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

[Joseph Cahn]

I have a belated update on the Yellow Paint issue. Back when this was going on I decided to take the buyback instead of getting the car repainted. Fast forward to now and there is a dealer here in Marietta GA that specializes in bought back vehicles. He has tons of BMW and Mercedes junk heaps. He has also been getting in the Yellow Stingers. I decided to go look at the job they did on the repaint. The job they did was absolutely terrible. The paint color was totally off from the areas they did not paint like the bumpers. The repainted areas had NO gloss to them at all. This car had only like 6,000 miles as well. When they buy these cars they receive paperwork showing what was done to rectify the problem. The paperwork showed that Kia did in fact repaint the car. The telltale sign on my car was paint chipping on the back of the hood. This Stinger had the same issue still even after repainting. I ran my hand across the back of the hood and it was like sandpaper. I am so glad I did not get the repaint.

 

[MerlintheMad]

So, in the case of this Yellow you scoped out, the repainted areas didn't get a clear coat?

 

[G-249332]

Either that or it was a poorly applied. The paint made it look like the car was in the Nevada desert for several years.

 

[Joseph Cahn]

The clear coat must have been very thin or poorly applied. I can't imagine they would omit it altogether, but the one I looked at had the appearance of a 5 year old car sitting in the desert the whole time. It might have also just been that the bumpers were high gloss and bright yellow so the repainted areas looked very bad sitting right next to them.

 

[Revvdmedia]

I wonder if because you took the buyback, Kia allowed a half-assed job considering they didn't need to keep the original owner happy and knew it was going to auction anyway.

 

[G-538757]

Ed Reed

Paint and build quality are the same? I have had no issues with my Yellow.

I think paint is part of overall build quality but even if you don’t I am finding that my RAV4 has better paint as well as having better overall build quality. By this I mean less rattles, leather seats are not showing any wear while my Stinger did show some wear at the edge of the drivers seat with the same number of miles. RAV4 is straight while my Stinger had vibration issues at certain speeds and the dealer did test drive and acknowledge the issue but couldn’t resolve, my theory is a cracked or dented rim but the dealer said that rims were fine. I do miss the Stinger it had better electronics for stuff like lane assist and was fun to drive, but need reliable right now and the paint on the Stinger was terrible so no regrets.

 

[Liljaeger]

2018, Stinger GT AWD, Blue Metallic, Sweden.

Washed the car up for the spring, now noticed several, about 20, new flakes, last year had zero. Mainly on left passenger door, hood, and right left back rear panel.

1 looks like it's a stone hit, but the rest look like just the paint chipped off? Clean metall underneath.

Going to take it in and ask, never had this issue before with a car, so unsure about what to state.

 

[MerlintheMad]

2018, Stinger GT AWD, Blue Metallic, Sweden.

Washed the car up for the spring, now noticed several, about 20, new flakes, last year had zero. Mainly on left passenger door, hood, and right left back rear panel.

1 looks like it's a stone hit, but the rest look like just the paint chipped off? Clean metall underneath.

Going to take it in and ask, never had this issue before with a car, so unsure about what to state.

Make sure you add yourself to the poll. That definitely sounds like fluky, flakey paint. It should be covered under the 36K miles / 36 month paint warranty. If Kia can claim road attrition, they will. So, be prepared for a fight.

 

[jondyer]

2018, Stinger GT AWD, Blue Metallic, Sweden.

Washed the car up for the spring, now noticed several, about 20, new flakes, last year had zero. Mainly on left passenger door, hood, and right left back rear panel.

1 looks like it's a stone hit, but the rest look like just the paint chipped off? Clean metall underneath.

Going to take it in and ask, never had this issue before with a car, so unsure about what to state.

Well, I am about to sell mine mostly because I am afraid of this sort of thing. The depreciation was not terrible, and I got a buy quote from a local "we buy any car" place and I will walk away with a nice check ~20 grand when it is all over.

That plus the 5 I got from KNA makes this an okay adventure.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Well, I am about to sell mine mostly because I am afraid of this sort of thing. The depreciation was not terrible, and I got a buy quote from a local "we buy any car" place and I will walk away with a nice check ~20 grand when it is all over.

That plus the 5 I got from KNA makes this an okay adventure.

I just reacquainted myself with your history on this thread. What a saga! Repainted TWICE, then started getting chips in your hood yet again: told by Kia, "workmanship issues, take it back to the dealer". Like hell. What was the outcome of your situation, as that was a while ago? Did your paint hold up pretty well or has it continued to head south?

I hope you get a good fun car to replace the Stinger. Let us know what happens.

 

[WRXtoStingerGT]

What a shame. I must admit I love the more "crazy" colored Stingers out there... Yellow and Orange are absolutely my favorite... Good luck with the hunt for a new toy!

 

[jondyer]

I just reacquainted myself with your history on this thread. What a saga! Repainted TWICE, then started getting chips in your hood yet again: told by Kia, "workmanship issues, take it back to the dealer". Like hell. What was the outcome of your situation, as that was a while ago? Did your paint hold up pretty well or has it continued to head south?

I hope you get a good fun car to replace the Stinger. Let us know what happens.

Well, my service advisor at Delray Kia (Jennifer) is a gem. She is literally the only reason I kept the car as long as I did. I started to get bubbles on the rear lift gate and they (KNA) basically told me to get bent. Jen tried to go to bat for me but there is only so much an SA can do in cases like this.
Once that happened, I kinda gave up on dealing with KNA and only associated myself with Kia if I needed warranty work, which I did over the last week when my radar was acting up - I think it was the front unit or something that went bad. I did everything else myself. Oil changes aren't so bad once you can wiggle yourself under the car. Either way, no worries...

