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

[Socalstinga]

2/18 build date no chips... one thing I have noticed is that the top clear coat is rather thin compared to other “luxury” cars I’ve had.

 

[StingerGT68]

2/18 build date no chips... one thing I have noticed is that the top clear coat is rather thin compared to other “luxury” cars I’ve had.

Yes, it's very thin. So many small marks and scratches on mine (and I only handwash).

 

[Joseph Spiegel]

Last Friday I joined the club today I join this club. Showing my car to a friend he spotted what I missed. I have a chip on the rear edge of the hood/bonnet driver side. I told my sales guy he said it will be taken care of. No way I could have done it and a rock hitting it would have dinked the windshield. Sigh.
Today I talked to my installer guy about protection and tinting. Too late, I’m doing the hood, front end and mirrors.

## Jan. 2018 build date.

 

[SteveCo]

Looks like the damage that's caused by the windshield wipers - somebody tried to raise them from their resting position, without using the 'service' feature that raises them upright for windshield cleaning and wiper servicing. If you're not familiar with that, have a look in your manual. You're certainly not the first person that's had that happen.

As for the damage, it probably looks worse than it is - you should be able to touch that up pretty easily and lightly sand it back to the paint level with some high-grit wet sandpaper.

 

[Joseph Spiegel]

Looks like the damage that's caused by the windshield wipers - somebody tried to raise them from their resting position, without using the 'service' feature that raises them upright for windshield cleaning and wiper servicing. If you're not familiar with that, have a look in your manual. You're certainly not the first person that's had that happen.

As for the damage, it probably looks worse than it is - you should be able to touch that up pretty easily and lightly sand it back to the paint level with some high-grit wet sandpaper.

Haven’t touched the wipers since I got the car. Did activate them during some light rain this week. Knowing what you said and I earlier read in the manual; I gently raised them to see where they’d land. Not where the damage is. So not the wiper. Sigh. Maybe happened during prep but I don’t know.

 

[gilthanis1]

I have an appointment to drop my car off with the local Kia dealer, actually their body shop, on Monday. I went by there today and was told by the manager that they received a call from Kia not more than 2 hours before I got there. The dealer was told to pull the car into a paint booth under all of the fluorescent lights, and dry it off very well. Then, the manager is to take detailed pictures and write an estimate with all damages and problems noted. Lastly, they are to then pull the car INSIDE the shop and park it until a Kia engineer arrives later in the week to examine the car also.

It seems like Kia is aware of possible issues, but they seem to be taking this on a case by case basis. Main point being, USE the Stinger Customer Service line, but be nice, and let them go through their process to get our issues resolved. I still love this car and would go through the hoops to get it again in a heartbeat. I HATE that I am going to be without it, but rest assured, they are not putting me in a dam Rio, Forte, Sentra, etc while they go over the car. I at least want an Optima SX, Altima, etc to get by. It'll be rough but I'll deal with it to get this taken care of.

 

[WPJoe]

From what I've heard, Sringers made after March don't have the issue.

Has anyone verified if this is correct?

 

[gilthanis1]

UPDATE 29MAY18: Just got off the phone with Benson Kia here in Spartanburg, SC. I can go pick up the car today and drive it until Kia corporate in Korea has their engineers go over the pics, writeup, etc that the Benson body shop did on the car yesterday. The manager at the body shop was EXTREMELY nice and easy to deal with, as were the 2 ladies up front. The manager explained everything, and even called me after he did a full writeup about the car to send to Kia. This was done after the car was cleaned and wiped down (it's been raining here for almost 2 weeks...) and pics were taken in a paint booth under the lights. The estimate from the body shop was ~$3800 worth of damage from the paint flaking off, no it's not rock chips, lol.

The dealer service department called me this morning with the info about everything having to go to Korea and be looked at there. These instructions came from the Kia district rep and Kia corporate, not even the field tech in the area is going to look at it. It will be a couple of weeks before I hear back, but this lets me know that they are taking this seriously and I couldn't be happier at the treatment so far. I am amazed by how quickly Kia took care of getting the detailed information they need and keeping me in the loop about what is happening. The dealer and their body shop have been super nice throughout this experience as well.

