MisterLimey
Newish Member
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- Dec 28, 2025
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Hey All,
Purchased a clue 2022 GT2 AWD from Carvana, because it was a local vehicle and my Wife and I have always admired The Stinger. And, our 2016 Optima SXL LTD was recently written off by a young driver, on their phone, rear ending me on the way to work (A digression, but we loved that car too. Only 35k miles, because once the kids came we drove it less frequently).
Only 16k miles on the Stinger we purchased but found an undisclosed defect with the hatch left side metallic trim. The top portion is loose and not attached. Weirdly, this piece of the trim is tarnished but none of the other pieces are. Read its a common issue, but strange one piece alone would degrade. As an experiment I kind of buffed it with my thumb, at the bottom, and the tarnish came off but it took some work.
Contacted Carvana, as we only picked up Saturday and are still within the 7 day return period. Warranty work has approved, but they want us to take it to Maaco, but not sure I trust them. Had a bad experience with some body repair on my first car there. TOO MUCH BONDO. Also, I do not have time to do that before the 7 day test drive period is up.
Lifting the top of the trim, I found and extracted a white clip type thing with tweezers which was just floating around under there. From the minimal amount I was able to lift the trim, I see a small headed stud on the frame, and a metal slotted piece on the underside of the weather stripping.
Does anyone have any experience removing this trim piece, who can point me towards how to reattach the top end of it? I did search pretty extensively, here, on youtube and reddit but could not find any guides to removing and reattaching this piece. Partly, as I am not sure what to search for (Garnish, trim, molding etc?). Maybe someone knows of a link to a video or how to already out there?
Side question has anyone had any luck getting these trim pieces replaced under the 5 year/ 60k warranty for tarnishing? First priority is getting it reattached without destroying it, as we have no choice but to use carwashes here in the Midwest during the winter, to remove the salt, and I see a carwash ripping this right off. Trying to figure out if I can reattach before the 7 day Carvana return period is up. Cosmetic replacement is a second.
I have attached pics of the loose trim piece, and the white plastic clip I extracted. First post, so I guess this is also an introduction in some fashion.
Thanks for your help in advance.
Purchased a clue 2022 GT2 AWD from Carvana, because it was a local vehicle and my Wife and I have always admired The Stinger. And, our 2016 Optima SXL LTD was recently written off by a young driver, on their phone, rear ending me on the way to work (A digression, but we loved that car too. Only 35k miles, because once the kids came we drove it less frequently).
Only 16k miles on the Stinger we purchased but found an undisclosed defect with the hatch left side metallic trim. The top portion is loose and not attached. Weirdly, this piece of the trim is tarnished but none of the other pieces are. Read its a common issue, but strange one piece alone would degrade. As an experiment I kind of buffed it with my thumb, at the bottom, and the tarnish came off but it took some work.
Contacted Carvana, as we only picked up Saturday and are still within the 7 day return period. Warranty work has approved, but they want us to take it to Maaco, but not sure I trust them. Had a bad experience with some body repair on my first car there. TOO MUCH BONDO. Also, I do not have time to do that before the 7 day test drive period is up.
Lifting the top of the trim, I found and extracted a white clip type thing with tweezers which was just floating around under there. From the minimal amount I was able to lift the trim, I see a small headed stud on the frame, and a metal slotted piece on the underside of the weather stripping.
Does anyone have any experience removing this trim piece, who can point me towards how to reattach the top end of it? I did search pretty extensively, here, on youtube and reddit but could not find any guides to removing and reattaching this piece. Partly, as I am not sure what to search for (Garnish, trim, molding etc?). Maybe someone knows of a link to a video or how to already out there?
Side question has anyone had any luck getting these trim pieces replaced under the 5 year/ 60k warranty for tarnishing? First priority is getting it reattached without destroying it, as we have no choice but to use carwashes here in the Midwest during the winter, to remove the salt, and I see a carwash ripping this right off. Trying to figure out if I can reattach before the 7 day Carvana return period is up. Cosmetic replacement is a second.
I have attached pics of the loose trim piece, and the white plastic clip I extracted. First post, so I guess this is also an introduction in some fashion.
Thanks for your help in advance.
