Anyone else having a problem with chipping paint

The other day I was driving on the highway and I went through a swarm of those pesky love bugs. I could hear and see them hitting the windshield. Well today as I was washing the CRV I noticed that not only did they stick to the front body color strip at the grill, but that the paint has actually chipped off and is now flaking. I am so mad. I bought the CRV the last week of July and already paint is chipping off. I would expect the impact of rocks to chip the paint but not love bugs. The black plastic is really unsightly when the bright white paint flakes off. Is anyone else experiencing this same issue?

I have a problem with the paint on my bumper (see thread "paint peeling on 2008 cr-v bumper). They have painted the bumper once but it is peeling again. It is very frustrating!!

I do not know your knowledge level so the basics:

You cannot just paint over the existing paint. You need to take it all down to the plastic base or another chip will show up under the new paint elsewhere. :mad: Apparently a cleaning or prep step was omitted that resulted in poor adhesion. Or it could be a paint mixing or bad batch issue but that would mean a lot of other CR-Vs of the same batch or built date could exhibit the same problem. If it is an aberration then someone washed or wiped the front end pieces with the wrong product or missing/insufficient solvent. Before or after a break? The system or process was not properly done for one reason or another. Temperature is crucial too. If a part came from ‘cold’ storage and not allowed to reach room temperature you could have a problem. Basically all kinds of things can go wrong.

On plastic the paint has to have a certain amount of flex so as the plastic gives, the paint does not crack or craze. Instead it gives or stretches too within certain limits. I have no ideas what Honda is doing but ideally that is how it should be ideally done.

1) The plastic has to have all traces of mold release agent washed off! This is crucial!
2) Use of an adhesion promoter helps it from chipping or peeling by acting as a bonding agent. Not all paints need this. Sometimes a different formulation is used on just the plastic components eliminating the need for this intermediate step. It highly dependent on the type of plastic.
3) The paint has to flex or it cannot give as the plastic expands and contracts much more than steel.
4) Repainting a part does not eliminate the need for any of the above steps
5) You cannot put good new paint on top of a poorly prepared surface. It will just peel or chip elsewhere.

The real and most practical solution at today’s labor rate is to replace the component and prep it properly before painting. It might be a close tossup cost wise and will give better results as they have to remove the part for painting anyway for a seamless and undetectable fix.

I’m no expert but that is what I was told/read more or less by DuPont and BASF (Glasurit and R-M) technical support. When I was painting a plastic grill and ABS trim. DuPont is an excellent source of tech support info calling their 1-800 number. At BASF I was not able to talk to anyone really knowledgeable.

This way you can talk intelligently with your Honda dealer.

-RG