Paint bubbling

[4st-rvr]

I have a 2011 sunseeker with the full body paint option. Unfortunately I uncovered it for the summer and I noticed the paint is bubbling up from all of the fiberglass parts, not on any of the steel cab parts. Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas..?
Thanks.

[BigJohnD]

Got any pictures? Just another reason I'm done with full paints. FR doesn't have in house painting, so it's subbed out to some dozen plus paint shops, thus you're at the mercy of the shop doing the work. One may be better than another. Bubbling can be caused by numerous things, so hard to say. Not sure of the approach to this. Either way, a "good" paint job on a coach that size is WAY more than the option cost from FR. Whole MH will more than likely have to be sanded down as you don't know what parts haven't bubbled or are yet to bubble. Hopefully FR will back you on this. If you need contacts to FR service I can send them to you.

[BigJohnD]

Just curious if you'd pursued a fix with FR, or contacted them yet. Curious of what the outcome will be.

[4st-rvr]

We have been on the road for the past couple of weeks so I have not contacted them yet. Hopefully they will work with us on this, but I am less than optimistic, since it is over a year old. Seems like this day and age US manufacturing is more interested in the $$$ and not in quality product. So with that said I figure that it is best to wait until we get home, don't want to ruin the trip if you know what I mean. It is sad because until the paint started to bubble we have had so many comments on how nice it looks. So far it is spreading to more of the fiberglass parts, but nothing on the steel cab yet. I will post an update once I contact FR. John

[BigJohnD]

Thanks for the update. I know a few other manufacturers who would take care of this issue, or at least pay for the majority if a whole new paint job, so I'm hoping FR will step up to the plate on this one.

[bakken]

That should never, ever happen.
So it doesn't matter if the unit is three years old, the paint job was faulty.
The paint shop probably did not clean and prep the fibreglass properly.
Sure hope FR steps up for this one, and slams the paint shop that did this shoddy work, as there are probably a lot more that they did wrong, and maybe are still doing wrong.
Good luck, and let us know the outcome.

[MorBanks]

I also have a 2011 Forest River 31' Sunseeker with paint bubbling problems. FR had a paint Rep look at it and he says it happened because it was covered and in a damp climate. "BULL" That would mean every painted and covered RV in western Washington would have this problem and best I can tell it's ony the FR units. I have talked to several paint shops and they all say it is from moisture either in the paint or paint process or in the fiber board when it was painted. FR has a serious problem with their paint and are not stepping up to resolve it. This is not a normal wear issue but a manufacturing issue. We need to file a class action suit.

[4st-rvr]

We are very sorry to hear that you are experiencing this same issue. I would not wish this on anyone. I have taken this to paint professionals in the RV industry, as you have, and received the same information. This is definitely an inferior paint/prep/fiberglass issue. And yes we have heard it all from FR, everything from “you” (as in ME) touched up the coach with touchup paint (screwed it up basically) and now you are trying to make a fraudulent claim which is definitely not warranty issue… to yes the latest “well it’s all your fault you covered it”. I like to consider myself and honest person who would never ever fraudulently claim that something I did was someone else’s fault. I wish we could go back to the old days when a man’s word was important to him, and that he held himself accountable or moreover took pride in what he made. I am pretty sure that you had the same paint rep meet with you as I did. It’s funny when he first saw it (the RV) he stated “yep you definitely have a problem here”. And to his credit he did a thorough job looking things over, before he grinned and said “well you’re not going to like what I am going to say…” as he removed a technical document from his brief case and handed to me. Part of me wanted to give him a piece of mind, but considering the way that FR has viewed this issue to date, he is only doing what FR is directing him to do. It is so sad that there are people like the Management at FR (Including Mr. Buffett – they continually touted… you should buy ours…the company is great it’s ..Warren Buffett) who feel they can to treat their customers this way. I know that if this was me I could not sleep at night. I truly felt that the paint rep had two documents in his brief case, one “it’s your fault for covering…” and the other “it’s your fault for NOT covering…”. I have been working with two “rather large” dealerships with this issue, and the staff at each of them almost busted a gut laughing when I told them what the paint rep said! I also find it interesting that FR does not state anywhere in there documentation, nor were we told by anyone…..that since FR uses a non-stable paint products and manufacturing processes that we recommend you not to cover a Forest River painted RV. Matter of fact in the owner’s manual it states under the Fiberglass siding section, “The care of RV fiberglass siding is basically the same care as any automotive finish…”. I’ve owned several collectors cars which I have covered with good quality car covers and never ever experienced anything like this, nor have any of the street rod or car enthusiasts I have been associated with. It is going to cost me just over $40K to fix this issue, and even then the professionals question whether it will last or not. My family did without a lot to save the money to purchase this thing and I just don’t have this kind of money to fix it. Hopefully pressure from customers and potential customers will help FR come to their senses and do the right thing. Once again sorry to hear you are in the same boat.