2016 Midnight Black paint chipping/flaking

[Manhattan]

This is my buddy's '16 200. It's otherwise pristine - never wrecked, never modified, never 'wheeled, and most importantly (for this topic) no paint work. But the paint has a worsening condition - the paint is coming off in small chips/flakes. There's one on the leading edge of the hood that could be a rock chip, but the other six or seven are on the top of the hood, roof and door.

Before heading to the dealer to hear "You must've parked under something... maybe birds or tree sap...", I thought it'd be good see if this is a known issue - like the issue Toyota had with Blizzard White paint or some other known issue.

You guys seen anything like this on the newer 200s?

 

[Angelo1]

I’ve seen this before on cars when I was a kid working in a paint shop for the summer. Two main reasons, it’s baking in the sun or most likely, the paint simply did not cure long enough to the metal from factory. De-lamination, happens when one of the underlying layers stops sticking to the surface under it and comes undone. When this occurs, large and small flakes of paint can peel off the vehicle. The factory paint quality on a 200 is ok but not that good.

 

[studawg]

Hard to tell but just looks like rock chips/road rash to me. Is it not?

 

[Manhattan]

Thanks guys. Definitely not rock chips - the location for one (on the hood, close to the windshield, door, etc.) and the size + uniformity, e.g. a dime-size rock chip is really unusual and wouldn't leave such a uniform spot - there'd be a "center" and the paint layers would be missing in concentric circles sorta like a stepped crater. These spots look like they're growing - almost like a super slow motion version of holding a match under a piece of paper and the hole burns outward.

 

[Angelo1]

Take it to a reputable paint shop to find the answer. I bet you that paint is only 5.5mil at most and wasn’t properly cured. Good thing we own the most reliable suv. I’d rather have crappy paint then mechanical and electrical breakdowns. Range Rover has much better paint but fails on the other two . Not to get off topic, but my friend recently purchased a RR SVR and the paint is gorgeous(deep and medium hardness). Not sure why the 200 doesn’t get a 7mil paint job.

 

[Manhattan]

Take it to a reputable paint shop to find the answer...

That's a great idea @Angelo1 - so the rebuttal to "Yep, looks like bird crap..." can be an educated one and maybe get a step closer to some kind of resolution.