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

[MerlintheMad]

Visited my Dealer today. Was my First Time Seeing a Stinger in Real Life. It was White. Asked him, if he knows anything about it - no.
The war was driven for about 500km
I couldn’t See or feel any Chips or something. Build Date unknown. He said that many ask for it but it’s not known. At the Sticker of the Door i couldn‘t read it.

I will stay this Winter with my Lancer and Go Next Year for the Stinger.

The sticker on the driver's door frame says the build date, it just doesn't say "Build/Manufacture Date". Every Stinger has it. Five hundred km is a lot for a "new" car. That is getting into used car territory. I think that some dealers just can't resist driving their stock!

 

[MerlintheMad]

I was thinking the same thing. I was also considering buying black and repainting most of it to hugger or sebring orange (keeping roof, hood, etc black).

But suppose I got a Sunset 'as is' and peeling occurred. Instead of repainting it yellow, I would go with orange/black. Would that process be significantly more expensive than buying black and then repainting the black to orange? In other words, would repainting a non-peeling black car to orange require as much prep work as a peeling yellow would?

The body shop would sand the entire car. Any loose/failing paint would come directly off. They use the existing paint as much as possible to bind the new paint job. So the answer is no, a failing "Yellow" would not be more expensive to repaint. And any repaint worthy of the effort is going to run minimum c. six grand for a layered job (lacquer). The car is worth it, imho. It seems that a growing number of Stingers are being given once-off customized paint schemes. Are people throwing their money away because they don't wait till the Kia three year warranty expires? No.

 

[nhsjpeterson]

I paid $6,000 to paint my Genesis coupe 8 years ago. I was quoted $9,000 this spring to do a new genesis coupe, so I was expecting to pay more for a Stinger. That's why I was hoping for a good price on a Sunset.

 

[StingMe]

Didn't someone on here say the paint is VERY thin on the Stingers? So maybe the quality isn't any different, but just how much they're putting on?

Coating thickness gauges exist in many forms and I’ve seen one used when I had to force Honda to repaint a hood......after 6-7 years and being out of warranty......where the base paint was failing. I hope I don’t run into the same thing in several years now.

It would be great if someone with a paint thickness meter checked a Stinger in various places.

Is it really thin paint or not?

 

[Tonkabob]

Keep an eye out for sand size paint chips. I have many (20?) . These chips are down to bare metal. Thats some powerful sand. I have larger chips too but no way the pin chips are rocks.

 

[Helo58]

LOL! "Sword of Damocles", love the analogy. So apt. I am solving this problem with a complete protective covering right back to the windshield. To hell with dangling "swords" and "fickle fingers of Fate". Bah!

Haha, wasn't sure anyone would get it. What brand/kit of paint protection film are you going with? With that, my concern will be taking off the PPF after it has aged and removing weakly bonded paint along with it. The PPF on my Lexus was stuck like grim death after two years. I had to use a heat gun to feel comfortable removing it.

 

[Alagos]

The sticker on the driver's door frame says the build date, it just doesn't say "Build/Manufacture Date". Every Stinger has it. Five hundred km is a lot for a "new" car. That is getting into used car territory. I think that some dealers just can't resist driving their stock!

I found the Sticker But no Date in there :/ Thats weird.
Yeah, some km it has - and what is also confusing me - original Price in Internet from Dealer is ~49500€ and they wrote ~47250€ there.
Back in the store there is a Sign with Again ~49500€... should be a Bit Cheaper ? All things lead my thoughts for: Wait and Buy later.
Next thing im unsure are the tires, But thats another topic.

All i can say it is Standing there since march if i remember correctly, it’s White and there were no Visual Chips at all, couldn’t feel anything.

 

[Mach_Tuck]

Haha, wasn't sure anyone would get it. What brand/kit of paint protection film are you going with? With that, my concern will be taking off the PPF after it has aged and removing weakly bonded paint along with it. The PPF on my Lexus was stuck like grim death after two years. I had to use a heat gun to feel comfortable removing it.

This is my concern as well...heat and hot water was advised by the install place for removal.

 

[Mach_Tuck]

UPDATE - Went to dealer yesterday for pics of my flaking. They took and sent to Kia Corp or Kia Tech. Service Advisor said he was keenly aware of the issue and that it was out of their hands. I asked him if the one yellow they had had for sale had been back in for the same issue and he confirmed that to be the case along with a few others. He did confirm that the other yellow had issue on the roof of the car as well. To date, mine of only around the headlights.

