Paint peeling down to the primer on 1.5-year-old Dacia Jogger. Dealership blames bird droppings, I suspect delamination/bad prep. Opinions?
Hi everyone,
I need some technical opinions on a paint issue with my 1.5-year-old Dacia Jogger (purchased in Spain).
The Backstory:
When the car was delivered brand new, it had obvious paint defects on the hood. The dealership agreed to fix it under warranty, so the hood, roof, and one door were completely repainted by an official dealership body shop about a year ago.
The Current Problem:
A few weeks ago, while washing the car with a standard pressure washer (not too close, regular maintenance), a chunk of paint completely flew off the hood, leaving a perfectly clean, sharp, circular gap.
As you can see in the picture:
The dark gray undercoat/primer underneath is completely intact, smooth, and clean. There are no burns, etching, or rough spots on the primer itself.
The edges are not sealed; the paint around the missing chunk is actively lifting and peeling like a sticker (there is an extra 2cm flap lifting right now).
I wash the car weekly and always remove bird droppings immediately.
The Dealership's Response:
The body shop staff completely dismissed it, claiming it's "environmental damage" caused by bird droppings eating through the paint, and that their paint job was perfect. To make things worse, Dacia Spain corporate just ghosted our scheduled inspector appointment and closed the case file, claiming the issue is "resolved".
My Question:
To me, this looks like a textbook case of clear coat/base coat delamination due to poor surface preparation (improper sanding or missing the flash-off window over the primer) during the warranty repair last year. An acidic bird dropping might damage the clear coat, but can it cleanly unglue a 2cm flap of paint from a perfectly smooth primer without leaving any marks on the primer itself?
Has anyone faced similar paint adhesion issues with recent Dacia/Renault models? Does the bird dropping excuse hold any water here technically, or am I being gaslighted by the dealership to avoid a free repaint?
Thanks in advance for any insights!