Discussion of Stinger paint quality (Was - Paint Chip Issue)

[forzanerazzurri]

Whelp, I didn’t think it would happen to me...

Red GT2 AWD and the hood looks terrible. I noticed it today when I was washing my car. I called the Kia premium support and they (Valerie) told me over the phone that they knew about the issue . I then called my dealership and they set up an appointment for me on Thursday. I am going to push for them to put on some sort of film or atleast help me pay for one. It’s insane that a 52k Halo car needs its paint redone. On top of all this my HUD housing rattles, and it’s really bad between 15-30mph for some reason.

Red eh. Photos? Build Date?

 

[Roarbomb]

what's your build date? It's insane but all too common place these days, Tesla is having all kinds of paint issues as well. You can find numerous problems with even the German manufacturers. Too much cost cutting I guess. I'm "ok" with Kia's paint problem as long as they take ownership and take care of the cars affected.

Red eh. Photos? Build Date?

December 2017, and I’ll take photos later, car is at home. Went to dinner with the family.

 

[eljay]

I called the Kia premium support and they (Valerie) told me over the phone that they knew about the issue

It's interesting that she said that they knew about the issue on a red car. A couple of months ago a customer care rep briefly said something to me about knowing about problems with yellow and blue paint, but in subsequent calls, reps only seemed to know—or be willing to talk about—problems with yellow.

My case—the small chip on the roof ditch moulding, reported earlier here—was finally escalated a week ago. (I first reported it to my dealer on 6/28/18, and when they proved not to be on the ball, I opened a case on 7/10.) Shelby in the escalation department contacted the DPSM, had me email my photos of the chip to her (Shelby), and left me a phone message and an email that I can meet the DPSM at the dealership on 10/26. I haven't yet gotten a reply to my email and subsequent phone message asking what time on that date, so I'm still a little up in the air.

I'll be doing another close examination of all the paint with a magnifying glass in bright sun before I go in that day.

 

[Roarbomb]

My paint is in no way peeling to the same degree as the blue and yellow, but the amount of rock chips is insane. I’ve never owned a car (and yes we have owned red ones) that chip this easy.

I’ll also add that I have texts from my sales guy where he said they are having complaints about the chips. He acknowledged the paint job on stingers is terrible.

 

[Rebecca]

Hi Guys,
I am a yellow stinger owner and was unaware of this problem until I got a phone call from Kia Australia and they recalled my car to repaint it and my car has now been gone for months. I'm not a happy camper. Has anyone else had this problem??​

 

[Fred Pahlke]

On my original Micro Blue 2.0 Premium, the dealership gave me a free loaner for the two weeks the car was being repainted. It was a base KIA Soul...

I took mine in for the repaint and the dealer let me use a brand new Optima (six miles on it) for my wheels.

 

[Rebecca]

I took mine in for the repaint and the dealer let me use a brand new Optima (six miles on it) for my wheels.

They gave me a replacement stinger for my replacement car but it was the base 4 cylinder model. No where near as much fun to drive. But they told me it would take 12 to 14 days to Respray and it’s currently been 2 months and they still have it. They have not kept me informed whatsoever. And what’s more is that after doing my research I discovered that the product planning manager had made a statement to Motor that we would be looked after and we would be offered buy backs??? This was never disclosed to me. Has anyone had similar issues?

I took mine in for the repaint and the dealer let me use a brand new Optima (six miles on it) for my wheels.

 

[Leonard]

So has Kia confirmed that this manufacturing issue has been fixed during build? I'm in the market but want to make sure the newer build dates won't have this issue.

 

[Doel]

So has Kia confirmed that this manufacturing issue has been fixed during build? I'm in the market but want to make sure the newer build dates won't have this issue.

I doubt Kia would do a public release on this, I doubt any manufacturer would. They would want to keep the paint issue as quiet as possible and just take care of the affected customers on the side. I definitely can't say there isn't any paint issues now, but something was definitely changed on the cars made in 2018.

