I apologize in-advance for the long post. It's been a bit of a saga and I wanted to vent.... CRAP! - I have a paint issue too. And worse, KIA won't do anything about it! It's that inside edge of the hood. Two spots. First noticed it before the holidays. I kick myself for not noticing earlier, but in my defense it's not in an obvious spot. The more noticeable one is probably 1/32 long, and the steering wheel blocks the line of sight in my normal driving position. The second one, you practically have to put your ear on the windshield and squint to see it with the naked eye.
After I noticed it, I had the dealer service manager look at it. He was a bit dismissive, and said it was probably 'someone' pulling up improperly on the wipers. Sort of insinuating that I did it. I told him I had never touched the wipers; the damage was not close to a spot where someone would pull up on the wipers in the down position or in the service-position; and there was absolutely no scratch/damage to the wiper arm. He took pictures and said he'd send it to Kia. Got a call from the dealer a few days later saying kia wouldn't cover it. They gave me the Kia care #. (When I called, was on hold forever because there was a snow storm out east and they were backed up with roadside/service calls, so I entered a case online). Got a call back saying tough cookies - there was too many miles on my car - about 21k at that point. WTF. OK, but I only had the car 6 months! I argued - no, calmly made my case - but no dice.
I didn't give up. I brought the car in to a local body shop. Had a very experienced tech check it out. He was sure it was caused during painting/handling and totally not normal. He also found a couple of small defects/chips on the passenger rear fender. He put a repair estimate in writing, along with his opinion of the damage cause. $500 to repaint the hood, and $800 for the rear fender (a lot to take apart; door removal, trim removal, etc). Shortly thereafter, I had the car in for the wire recall/check. I sat down with the service manager, and made my case again. He seemed a bit more sympathetic and encouraged my to re-open it with Kia. I did so online. I did some research on this thread, and found here 3 other posts - with pictures - of the exact same problem in the exact same spots - 2 other red's and a yellow. Set all this info including pics to Kia care. Got a call back (from "Ed"?) and... too bad! I started out calmly again pleading my case, but I got so pissed off during the conversation - something about the "random pictures" that I posted with the online case! - that I hung up before I said something I'd regret!
Anyway, I'm pretty pissed. And I'm kind of stunned that Kia won't do ANYTHING to make it right. I have posted many times here how much I love the car. It is beyond disappointing that Kia did such a great job with the engineering, styling, and overall performance with the car, then screw up on such basic 'blocking and tackling' as paint! Not to mention the thought of buying a car with a $52,000 MSRP and then having to spend $1400 on paint repairs 6 months later. It has put a bad taste in my mouth. I will probably open the case again, just because "it's not right". If someone asks me about a recommendation for the Stinger, I will tell them all the good things about it, and to consider it, but also do their research - and pay extra special attention to the paint on the car they choose.
