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

[forzanerazzurri]

Hello, I bought a Thunder Grey (dark grey) Stinger and picking it up Saturday, I'm very scared now of what I've been reading on this forum. Is it pretty much a sure thing the paint will begin chipping? It is 2018 model, not sure of MFG date but probably Dec 2017.

Also could someone confirm this is the panthera metal in the USA? I don't think it's the ceramic / ghost grey... ?

thank you.

You will almost certainly have chipping on the bumper around the bottom of your headlights. You will likely have to monitor the rest of your paint for the entire warranty period accordingly.

 

[OriginalRobby]

I am thinking of getting XPEL protection as much as I can reasonable afford to spend and protect as much of the front part of the car, and maybe some rear, not sure yet... Would this be a good idea? If the clear coat on these cars is so weak to allow the paint to chip or flake so easily I'm thinking XPEL may help??? I've seen many others go this route.

EDIT: Even considering the full car. I'm picking it up today.

 

[Stinger Regret]

I bought a stringer GT 1 and with in two weeks of having it I noticed the black paint was peeling off the hood and one spot on the side but not anywhere on the bumper.. I have owned 5 black vehicles before this and understand that there is going to be a certain amount of chips that show associated with a black car but I have never had any of my black cars chip so easy or had the paint peel off like the Stinger GT 1 is doing..I did go and talk to a couple of people that do automotive paint and was told by all that the paint and or clear coat is way too thin.. One person said jokingly it looked like I was lucky if it got a half a coat of clear coat to the paint.. Now I am going to invest another 500.00 dollars to get the hood painted and enough clear coat to protect the hood from looking like a Dalmatian so I can put a ceramic coating on the car because as I am sure anyone that owns a stringer knows KIA is not backing their product even knowing that they have this problem with their paint. I would have never imagine that I would have had a problem like this from a Flag ship car but I guess you get what you paid for and KIA cut some corners in order to get to this price point on the car.. I actual chose this car over two European manufactures and now wish I would have bought one of the other brands.. this is going to be the second problem I have had with the exterior of this car first problem was with the side molding around the sun roof had dry rotted, of all things on a brand new car.

 

[Tonkabob]

File your claim with KiA. Most are getting handled by KiA but it takes time and you have to open a case with customer care not the dealer.

 

[Ruturaj]

Clear coat and ceramic coating won't stop rock chips, get clear bra installed.

 

[Tonkabob]

Clear coat and ceramic coating won't stop rock chips, get clear bra installed.

But it may need a repaint first. Just got my ppf on yesterday after a repaint.

 

[CaliSting]

Yeah unfortunately this goes with being early adopter of new product offering with a company that has been known for cutrate economy cars. Screwing up paint in entry level luxury car is a big no no. To not nail paint is a real issue for Kia. And Kias approach for many is to send people to crappy body shop and respray bad areas.

I still laugh that my dealer installed clear bra on my car across entire front and didn’t list it. Wasn’t even mentioned. I thought it odd but then found small chips and paint defects when I got car home.

 

[Tonkabob]

Wow so you got a "free" bra, what a deal!
Luckily somehow i managed to get resprayed at a good body shop of my chosing and they didn't get the cut rate guidlines from kia until after the job was done.
I also payed an extra grand to repsray even more to get that kia paint off.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I am thinking of getting XPEL protection as much as I can reasonable afford to spend and protect as much of the front part of the car, and maybe some rear, not sure yet... Would this be a good idea? If the clear coat on these cars is so weak to allow the paint to chip or flake so easily I'm thinking XPEL may help??? I've seen many others go this route.

EDIT: Even considering the full car. I'm picking it up today.

If you read through this thread you'll run into the discussion of the theories of why some cars have poorly adhering paint. The fault isn't the paint itself, which professional body and paint shops have said is actually of good (even very good) quality; same with the clear coat. But no matter how upper tier the paint/clear coat is or how thickly it is put on (ours isn't very thick, iirc c. 4.3 mils compared to closer to 5.0 mils for competitor's paint), if the problem is adherence the paint and clear coat will come off. So the problem is adhesion, not paint quality. If your particular car isn't showing signs of bubbling, pin prick holes, flaking, peeling or chipping, then your paint and clear coat is worthy of PPF and or ceramic. If your paint is showing signs of adherence issues then don't bother; reject the car based on your inspection and demand a replacement without the paint issues. But, don't borrow trouble: I am confident that YOUR car is fine; the odds are heavily in your favor. If you can afford this car, you can afford full frontal protection with PPF; and based on where you live, I reckon ceramic (at the very least) for the whole car.

