Window Trim Corrosion

[alex-sutton]

My 3 year old Ghibli is exhibiting corrosion on the window trims and Maserati are claiming “external influences” has caused it on a car that has been kept garaged, washed regularly and treated with a ceramic protective coating from new, and are refusing to accept that it is most likely due to a production fault.

Is anyone aware of any owners with a similar issue or any suggestions on how to persuade Maserati that they should rectify the problem?

Look forward to hearing from anyone.

Alex

[Tony Jaskeran]

Hi Alex,

Have they seen the car or a photo of the window trims.
Either way can you post a photo, if there is no way the sun could have discoloured the trim is it possible that your garage may be damp or something has spilt on it. (Clutching at straws really)

I’ve seen alot of Ghiblis at the car events and not heard anyone having a similar problem.

BW

Tony

[alex-sutton]

Hi Tony,

It has been appraised by a Maserati main dealer who were as surprised as me at Maserati UK’s response. The garage is only a few years old so is insulated and dry, so no residual dampness and certainly nothing spilled on it. As it is almost every section of window trim, it re-enforces my belief that it is a faulty batch and not any undefined “external influences” as Maserati UK claim.

Photo of corrosion  at the base of the A pillar trim attached.

Kind regards,

Alex

[Tony Jaskeran]

Hi Alex,

To me that looks like years of corrosion, so as the car is only a couple of years old it’s clearly a problem with the manufacturing. I have a 19 year old daily car always outside and definitely does not look like that. it looks as though they used a costing and it’s gone bad and ruined the material.

I agree it has to be a poor batch of materials, I think the only way Maserati will acknowledge this is if anyone else has the same problem and contacts them so they can see it effects more than one car.

I would also suggest you take it to an independent like Emblem or McGraths if they are nearby as they might have seen this on other cars. If not send them a photo to.

My thinking is that you’ll end up having to repair yourself as it might take along time to find enough owners with a similar problem to make Maserati take this seriously.

Tony

[profchristopher-green]

Alex

Are you within the  3years warranty period? Did you notify within the 3 year period if you are over the 3 years.

 

[alex-sutton]

It has been assessed by Graypaul who agree with me that it is faulty and have told Maserati UK as much, even though it is only a couple of months outside warranty when it was highlighted. They have said they expected Maserati to agree to repair it as it was clearly not how it should be.

Sadly, I fear you may be right Tony, that Maserati will not respond positively despite it being very clearly a manufacturing fault. It also makes one feel let down by the brand I have loyally owned for many years. I was considering replacing with a new one this year, but when you are not treated respectfully by the brand, why should you continue to support them?

[Tony Jaskeran]

I’ve just been speaking with my neighbour who works at VW Group, he wondered if you clean the car yourself or take it to a car wash.

If you do, they may have made a mistake and used the incorrect cleaning fluid on the body work, that may have caused the problem, he has seen this before. His view is that it’s a chemical reaction. Car washes use chemical about 10 times the strength of normal cleaning fluid.

Anyway something else to think about.

Either way the overall customer service you received from Maserati especially as they don’t align with the dealership is quite poor.

[alex-sutton]

Always hand washed at home with Autoglym, so hopefully that wouldn’t be an issue?

[Tony Jaskeran]

I have used autoglym to, on all my cars including three Maserati’s.

Ok, so all the evidence points to a manufacturing defect.

[alex-sutton]

By way of an update. After taking the matter up with the MD of Maserati, they have finally agreed a gesture of goodwill to replace the window trims. Clearly pays to go to the top!

[Tony Jaskeran]

Well done & that’s great news, I guess they will be sending the old parts back to the lab for investigation.

& yes well negotiated.

[profchristopher-green]

out of interest when you say MD do you mean UK? or?

[alex-sutton]

Hopefully!!

[alex-sutton]

The EMEA MD. Responded very promptly and thankfully agreed to sort the issue.

[Author]

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