How many of you have looked at the swinging arm below the hugger? It gets sandblasted by grit thrown from the rear wheel. This erodes the paint and corrosion sets in, travelling underneath the paint. The first you'll know is when you see the blistering on top of the swinging arm next to the hugger. I had to scrape all the blistered and loose paint off mine this winter. I then painted it with an etching primer and a top of satin black. It looks ok for now. Under the hugger on the bit that gets sandblasted I gave it a coat of black stoneguard, anti-stonechip paint which I hope will delay the sandblasting a bit.
I cover about 8000 miles a year. The white deposit may be a little salt residue, but all the metalwork has been treated with ACF-50 from day-one after the initial replacement. I also use FS365 when the bike gets wet. This should not be necessary. The 10-year-old VFR I traded in for this 'premium' bike was in better condition, with a fraction of the attention.
They changed my water pump casings at about 18months, but rejected clutch casing and also radiator during a 3rd year with extended warranty. TBH, if I really start looking around the bike the paint is bubbling in quite a few areas (even the front brake lever). Depending on how much the local dealer wants to mark the price down because of it all, it could mean the difference between me renewing this year or not. In which case I may just replace or repaint parts depending on costs.
It's simply not good enough and frankly you have every right to ask for them to be replaced. Ducati need to shape up IMO
Damn right, facts are that regardless of warranty a suitable quality and life is expected from a vehicle , you can't simply walk away from bad design, workmanship or dodgy components after 24months. if you put a sub standard product to market and it's been previously proven there's been faulty goods then I'm pretty sure any claim will be upheld, that goes for ecus, forks, engines, you name it. to expect to pay £12k+ for a product that only lasts 2 years without falling apart is ridiculous, ducati are naive to think they would get away with it. i can tell you now if anything happened to a bike of mine so early on I'd follow every legal route going, ducati or not
Typically parts have a warranty of 90 days or the balance of the product warranty, whatever is the longest. They could argue that the issue is one of cosmetics and not functionality , which I suspect will be their stance. Most warranty terms are to provide functional parts, they don't even have to be new but serviceable. That said , those pictures are shocking for the age and hope you get it sorted by them.
and there lays the issue. Unenviable position. Does it affect its use? No. Does it affect future sales due to satisfaction? Yes. if they replace some, they may end replacing all, and where does poor maintenance etc stop and poor quality start although, if anyone important is reading this, mine is all the latter
No consolation, but I had the same issue with my GS. BMW told me where to go so that's one manufacturer off my future purchase list...
Made in Italy, its warmer over there. Less corrosion problems - do I have to spell it out? What is so bad about removing said covers, getting them sand-blasted and redone with a more appropriate resistant paint? I expect Ducati have refused because the parts are still integral, it isn't a safety issue and the warranty is out. If you are worried about broken finger nails then arrange for the dealer to remove the covers so you can take them away to be recoated. etc re:vfr I agree I have seen some pristine V4's but I have also seen an old VFR which had engine corrosion so bad and extensive I'd be worried about undoing bolts. White alloy corrosion all around the cases and between the cylinders.
£15k is what is so bad. I cannot believe that answer. It is not fit for purpose and under the Sale Of Goods ACT, Ducati are liable. If you paid £50k for a car and the paint flaked off would you be happy to get it resprayed yourself after a couple of years?
Have you seen the state of the underside of that £50k car after a couple of years on the road? The only difference is that with the bike, it's more visible.
Totally agree. Though the lines blur between what is a moral obligation beyond that of a legal functional serviceable requirement. Not defending them but merely observing that it is not unique to the motor industry. Things are so woolly on what is a legal obligation that it enables vendors to dance around the issue.
Do I have to spell it out? The parts I'm complaining about are six months old FFS. You may have time and money to piss away, but I don't.
I can't get my head around some of the replies about this. It happened in the car industry and the government stepped in. Remember Lancia etc. If my dealer gave me any shit about replacing faulty parts of any description I'd create holy fuck. We are paying for quality across the board and not just to look at a badge.
Couldn't agree more, Ducati is a badge but they market themselves as providing a cutting edge top quality product, if their parts fail (which they do) and their quality is sub standard then imo they should stand by all the marketing shit they spew out Facts are they pick the paint and they decided to sell the products world wide, the buck stops with them if it's rotting away. I have no sympathy for companies that put themselves on pedestals and when they get shot down they run and hide They either provide a superior product or they do not, if a few slip through the net then they should fix them accordingly, no grey areas
I'm with damodicii and ojobear. Why would anyone think it was ok to accept parts that can't last 6 months - winter or summer? On that basis I suppose it's all right if your paintwork rusts through and looks like flaming bubble wrap? FFS - get a grip. It's not acceptable and needs replaced.........imho. :wink: Mark H
