2020 Subaru Forester Sport Paint stains
In last two weeks odd brown spots appeared in multiple places on hood, roof,
bumper and passenger door on vehicle - light silver color. There’s no damage
to clear coat but something has seeped into paint. Wouldn’t expect this from a
vehicle housed in a garage and washed weekly. Spots don’t buff out. Anyone
else aware of issues?
Hmmm...I don't like the cracked paint line between the bumper cover and the headlight, possibly indicating it's been repainted. Are you aware of accident history? This actually looks like a rust stain exuding from an interior metal part. Weird, as the bumper is plastic, of course. But if it's eating into the clearcoat from the outside I'd suspect environmental damage (sap, birds, squirrels), but you seem to have indicated that this stain is emanating from the paint UNDER the clear-coat. That's rust or dirt from improper prep during a repaint operation. Chase this down!
Ed, take a look at that cracked paint line in the pic. Certainly looks to my old trained eyes as a repainted bumper cover, eh?
It is most likely rail dust. Happens on new cars from time to time during transportation. Call your local Subaru dealership and have it inspected.
Those spots look like mouse piss to me. It is highly corrosive. The bumper does look repainted but that may just be wax residue. The bumper cover is plastic so it cannot be rust.
Wax residue? Interesting. Maybe. Hard to see just in that pic. Mouse piss? Wow! This is indeed getting intriguing....
I have had some mice in my garage and while I have not had issues with them pissing on my paint there are spots on my floor that are dark brown just like those spots. Confirmation would be mouse pellets.
I suppose a leaky garage roof could cause a problem like this if the water is rusty or contaminated.
Thanks for the suggestions. We don’t have mice in the garage, so it’s not that, and the roof doesn’t leak. I went to the dealership first and the service department manager treated me like a moron, insinuating I didn’t wax after every wash and didn’t maintain my vehicle properly. Unfortunate but typical treatment of a woman at a car dealership. He gave me the number 800 number for Subaru of America Customer Advocacy and I’ve jumped through the hoops. Dealership doesn’t have a body shop and I’d prefer an actual Subaru rep to document the damage prior to a third party messing with it. If they refuse, I will insist we use MY preferred body shop. If that gets me nowhere I’ll come up with another plan.
You are not alone. I have the same color 2020 forester in the ice silver and having the same problem as well. It started on the hood and now is showing up all over vehicle. Have only had car 3 months now. It looks like small pin dots of rust everywhere on car as well as areas that look what you posted. Ran into your post as I was googling issue. Heading back to dealer this next week.
Wow! I'm reading of poor QA as they try to rush out the newer iteration 2020's. That's unusual for the Indiana factory. I'm sticking to 2016-2019 ongoing, but mostly because the newbie's poor body control and excessive roll is irremediable at low cost. Sigh....
When I purchased my vehicle, I was told this model was still made manufactured in Japan not in the Indiana factory. I have tried to attach a pic of what my paint is doing. This is now showing up all over sides, hood, bumper, etc.
The bumper is plastic and the hood is probably aluminum so rust cannot be the problem. If the cars were shipped across the ocean there could have been salt spray.
I would try to get a sample of those "rust" spots for chemical analysis.
Seems like very poor paint process.
I just came back from the Subaru dealership after having my 2020 Ascent inspected bc of these rust looking stains. According to the rep Subaru changed their paint formula(now water based instead of lead based) and my staining was the result of tree sap. They were able to remove the stain with a tree sap removal product and some elbow grease. Not covered under warranty. I will further investigate.
