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

Paint Chip Poll - Have you experienced unwarranted paint chipping with your Stinger

  • Yes - Yellow

    Votes: 37 7.9%
  • Yes - Blue

    Votes: 57 12.2%
  • Yes - Deep Chroma Blue

    Votes: 6 1.3%
  • Yes - Silky Silver

    Votes: 13 2.8%
  • Yes - Ceramic Silver

    Votes: 40 8.6%
  • Yes - Black

    Votes: 70 15.0%
  • Yes - Panthera Metal

    Votes: 18 3.9%
  • Yes - White

    Votes: 28 6.0%
  • Yes - Red

    Votes: 49 10.5%
  • No - Without permanent protective coating

    Votes: 113 24.2%
  • No - With permanent protective coating

    Votes: 36 7.7%

  • Total voters
    467
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There doesn't seem much on the net about ""super polysteel" but I did find this comment:

"I work as a detailer at a dealership and we have something very similar called super polysteel. Basically it is a polymer based wax which will help with cleaning it for the next couple months. Rain will slide off it a little better but it really doesn't provide much protection except from really small scratches. As for the interior, the leather stuff does almost nothing, it wears off after a week. We also have fabric protector which just smells good and tricks people into thinking they're getting their money's worth. LPT: I know me and all my co workers would do it for a significant fraction of the dealership price if asked by a customer."

I got sold the Protector package for my leather seat and black paint VOLVO. Was it worth it or did I just a snake oil? : cars
 
There doesn't seem much on the net about ""super polysteel" but I did find this comment:

"I work as a detailer at a dealership and we have something very similar called super polysteel. Basically it is a polymer based wax which will help with cleaning it for the next couple months. Rain will slide off it a little better but it really doesn't provide much protection except from really small scratches. As for the interior, the leather stuff does almost nothing, it wears off after a week. We also have fabric protector which just smells good and tricks people into thinking they're getting their money's worth. LPT: I know me and all my co workers would do it for a significant fraction of the dealership price if asked by a customer."

I got sold the Protector package for my leather seat and black paint VOLVO. Was it worth it or did I just a snake oil? : cars
Yeah. I’m sure that’s it.

I didn’t have a choice as it was “preapplied” by the dealer (if they even did it) simply to add to their bottom line.
 
Build date: 3/2018. Hopefully this puts me out of the range of the very bad paint, but as you mentioned, people had issues with paint well after the 2017 build dates.

I was realizing now that nearly all of the Stingers that I was looking at had the paint protection package on the bumpers, provided by the dealers. I thought this was a nice touch at the time, but dealers don't usually do things for free, I'm sure they're doing this based on known paint issues in Stingers.

On my car, yes, the issues are in odd places, on the upper rear quarter panel and other places where you wouldn't expect road debris issues. Further, the surface is smooth in those spots, so there's no obvious damage or way that road debris could have caused it. Throw in that I'm only at 190 miles and have had the car for just a few days, I'd think I have a good case to present to Kia to have a body shop fix this however they can.

This does seem to be a potentially different issue than the paint chip issue that others are seeing, at least so far, but seeing the pain everyone has been through with it, I'd like to do what I can to keep the paint looking good.

My car came with the paint protection package, with Hood Film, Door Pocket Film, Bumper Applique. Where else would you recommend PPF?

I went to the dealer and had an interesting result - the spots rub off! Not easily, but if you put your thumb on it and rub pretty hard back and forth, the spots do come off. Getting it wet has no effect, just something about the clear coat has a spot that goes away with the rubbing - either from rubbing away, or from the heat, I'm not sure. You have to push pretty hard to have an effect, rubbing just a couple of them off gave me a small blister on my thumb, but I'm a professional computer geek so I'm not going to claim to have the most rugged of hands.

The car is going to the body shop in the next couple weeks for the blemish I mentioned in the thread in the dealer section, so I'll discuss the issue with the body shop folks and get their expert opinion. For now, at least, it seems that there's some sort of solution that's not too invasive, it makes me feel a little better, but still worried that the clear coat perhaps didn't cure properly or has some other defect that causes those spots. I'll reply to this thread again when I have more info from the body shop.

A question regarding the poll - when are we supposed to answer it? I have no chipping yet, knock on wood, but I've only had the car 200 miles, and I still have worries about the paint. If I were to reply today, the answer would be that there has been no chipping, but it seems premature to take the poll just yet. Maybe after a few thousand miles?
 
A question regarding the poll - when are we supposed to answer it? I have no chipping yet, knock on wood, but I've only had the car 200 miles, and I still have worries about the paint. If I were to reply today, the answer would be that there has been no chipping, but it seems premature to take the poll just yet. Maybe after a few thousand miles?
You can vote in the poll anytime, and change your vote anytime. If you truly feel that you have a crappy paint issue, then vote "yes" under your color. If later you decide that outside influences caused the paint issue and it's not Kia's fault then change your vote. That's my opinion. :thumbup:
 
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I have a Black 2.0 premium model. I have had it exactly two weeks and I am noticing a lot of paint chips on it. It started as one on the hood over the weekend and the dealer got a paint pen to touch it up. When I stopped by to get the paint pen, I started cleaning off the massive amounts of pollen and I notice a heck of a lot more. The dealer claims this is normal and I am noticing it more because of the black paint. Is anyone else having an issue? I am worried this is a bigger problem.
We are having the same issues and kia saying that they can buffer out which it won't fix the problem, we are writing a letter to kia headquarters and pictures to move forward with this problem before it is too late. They have a recall on a yellow paint but it seems that all the colors are having the same problem.
 