If you are in South Florida, and need to go to a Kia dealer for service, call Jennifer, or Bob (and his twin - an inside joke there at the dealer, they'll get it if you go there). I think that she is probably one of the most honest SAs out there. She would let me know in no uncertain terms if my request was unreasonable.

I am selling the Stinger to AutoBuy in about an hour and I picked up a new white Audi RS5 in Coral Springs last night, so the saga of my 12+ year relationship with Kia/Hyundai/Genesis will come to an end today. I had several cars from them and my wife that is currently looking to ditch her Palisade for and e tron this week so the Dyer household will be Kia/Hyundai free for the first time in over a decade in about a week. Not sure if I will look at another one. I really didn't like the overall treatment. This is too bad because I have a serious case of car ADD and at one point there were 5 cars in my stable with only a maximum of three drivers. My wife says I have an issue . It has never been about the money, I am a little fortunate and am able to withstand the occasional bad luck. The big thing for me is after sales service. What good is a great warranty if you have to jump through your own ass to use it? KNA needs to up their dealer game. <insert multi page tirade about Kia dealers here>

Remind me to tell you the long story of how KNA screwed up and made us wait for a Telluride for over 8 months after we gave them a deposit. We ended up walking into a Hyundai dealer and buying the Palisade, then cancelling the contract with Kia for the Telluride with my wife vowing never to ever buy a Kia. Which is a shame because some of the upcoming electric cars are very interesting. Trust me, the story is longer and more in-depth while being screwed up to a level only seen in KNA boardrooms. Ford did that to me a while back causing me to replace every moving part, with aftermarket and better quality non-Ford bits (slight exaggeration, but only just so).

All that time wasted because a few knuckleheads at KNA are more interested in the immediate financial deal than long term customer satisfaction and the fact that apart from some truly hard working folks that do care, the Kia dealer network in South Florida sucks balls. I will say that the average Hyundai dealer is no better. I really wish that the after sales service was better, then they would have retained a customer.

The crazy thing is that this all started when in 2009, while I was on my way to buy an Audi A8L, and as a goof, I drove into a Hyundai dealer looking for a "black, V8 that had over 400BHP". I was literally laughing at them until I drove out with my first Genesis. Never made it to the Audi dealer until last night LOL. All in all, it was a good run and besides, they make JB4s for the Audi too, so there is that.

Here's a pic of what the new baby looks like:



And a note to whoever picks up the yellow Stinger VIN ending in 141, take care of that car. That poor thing has been through quite a bit.

I also might have a JB4 that will show up in the For Sale thread in a few days, just sayin'

 

[MerlintheMad]

Audi RS5

Nice car! A bit "Stinger-like" and better in all respects vis-a-vis performance and luxury, of course. "It's an Audi." Sounds like you're going to have fun.

 

[jondyer]

Nice car! A bit "Stinger-like" and better in all respects vis-a-vis performance and luxury, of course. "It's an Audi." Sounds like you're going to have fun.

The Stinger is now officially someone else's problem. I am actually a little more sad about it than I thought I would be.

It is very Stinger like. That is what attracted me to it. There are things that the Stinger has that I will miss, like having a car that got loads of compliments everywhere I went. And of course, the whole "it's an Audi" thing is met with the understanding that VW owns Audi and they are not known for <cough> trouble-free motoring </cough>.

We will see how long this affair lasts.

 

[Dave B]

Kia have had rubbish paint quality since day one. I purchased a new Kia Mentor for my wife in 1997 and after the first interstate trip had to get the front of the car resprayed because of multiple stone chips. Back then, I did not put it down to poor quality paint. We sold the Mentor 19 years later and only had a couple of stone chips on the front.
PS The respray was when the car was only 9 months old.

 

[Liljaeger]

Got my first inspection as, external impact, not covered by warranty.

:\

The laquer is spotting, and chipping, but undercoat is ok. Have about 20 spots now on the damn car.

I also have some rock hits, that you can see, and the difference is clear. Now, everytime I wash the car, I get some more spots.


This is a EU car, anyone know who I can contact? I think I need help. Contact KIA internationally?? Every single time I wash the car, I am getting more spots.

Been trying to find the international contact details for Kia, but, I am unable to do so. The local dealer is not being helpfull here.

I love this car, but the pain issue is just killing me.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Got my first inspection as, external impact, not covered by warranty.

This is cryptic. "External impact" means your ongoing paint flaking issue, and not somebody/thing hitting you, is that right?

This is a EU car, anyone know who I can contact? I think I need help. Contact KIA internationally?? Every single time I wash the car, I am getting more spots.

Been trying to find the international contact details for Kia, but, I am unable to do so. The local dealer is not being helpfull here.

I love this car, but the pain issue is just killing me.

The paint warranty is expired at 36 months. You are going to have to restore her beauty yourself. If the car is, otherwise, worth it (mine would be if I developed paint issues requiring a complete overhaul), look into a quality wrap: it is a fraction (c. a third as much most likely) of a decent full paint job, and should last a good three to five years if not more, depending on how it's taken care of. Anyway, that is my provisional go-to fix if I have to face what you are describing.

 

[Dmanofhull]

Hi everyone, new to the group here in the UK. Does anyone in the UK have a copy of any correspondence KIA UK Sent?