I just recently took my car in to have the top replaced when I noticed that the convertible top cover has been hitting the trunk lid (apparently from mis-alignment) causing the paint to chip and scratch at the impact area. I brought it to the attention of the service manager who inspected it and told me that they would correct the alignment. They fixed the alignment issue, but I still have all of these ugly chips to the paint that I would like for them to fix. I've called the dealership who has explained to me that it is unlikely that Nissan will cover the cost to fix the chips and scratches....any suggestions? I've already been in touch with Nissan Consumer Affairs about the top. Thanks!

- Yasmeen

 

There's a product on the market designed to improve the appearance of touch-up paint application. I have some on order to dry to repair a rock chip mark. You still need to purchase the paint, but this product smoothes out the touch-up paint "blob". Here's the link:

http://langka.com/newsite/index2.html

 

I had the same problem. My tonneau cover was in perfect alignment for about six months, then it either worked its way out of alignment from use, or it warped from the heat of the sun while it was parked outside at work. In any event, I had scraping not on the top part of the cover, but on the verticle seam facing the trunk lid. Being it wasn't on the top part, I asked my dealer to touch up the paint scratches. They decided that it would be a crappy job, and offered to repaint the entire cover, a 3 day process, under warranty. On top of that, they gave me a POS loaner for 3 days, but at least it was wheels. My dealer has always been very good with me (my 4th Z that I bought from them, 6th to be serviced there, and 2 other Nissan's bought there for my wife), and they were the ones who offerred to do the repainting under warranty. I would definitely press the issue with your dealer and Nissan.

 

Thanks for this information. I will be contacting my dealer again this afternoon to see what they can do. Unfortunately, my dealer experience has been difficult to say the least. At first when I brought my car in to replace the top, they explained that they would need my car for at least 2-3 days and that during this time they would be unable to provide me with a rental car. After waiting a few weeks for them to order the top, they brought my car in to replace the top. At that time I went without a rental for three days. On the third day they explained that they needed to look at the 4th rail of the top & were unable to do the replacement. They promised that they would reorder from Nissan & would contact me when the top parts were in. Two months later I called Nissan Consumer Affairs & received a call to bring the car in and that this time they could get me a rental. I did finally get the top issue replaced & was furnished with a rental (haha a Chrysler 300...quite the ride for a gal used to a Z...). I've just recently realized that the chips were still there & have to bring in the car anyways to have a new radio installed (my CD is stuck inside). I figured that this would be a good time if I could just get everything fixed. Thanks again for the suggestions!

- Yasmeen

 

I guess Nissan dealers are like everything else, there's good, bad, and ugly. I doubt that my dealer painted my cover just for good will. I'm sure they passed it on to Nissan. Maybe you'll make more headway through Nissan insted of your dealer. Good luck. BTW - my POS loaner was a Sentra beater. A Chrysler 300 sounds good to me, but I was happy to get anything.

 

I too had the same problem as you, and I had the cover repainted twice under warranty. The first time was to fix the chips that were caused with the cover hitting the trunk lid, and the second time to fix the crappy work they did the first.

I had approval for the repaint from NISSAN within 10 minutes of submitting pictures to my service manager.

 

I had about the same problem and when I took it to my dealer's service dept. they fixed it no questions asked. As a precaution I then got some 3M film put back there to protect my paint. It still rubs sometimes. I also think that heat has something to do with it. When I got my car back the tonneau cover was even then after sitting in the hot sun at work I noticed that it wasn't even. I took my hand and pressed down on the uneven side and its now even again. I think that tonneau cover rubbing is going to be an ongoing issue with some roadsters. That is the reason I went ahead and got the 3M film as I didn't want to have to keep going to the dealer everytime when I got some paint rubbed off.

 

Nissan is funny about "re-painting " items. When I had a Hood deflecter installed on my Qx4--later on it cracked because of a stone or carwash i had taken it off and noticed 6 scratch lines . Infiniti paid to have this paint guy touch it up but I had taken it back 4 times. on the 5th and 6th visit they repainted my hood. in conclusion , the frst time I talked w/ my service mgr, she saind Infiniti normally doesn't warranty that kind of work. I felt that Infiniti put it on the dealership to cover the expense. I would be cool and ask them to repaint it. Take it to a body shop you know that does excellent wok so you are not bringing it back for half-asked job! Good luck.

 

I have had this problem, but no misalignment. I discovered, as kovalf mentioned above, that my rubbing only occurred after being parked outside at my office on a sunny day for several hours, and only then if the temp. was over 90F. Since I've got Super Black, I'll bet the problem is caused, at least in my case, by the heat causing the tonneau cover to expand at a faster rate than the metal trunk, which causes the cover to "bunch up" in the middle, ever so slightly, which is also the exact location the rubbing occurs. I have also noticed that the middle of the cover does rise on very hot days, when viewed from the side, but goes back down in perfect alignment once cooling occurs.

Any materials science experts want to weigh in?

 

I have been looking everywhere on how to adjust the gap of my tonneau cover panel deck lid and I haven’t seen anything on how to do it. The right side of the lid is perfectly aligned but the left side have a gap in it. Please help!

 

Same on mine. Did you figure out the issue? I'm replacing the whole roof assembly and plan on just readjusting the brackets. Hoping that solves it.