We are having the same issues and kia saying that they can buffer out which it won't fix the problem, we are writing a letter to kia headquarters and pictures to move forward with this problem before it is too late. They have a recall on a yellow paint but it seems that all the colors are having the same problem.
Howdy, Victor. I'm sorry that your Stinger is one of the afflicted ones. Hopefully Kia will take good care of you. The worst part of this is how long it takes for repair/respray. Ridiculously long amount of wasted time!

Although all colors have the "same problem" with defective paint, the severity is extremely variable; and the total number of cases remains a small percentage. The huge majority of Stinger owners on this forum do not have paint issues.
 
Hi Guys,

I am a long time lurker around this forum but haven't posted much. I was washing my car last week and I noticed multiple dings. These dings are all black underneath, as if the whole paint came off. Do you guys know if this is normal? I will take it in to Kia next Saturday for my first maintenance and will also bring this up for them to check. Here are some photos.

Thanks!
 

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I noticed multiple dings.

I'd guess the paint's adhesion is poor, and debris (gravel) is knocking it off the primer at a higher rate than normal. But, I can easily see the dealer saying these are rock chips (does the car have low miles on it?). Do you have any dings in unusual places -- other than the front of the car?

Others have had similar problems and based on their mixed successes, document everything thoroughly, be prepared to escalate to Kia USA, and be prepared for the long haul.

Hopefully, your dealer is one of the good ones. Good luck tomorrow!
 
I'd guess the paint's adhesion is poor, and debris (gravel) is knocking it off the primer at a higher rate than normal. But, I can easily see the dealer saying these are rock chips (does the car have low miles on it?). Do you have any dings in unusual places -- other than the front of the car?

Others have had similar problems and based on their mixed successes, document everything thoroughly, be prepared to escalate to Kia USA, and be prepared for the long haul.

Hopefully, your dealer is one of the good ones. Good luck tomorrow!

Just checked the driver's headlight assembly. It is starting to peel. I am at 6300 miles at the moment.
Hope Kia helps me out.... wish me luck!
 

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From interior to exterior to high performance - everything you need for your Stinger awaits you...
I'd guess the paint's adhesion is poor, and debris (gravel) is knocking it off the primer at a higher rate than normal. But, I can easily see the dealer saying these are rock chips (does the car have low miles on it?). Do you have any dings in unusual places -- other than the front of the car?

Others have had similar problems and based on their mixed successes, document everything thoroughly, be prepared to escalate to Kia USA, and be prepared for the long haul.

Hopefully, your dealer is one of the good ones. Good luck tomorrow!

Hate to say it, but this whole issue should have gone the direction of a class action lawsuit long ago. Maybe with that kind of press, Kia would not keep screwing people for months for repairs. Just my opinion and am entitled to it. Also I am curious why carcomplaints.com has not a single complaint for the Stinger.......for anything. Nada. Zilch. Fortunately my paint is good (so far) and I’ve not had some of the issues others have had but it seems to reason that someone should have entered something there by now.
 
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Hi Guys,

I am a long time lurker around this forum but haven't posted much. I was washing my car last week and I noticed multiple dings. These dings are all black underneath, as if the whole paint came off. Do you guys know if this is normal? I will take it in to Kia next Saturday for my first maintenance and will also bring this up for them to check. Here are some photos.

Thanks!
Those are really small, and apparently where impacts could occur, especially over a distance of 6300 miles. The headlight assembly chipping looks minor too, compared to some I have seen. It could have looked exactly like that on the dealership lot and not have gotten any worse. Most sellers and buyers don't even see those. Unless the paint actually peels away from the headlight assembly, it won't get any worse than the initial chipping. (I've only seen one "peeler" out of c. eight or nine cars that I inspected; the rest were minor chipping, and only one car had chipping under both headlight assemblies, that was the one with peeling chips.)

When a nick or flake is that small, it is a perfect subject for touch up paint: a tiny dot of paint dropped in the hole, from the end of a toothpick, will make the flaw invisible, especially if you remove the slight excess. Then, PPF that baby!
 
Hate to say it, but this whole issue should have gone the direction of a class action lawsuit long ago. Maybe with that kind of press, Kia would not keep screwing people for months for repairs. Just my opinion and am entitled to it. Also I am curious why carcomplaints.com has not a single complaint for the Stinger.......for anything. Nada. Zilch. Fortunately my paint is good (so far) and I’ve not had some of the issues others have had but it seems to reason that someone should have entered something there by now.

See the comment directly below yours to understand why there is no class action suit.
 
I am now at about 1100 KM and I did notice (possibly after a wash) some peeling at the front bumper where the plastic bumper meets the metal fender, this is fairly minor and is between the two panels - as if caused by some rubbing or impacting of the panels themselves from bumps or perhaps rail road crossings etc... The headlight peel is minor, perhaps less than a pencil head eraser and cannot see it hardly. If it stays this way ( I F ) then I would be OK and satisfied with the quality of the paint - time will tell.

EDIT / UPDATE: Panthera Metal/Thunder Grey Feb 2018 Build - I have not yet voted, waiting to see if other areas are affected first.
 
Absolutely awful day for my Stinger today with paint (Black). Was doing a re-badge on the front as I've done with other cars in the past, so I figured there wouldn't be any problems. After removing the badge, however, I noticed that quite a bit of paint came off with it :(. I've never had something like this happen before, and I feel terrible. My wife suggested touch up paint where the new badge doesn't cover the bad spots, but I don't think the adhesion will be good long term. Looks like this $25ish badge will end up costing me hundreds to repair. Any chance just this section can be re-painted or might they tell me the whole bumper will need a re-paint for matching?

I also noticed several paint chips on the hood. This paint just doesn't seem very good overall.
3HAcSFy
 

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