 

[Revvdmedia]

I am thinking of getting XPEL protection as much as I can reasonable afford to spend and protect as much of the front part of the car, and maybe some rear, not sure yet... Would this be a good idea? If the clear coat on these cars is so weak to allow the paint to chip or flake so easily I'm thinking XPEL may help??? I've seen many others go this route.

EDIT: Even considering the full car. I'm picking it up today.

After getting a huge rock chip in the hood (albeit only 1 that I've found so far), I think the whole hood, front fenders and A pillars might be a good idea. Canada likes to use boulders to melt ice it seems. I only did the normal hood, fender, bumper and mirrors. I kind of wish I did more.

 

[OriginalRobby]

Agreed, I'm still trying to inspect and figure out the quality of the paint on this car I picked up. I did read the entire thread carefully and I see that it's come down to 1. either adhesion issues due to contamination or 2. paint & clear coat thickness / layers of application. If I'm lucky and I dodged these I'd like to go PPF full frontal coverage. Mine was built Feb 2018, thunder grey - when I look at it the clear coat looks 'to me' pretty good, shines well... but I don't know enough to be sure, time will tell. What shitty suspense to be kept in...

 

[MerlintheMad]

What shitty suspense to be kept in...

I picked up this thread on page 23, after reading everything up to that point; and I have stayed with it ever since. "Suspense" is a good word! But let's try and stay focused on reality and not borrow trouble. After reading about this I decided, upon careful inspection and wielding of a touch up pen, that I wasn't going to live with that suspense any longer: and I got full PPF on the front. The rest of the car is unprotected and I haven't seen a single bit of trouble in c. half a year. Ceramic coating is still in the future; not sure when; but at some point I am going to get the full detail and cover the entire car.

Thin paint isn't an issue with what people have described as "paint failures". One of the cars compared to the Stinger had paint along the lower doors that wasn't even 2.0 mils; iirc, it was a Porsche. Very surprised to read that. But the paint was also perfect; in other words, adhering properly and still looking new. Thickness is far less important than quality of paint and adherence. If your car shows a fine gloss (mine does) then I see no reason to doubt the quality of the clear coat or the paint underneath. But especially on the plastic body panels, any road debris is going to leave its mark. So get it all "armored" up pronto. I didn't get my PPF till c. three months in; the road damage was only small, but numerous. I could see where this was going if I didn't do something fast. Had I known at the outset, I'd have had PPF within the first week of owning it.

 

[Jmiracle]

This is my first post here. I've been researching the stinger for a couple of months now with the intention of purchasing one in the next few weeks. After reading about the paint issues, i'm now having second thoughts. Kia is a brand I've never even remotely considered until I learned of the stinger. Even my wife was shocked when I mentioned I wanted Kia.

So today I decided to head over to my local Kia dealer and look at the 2 red GT2's they have on their lot. Both of these cars have been there at least 6 months. Both cars show the flaking/chipping along the top of the hatch. I didn't notice any other areas mostly because the cars are very dirty from sitting outside for months. This thread and what I found locally makes me think these cars won't stay looking nice over the long haul.

I typically keep my vehicles for a long time. My truck is 11 years old and still shines up as nice as a new car. Same with my wife's 7 year old Honda. I'm very OCD about my vehicles, particularly the paint. I accept issues like this can pop up on any brand and daily driving will take its toll on any paint, but given how prevalent paint issues seem to be on the stingers, perhaps I'd be better off spending the extra money on a CPO Audi S5.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Hi, @Jmiracle. Yeah, you can't form a favorable impression based on two weathered cars that both show damage. Ridiculous to expect otherwise.

If you've got the "extra money", I don't know why you'd pick a Kia anyway. There isn't anything inexpensive about $32K+. That is serious money for just about everybody. The car has to perform, not just as a driver but over the long haul quality wise. This model is a gamble, because it is a Kia. It helps that Kia, all of Hyundai, has steadily increased in quality and well designed vehicles and are rated at the top in those things. It hurts that so many Kia dealerships are woefully inadequate to take care of customer satisfaction. The Stinger is a gamble. I think it's going to work out. It largely has so far. There are no "prevalent paint issues" on the cars already sold; if that were the case we'd hear about it in some of the reviews and a lot more on this forum. 5% of our membership have chimed in pro or con on the paint quality debate.

