As I have seen with every Hunter Green Honda Civic Ex( 1997-98) made the year mine was, the paint has been cracking and fading for many years. While the engine has held up nicely, the Inside interior roof lining is flaking and falls in my eyes and I read that it causes cancer. Also the paint has been cracked and messed up since 2006. Seeing all the other cars the same as mine I see it is not a normal aging or car, since my 1990 looks new compared to my 1997 civic. There was so mishap in the making of this particular grouping of vehicles made during this time. I am tired of riding around in a white trash looking car when I paid good money for it back in the day. I want Honda to correct the mistakes it has made.

I first noticed a problem with the paint on my 1997 Honda Civic in probably March 2002. It started out as a very small "spot" on the roof. Actually one of the guys from the company that details my boss's car noticed it. He told me there was probably no way to stop it from getting bigger but I stepped up the routine maintenance on the car anyway and kept an eye on "the spot". Turns out he was right - the spot became more spots, bigger spots and pretty soon all of the paint on the roof was gone. Right now there is no paint on the roof and very little on the hood and trunk. The doors are also wearing - or whatever you call it. It looks just awful but I take small consolation in knowing I am not alone. There are a few other Hondas in my own condo development and they are all experiencing the same problem. I called Honda once, about a year after I first noticed the spot on the roof, to see what could be done. They of course offered to paint the car but I would have to pay for it. They lead me to believe at the time that the fact that the car was not garaged, at least some of the time, was the reason why the paint was coming off and because of that they had no obligation to me to rectify the problem. Unfortunately I took what they said as gospel and didn't call them again. I just figured that I would just have to wait until I had the money to paint the car myself. Recently, my mechanic told me that the problem was actually a defect and whereas the fact that the car isn't garaged hasn't helped it, it also didn't cause it. So now I'm really pissed and want my car fixed. I am going to go back to Honda and make some noise. I probably won't get anywhere with them but it's worth a try.