Modern Vespa

hi fellas, i posted, some weeks ago about the paint on my S was coming off, today i went to my local dealer and he offered me to paint the affected areas , or write to piaggio and see what they ll do, i opted for the 2 nd choice. my question is , what is piaggio expected to do, i mean its still under warantee, a year and 2 months old with just 5500 kms, i don t want a 'painted' vespa, its so weird!! any one of you had similar paint problems?

thanks

mobile pics , more detailed ones on the way. o and by the way, there s also a spot of rust coming to the surface. man i m really diappointed. an remember never beeb out in the rain. and never washed!!!

Do you have a photo of the area? My partners S150 is having issues also. The dealer says Piaggo authorized the scooter to get painted, so we'll see how that turns out. BTW his scooter is 3 weeks old

Not yet! Hope I don't either.

Bummer! Although there are some little chips in areas which can only come from hurriedly screwing it together

OMG 3 weeks old! its like when they were fitting parts, the paint was not dry yet. im really disappointed about this. i mean come one every one knows vespas are that bit more expensive than other scoots the same cc. i cant beleive i m going to spray it.

Strangely enough I've just been reading a posting on the GTS Owners Club web site, forum page about rusting. The poster - mr opinionated - found the underneath of his 300 was rusting after only 1500k! He got it resprayed after complaining to Piaggio. Have a look at his post.

"Cosmetic" problems are fully warranty covered.

well, no rust till now, i m very upset, im one of those that i don t even use it in rain. an had her first wash with water 11 moths after i bought her, just wiped of the dirt, just to tell you in what condition i keep her!

Perhaps you should use it more. If you keep it in a humid garage and don't ride it often you may be doing more harm than good

i use it a lot , just in sunny days, and as for my garage, its cosy , very cosy.

^am now envious of your Maltese climate

and i envy your good condition roads but yes, the weather i cant complain.

Find a GOOD body shop and you will have a better paint job than the factory paint.
Easy way to find a good body shop, go to a high end car dealer and ask who they use i.e. Mercedes, BMW, Porsche.

Wayne B

yes my friend, that seems the only thing to do. i m very disappointed though

Look at it as a way to get a custom paint job. Is your scoot really the color you wanted? Just make sure that Piaggio pays for all (or most) of it. What color is your scooter, btw? I have a theory that reds, particularly BMW ones, do not hold up well. However, that may be due to the sunny climate I am in. Good luck

mine is an orange S. i love the colour. My point is that one buys a vespa because of style, pays up double of the cost of another 'normal' scooters and ends up spraying it after a year on the road. that irritates me a lot!!

Hmm, orange is pretty close to red. I wonder if there is something about sunny climates and red/orange paint. Most of Europe is probably not as sunny as Texas and Malta.

Anyway, I think that you should be angry and should be compensated by Piaggio. However, it seems somewhat common to some high end cars too. I have seen paint problems on fairly new, expensive European cars (i.e. BMW, Mercedes). I wonder if it is an issue with certain European paints.

Is Vespa paint clear-coated? That would make a big difference for orange/red based paints. Mine feels clear-coated, but it's been so long since I have felt non-clear coated paint.

I hope you get it handled satisfactorily.

tomorrow i m going to my dealer to take some shots of the paint, than we ll wait and see what piaggio have to say. who knows maybe they ll tell the dealer to give me a brand new super , .....dream on

pics added above

that is the same problem we are having with our bike, out paint isnt peeling under the seat but it is seperating like yours in the other picture.
by dealer says Piaggi wants it repainted so I need to set up an appointment to get it done.

we'll see how they do.

but lets be honest, one buys almost the most expensive 125 moped , and than you have to paint it after a WATERLESS year, no man i can t accept it. if it was a cheap scoot i would have not gave a damn, but its a vespa. no one buys a vespa just to use it as a mean of transport. you buy vespa because you love vespa.

Nope...nothing remotely rusting on my Dragon Red GTS and it's two years old in two weeks...never ride it in the rain and in my garage all the time...and, it is a VERY hot climate down here in Ft Lauderdale. My guess is that sometimes, a Vespa dealer might get a bike in with a paint spot of damage and may have painted the bike prior to the new owner buying it and because it was a small spot of painting, they might not have to disclose this fact to the future purchaser...and, maybe the dealer didn't go a great job...now, it that was the case, getting them to confess to it is a harder issue. Not saying that is what happened but it is a possibility. Another point that may be the culprit of rust and poor paint is just that...we have all seen how Piaggio is cheapening out on the new Super 300's by not including a rear rack and some parts that used to be chromed (footpegs, front brake cover, etc) are not chromed any longer from factory....and that speedo on the new Super's (the one without all the digital info like temp and RPM's) is just an exact copy of a speedo from a years old GT200...which I'm sure is cheaper to manufacture than the digital display....maybe Piaggio cheapened out on the paint job too.

i agree totally with you, i m sorry to say, piaggio are going cheap, VERY cheap. i have friends of mine with et4 s as old as 8 and 9 years, use them every day, and the paint is still good, with NO rust anywhere