Speaking specifically to the hatch edge: that seems to have been a damage in transit or production thing; along with the rear edge of the hood on a few cars; and not repeated over a sizeable build period. But you need really cleaned up cars in order to check out that assertion. Did you say anything to the sales people about how crappy an impression their filthy Stingers make?

 

[OriginalRobby]

I still can't imagine that if all the Stingers out there had such bad paint problems they would be selling them, so I'm hopeful. We also have 3 years / 60000 KM paint defects coverage.

 

[Jmiracle]

It's helpful to know the damage on the hatch edge has a different cause. I am planning to make a trip to another dealer soon that has a large selection of stingers so I can look at a few different colors. I know forum threads can make mountains out of mole hills which is exactly why I wanted to see a few cars in person. I agree 2 cars isn't a trend, but it was very discouraging to see similar damage on both.

 

[MerlintheMad]

it was very discouraging to see similar damage on both.

And conversely, encouraging that it was the same damage in such a specific and apparently singular place. Personally, out of the more than two dozen Stingers that I have looked over in Jerry Seiner's lot (on three separate occasions), I have never seen the hatch edge damage; and only one example of the rear edge of the hood being chipped.

 

[somedudedontknowwhoheis]

I bought a stringer GT 1 and with in two weeks of having it I noticed the black paint was peeling off the hood and one spot on the side but not anywhere on the bumper.. I have owned 5 black vehicles before this and understand that there is going to be a certain amount of chips that show associated with a black car but I have never had any of my black cars chip so easy or had the paint peel off like the Stinger GT 1 is doing..I did go and talk to a couple of people that do automotive paint and was told by all that the paint and or clear coat is way too thin.. One person said jokingly it looked like I was lucky if it got a half a coat of clear coat to the paint.. Now I am going to invest another 500.00 dollars to get the hood painted and enough clear coat to protect the hood from looking like a Dalmatian so I can put a ceramic coating on the car because as I am sure anyone that owns a stringer knows KIA is not backing their product even knowing that they have this problem with their paint. I would have never imagine that I would have had a problem like this from a Flag ship car but I guess you get what you paid for and KIA cut some corners in order to get to this price point on the car.. I actual chose this car over two European manufactures and now wish I would have bought one of the other brands.. this is going to be the second problem I have had with the exterior of this car first problem was with the side molding around the sun roof had dry rotted, of all things on a brand new car.

Hey your situations sounds like mine. Black GT1 where you feel it necessary to keep it from looking like it's polka-dotted due to the bad paint. Careful though, after a year of ignoring you Kia will claim your efforts to protect your car are part of the problem then not honor any claim/warranty.

I still can't imagine that if all the Stingers out there had such bad paint problems they would be selling them, so I'm hopeful. We also have 3 years / 60000 KM paint defects coverage.

Maybe, if they honor it, which they haven't been for some. Others have only gotten the minimum work after pestering Kia several times, it's a crap shoot. Maybe Congress calling Kia/Hyundia to testify about the engine fires recently will light a fire under their ass.

 

[phxgt]

You will almost certainly have chipping on the bumper around the bottom of your headlights. You will likely have to monitor the rest of your paint for the entire warranty period accordingly.

Perhaps the thread noted below proves out Merlins' belief that fewer are affected than is thought because of this "sky is falling" thread? A whole lot of "no issues so far" posts. Personally I have a Dec17 build date with absolutely no paint issues.


My Stinger Build Date Is ?

 

[Doel]

If I were buying a Stinger right now, I would avoid all cars made in 2017, that should be easy to do. If anyone has PEELING paint, absolutely make a claim, and Kia will take care of it under warranty. The only time Kia is denying claims is when they think the damage is from rock chips and not defective paint. You drive behind a dump truck on the interstate dropping 57 stone on your hood, the best paint in the world is going to chip. Not defending them not covering some cars, but that's the reason they aren't covering some of the ones with just rock chips. Again, they will absolutely cover PEELING paint. Do not get your car repainted on your own before bringing it to the dealership, you're just asking to get a claim denied if you do that.