 

[Leonard]

Well shit, now I'm second guessing my purchase if there isn't some confirmation that this manufacturing process has been fixed. How do they expect people to buy a newly produced stinger if they know they might also have paint issues??

 

[A-10Wingman]

I just had a local Kia dealer look over my paint peeling issue. They had me go over to a body shop they frequently deal with to get an estimate to send to Kia. Once Kia approves it, it will be scheduled for repair.

When I walked into the body shop and told them Kia sent me over for an estimate, he said "another one"? This is obviously an issue. When I spoke with the service manage at Kia and told him I was planning on doing a polish and ceramic coat he told me to "just wait".... I feel like there may be more issues arising with the paint and any alterations or treatments might delay the warranty process with Kia. Even though polish and cermaic is ment to make the paint look nice and have protection, he might be looking out for me which I appreciate.

 

[Doel]

Well shit, now I'm second guessing my purchase if there isn't some confirmation that this manufacturing process has been fixed. How do they expect people to buy a newly produced stinger if they know they might also have paint issues??

Just about every car, especially first years, have some issues. No manufacturer is going to publicly announce issues, fixes, and changes unless it gets picked up by the media. If you want more info, talk to your dealer and they'll contact Kia. You can also try contacting Kia yourself.

 

[somedudedontknowwhoheis]

My case may be different in that my Premium was my 7th KIA, making the GT2 my 8th. They did take my loyalty into consideration during my case.

Well, they're doing a great job building loyalty in new customers with how they're treating some of us.

Well shit, now I'm second guessing my purchase if there isn't some confirmation that this manufacturing process has been fixed. How do they expect people to buy a newly produced stinger if they know they might also have paint issues??

Yea just save yourself a years worth of time and money and don't bother, it's a total crapshoot as to whether or not you'll have issues, and if you do, if you get any help.

After about 10 months they've finally come back to me and said none of the issues with mine are even covered under the warranty. The reason? Normal road wear, according to the dealership I bought the car from, and the current DPSM. The same dealership I had a horrible sales experience with, and also wouldn't help me back in February when I brought this to their attention (I guess 13 areas missing paint after the first commute is normal). And the new DPSM that said my paint protection was a problem (I'm sure she looked at it and decided she didn't want to pay for reimbursing it, which I was originally told would happen, but not anymore).

I nearly stopped driving my car because I KNEW this is what was going to happen, they'd find something and use it as "evidence" that everything up to that point was normal. I wanted to limit the risk to the car as much as possible so they couldn't do this, but evidence didn't seem to matter. Every individual I've had to deal with at Kia now (many at this point) I've asked if they've seen the pictures and other info I uploaded to my case, this includes the dealership and DPSM that made the decision, and the answer was always a resounding no. I also knew this would happen after having to reexplain to each of them that most of the chips occurred earlier, I touched up several, and have been slowly occurring since (again, I'm not driving the car and I got paint protection). If I hadn't had done those things, I'd be driving around a polka-doted car this past year. The entire f*cking point of this was that this all occurred way too quickly and in spots that couldn't have been hit, but now that THEY have dragged it out over a year of course I can't 100% guarantee there isn't a single rock chip somewhere I didn't have covered by paint protection. What a f*cking joke.

Of course, the first DPSM, the other dealership, as well as the paint/body shops I took the car to all acknowledged an issue, but I guess they don't count, even though they all saw the car in person as well. Not to mention all the evidence we have here, the apparent wealth of other responses you all have been getting in your respective areas and cases.

For those of you who think I can just keep going up the chain in KMA, I can't, there isn't anyone else afaik, they're the ones who told me they have to rely on the technical expertise of the current DPSM and original dealership who've seen it in person. I even provided them the correspondence I had with the original DPSM who saw the car back in June, but again, nothing I seem to provide matters. My case seemed to go in the opposite direction as @Tonkabob who I believe was denied getting anything covered, then was told it would be.

