I saw the drip for the first time. It stuck out like a sore thumb when I was walking around the truck. Having just gotten the new tires a few weeks before, I have spent a lot of time looking in that general direction. There just isn`t any way that I missed the drip. So my theory is that somehow at the dealership they chipped something or rubbed something and needed to do some touch up. That kind of thing has to be on record somewhere. We are going to test the ethics of Willey Honda. If they don`t fess up to it then they have officially lost a customer and gained an enemy. I teach customer service and business ethics for a living and I`ll use this as an example till the day I die. They tried to pull the wool over the wrong fanatic`s eyes.

**nikro000** · 07-09-2007, 11:08 AM

Originally Posted by Jngrbrdman

I`ve got pictures of the truck, but they are all from kind of a distance. I don`t know that any of them would show the absense of the drip. Unless I took a picture right before I took it in and then one after, I don`t know that it would prove much.

I had the truck in at the end of June to have the safety stuff done before registration. It was a couple days after it came out that I saw the drip for the first time. It stuck out like a sore thumb when I was walking around the truck. Having just gotten the new tires a few weeks before, I have spent a lot of time looking in that general direction. There just isn`t any way that I missed the drip. So my theory is that somehow at the dealership they chipped something or rubbed something and needed to do some touch up. That kind of thing has to be on record somewhere. We are going to test the ethics of Willey Honda. If they don`t fess up to it then they have officially lost a customer and gained an enemy. I teach customer service and business ethics for a living and I`ll use this as an example till the day I die. They tried to pull the wool over the wrong fanatic`s eyes.

You know what - that could be the most likely explanation, because the dealer ship would be THE place that has exactly your color of touchup paint in stock!