I am impressed with the response from Kia so far. I can definitely say that using our options such as the Stinger Customer Service line is awesome to get help. Also, I have been nice in every dealing with everyone and I'm sure that goes a long way in people being more willing to assist. I will post more updates as I get them.

 

[KiaofMuncie]

Just spoke with gilthanis.......this is very positive coming from KIA. I can tell you all this:I bought a brand new BMW 550iGT a few years back. I started noticing tiny chips in the paint. These chips were very small,and almost like the end of a toothpick but hundreds of them on the front bumper,hood,mirrors,pillars,roof. I took it to my local dealer however I did not purchase the car from them. Automatically they said rock chips. Said I drove down a gravel road. Yep, I'm going to take this kind of vehicle down a gravel road. It looked terrible and was getting worse. I then took to another dealer. they were on the fence but said probably rock chips. I never knew rock chips were uniform over the entire vehicle! I opened a case with BMW and they closed it almost immediately. Last BMW I will own. They do not stand behind a brand new vehicle. At least they didn't for me. We had owned BMW's for years. Guess that really did not matter at all. I ended up selling the GT and bought a Toyota. Put 80k miles on it and drove it all over Gods green earth and not a single issue. Hopefully this all works out for the Stinger owners. We are headed in the right direction anyways.

 

[MicroBlue]

We cleaned and detailed the exterior of the Stinger yesterday and found over 10 spots where the paint has chipped to primer or bare metal.
I have reached out to Kia on this issue and will provide updates as well. We have a 12/2017 build date.

I wonder if we can build a table with build dates and color to see if their is a correlation...

 

[gilthanis1]

We cleaned and detailed the exterior of the Stinger yesterday and found over 10 spots where the paint has chipped to primer or bare metal.
I have reached out to Kia on this issue and will provide updates as well. We have a 12/2017 build date.

I wonder if we can build a table with build dates and color to see if their is a correlation...

Same build date here 12/2017, and we already knew it wasn't specific to 1 color. Be rather interesting to see how the build dates relate for sure.

 

[MicroBlue]

Same build date here 12/2017, and we already knew it wasn't specific to 1 color. Be rather interesting to see how the build dates relate for sure.

I’ve seen Micro Blue and Sunset yellow owners. Not sure if the other colors are affected.

 

[gilthanis1]

I’ve seen Micro Blue and Sunset yellow owners. Not sure if the other colors are affected.

If you look through this thread, there's a few black, silky silver, couple of reds, but I'm not sure about the wet concrete or panthera metal. I don't remember those being mentioned, but I could be mistaken.

 

[MicroBlue]

If you look through this thread, there's a few black, silky silver, couple of reds, but I'm not sure about the wet concrete or panthera metal. I don't remember those being mentioned, but I could be mistaken.

Thanks for the update on the colors affected. Based on what the owner from AUS reported out on Facebook it sounds like Kia know of the issue and what caused it. I hope they are responsive and correct it across the production process and are willing to fix the affected cars.

 

[Ucinn]

My sunset yellow with build date of 12/17 hasn't shown anything yet. I did get the hood and front fenders clear bra'ed after 2 weeks of having it though. I'll continue to look for them on the doors and back of the car, but nothing so far.

 

[MicroBlue]

My sunset yellow with build date of 12/17 hasn't shown anything yet. I did get the hood and front fenders clear bra'ed after 2 weeks of having it though. I'll continue to look for them on the doors and back of the car, but nothing so far.

The paint chipping is what drove me to get mine clear bra’ed

 

[Ucinn]

I was getting it done before I even heard of the paint issue. I look at my 2012 Mustang and see all the rock chips on it and decided to protect this one. I'll do the Mustang too after I get the body kit for it.

 

[KiaofMuncie]

I probably would not pay for a clear bra at this time. If a recall is made you could possibly be wasting your money.

 

[Ucinn]

I probably would not pay for a clear bra at this time. If a recall is made you could possibly be wasting your money.

I would think enough bitching would get them to cover the cost of the clear bra too.

 

[MicroBlue]

Not sure if the damage is visible in these pics...
The company that did the clear bra tried to use a paint match to fill the damaged spots. You can clearly see the chips through the clear and base coats.