They've offered a cash "settlement" for the trouble they've put me through the past year, but I don't know the amount, it probably won't cover the reimbursement I was supposed to get, or even a partial repaint. They want me to sign something as well, can't be having too many public critics of how they've handled this.

I STILL have the panel/spoiler/hatch separation issue at the back, which I mentioned to the same shit dealership the last two times I was there, and they didn't fix it. So I still have to go back just for that, though I'm sure they'll spin up some sort of "normal weather phenomena" as to why it's normal and not covered.

Sorry for the long post, but I needed to vent before I reply to them.

 

[somedudedontknowwhoheis]

What does everyone think of a new thread created strictly for paint issue PICTURES. No discussion, no banter, only pictures of real paint issues including peeling, edge peeling, and lack of adhesion rock chips (not regular rock chips). Building a thread library of just pictures of paint issue may light a fire. There is too much discussion here, we could have a thread of visual evidence only to use as leverage?

Missed this. Did this ever happen? My posts are spread out over pages/threads/months and don't mind reuploading everything I have. It didn't do me any good.

 

[jondyer]

I keep hearing the words "Class Action" spill over again and again in my head.

But maybe its just me.

 

[eljay]

I met this morning with the DPSM about my pinhead-sized chip on the roof ditch moulding. [Summary: first reported 6/28 w/expectation that dealer would sell me paintpen, but they said it needed to be reported up the line; many talks with customer care since then as photos were "lost," etc.; finally escalated 10/11]

She says it's probably a rock chip, but as a good will gesture, they will take care of it at no charge in their body shop, and have my baby back to me probably on Tuesday.

In the meantime, they provided a Sentra from Enterprise. I'm suffering separation anxiety and being a big baby about the downgrade, but since I only have a one-hour roundtrip drive to the theater planned for this weekend, plus the usual errands around home, I'll probably survive the Sentra. I was excited to see it had a CD player (yeah, I know, old school) until I found out that the high end on the speakers was blown, so I guess that coping mechanism it out of the picture.

Fingers crossed this works out.

 

[Revvdmedia]

Missed this. Did this ever happen? My posts are spread out over pages/threads/months and don't mind reuploading everything I have. It didn't do me any good.

I did not create this thread yet. I received a like on the comment but didn't want to create a thread with a specific purpose only for it to come off the rails with random banter. The thread I suggest MUST ONLY be used to show pictures of clear paint defects, so it becomes a picture based record of the number of paint issues. If we show a thread to Kia where they need to sift through tons of pages and text, it's a lost cause. If we can build a visual library of the problem in mass, it's easier to direct them there for a good "holy crap" factor.

 

[4WDlifeform]

I'd be glad to share our pictures. The clear coat is soft and scratches/chips very easily. Already have a few rock chips, especially on the plastic parts. We have had the car for about 6 months now, and we are terrified it is going to keep getting worse. Winters can be hard on a car here in PA, so we decided not to hold out on dealers/Kia fixing the issue. We have it booked for a full color change wrap. We are pretty excited about it regardless of the paint issues, I just hope the crap paint doesn't effect the quality of the wrap and bubble up. Will keep posted.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I'd be glad to share our pictures. The clear coat is soft and scratches/chips very easily. Already have a few rock chips, especially on the plastic parts. We have had the car for about 6 months now, and we are terrified it is going to keep getting worse. Winters can be hard on a car here in PA, so we decided not to hold out on dealers/Kia fixing the issue. We have it booked for a full color change wrap. We are pretty excited about it regardless of the paint issues, I just hope the crap paint doesn't effect the quality of the wrap and bubble up. Will keep posted.

That's borrowing trouble. "Vow to endeavor to persevere, to be positive!" Bubbling paint is not the same issue as delicate clear coat. Once you wrap it everything should be good. A few rock chips in six months is getting off lightly compared to actual paint failure, imho.

 

[4WDlifeform]

I agree. Ours hasn't been too bad compared to what I have seen, but still worse than any car I have ever owned. For a $50k car, should be the best painted car I have ever owned. Overall, just disappointed but still comfortable enough to get the wrap done.