I checked the fuel door, based on another post, and that appears to be fully painted with clear coat. Same with the door bottoms and jambs. The underfloor trunk area is NOT fully painted but merely has what appears to be yellow overspray or yellow primer overspray...cant really tell.

Will call Stinger Hotline today to confirm pics were received and go from there. Will keep thread updated on my progress as well.

FWIW - Mine is a 12/17 Build

 

[MerlintheMad]

Haha, wasn't sure anyone would get it. What brand/kit of paint protection film are you going with? With that, my concern will be taking off the PPF after it has aged and removing weakly bonded paint along with it. The PPF on my Lexus was stuck like grim death after two years. I had to use a heat gun to feel comfortable removing it.

I figure that when the c. ten years is up (the good stuff PPF is supposed to last that long under the warranty, and no, I don't have specific name brands under my hat, yet; I'm still researching; but I've inculcated that much: ten year warranty with the PPF), it's time for a repaint anyway. This will be especially true of the Stinger's thin paint, Im predicting. Probably, the un PPFed areas will look noticeably degraded compared to the PPF area, in other words, the back two-thirds of my car will look like hell, the front will look new still. Heh! But I saw a quote difference for front only (c. $1,400) and complete coverage ($7,500) which was a shocker. That's a huge price difference. (edit: that's as much or more than a multilayered lacquer paint job; might as well just get a brand new paint job when it looks timely, rather than spend that much soon after buying a new car.)

 

[MerlintheMad]

I found the Sticker But no Date in there :/ Thats weird.
Yeah, some km it has - and what is also confusing me - original Price in Internet from Dealer is ~49500€ and they wrote ~47250€ there.
Back in the store there is a Sign with Again ~49500€... should be a Bit Cheaper ? All things lead my thoughts for: Wait and Buy later.
Next thing im unsure are the tires, But thats another topic.

All i can say it is Standing there since march if i remember correctly, it’s White and there were no Visual Chips at all, couldn’t feel anything.

I concur: go with your gut. Don't rush in. I went to my dealer with every intention of backing out of the buying process if obvious hitches in the "gitalong" occurred. It all went smooth as whipped cream, start to finish: including them finding our preferred color at another dealership, trading for it, bringing it to the place where I was making the deal, and finally me driving off by mid-afternoon. Smooth!

 

[VeryBlue]

Hello all! I picked up my stinger from the paint shop today, hood looks so good. Paintmatch is perfecto. Chips are all gone, bad touchups to. They said they didnt think primer is the issue, paint was very thin. They repainted and added 5 laters of clearcoat. Saif I shouldnt worry anymore!

 

[eflyguy]

I figure that when the c. ten years is up ... it's time for a repaint anyway.

Really?

My red 2003 F150 has spent virtually all of its life ungaraged baking in the GA sun, and it looks practically brand new. My daughters '69 Old 442 has original paint, and was driven and parked >100k miles in the Texas sun and also looks close to showroom condition.

I know not all paint is equal, but to have to repaint after 10 years should not be expected.

 

[MerlintheMad]

@eflyguy: I guess I'm quite pessimistic by now, having hung around this thread too long. Good paint jobs are not as common these days, as car manufacturers continually battle to undersell the others.

 

[eflyguy]

I think our expectations have been lowered, for sure. That said, I really don't see as many cars with those crazy weathered paint jobs - I had one myself, a 92 Eagle Talon, the roof was really starting to go when I got rid of it.

After posting above, I have been thinking about it, and I know a lot of people with older cars that still look great. Even my ex's 2011 Soul that I bought for her after my first Sorento, it certainly looks its age but the paint is flawless, other than the obvious dings and such.

On a related side note, my original intent was to wrap my Stinger in metallic satin blue, but after seeing the micro blue in person, I thought I'd go that way. As a result of having to wait to get the color combo I want (w/red interior) I'm back to thinking I might just go with a wrap, or dip, after all. I love the satin metallics, and just recently discovered that "dipping" isn't about ordering a couple of cases of rattle-cans.

 

[Mach_Tuck]

I figure that when the c. ten years is up (the good stuff PPF is supposed to last that long under the warranty, and no, I don't have specific name brands under my hat, yet; I'm still researching; but I've inculcated that much: ten year warranty with the PPF), it's time for a repaint anyway. This will be especially true of the Stinger's thin paint, Im predicting. Probably, the un PPFed areas will look noticeably degraded compared to the PPF area, in other words, the back two-thirds of my car will look like hell, the front will look new still. Heh! But I saw a quote difference for front only (c. $1,400) and complete coverage ($7,500) which was a shocker. That's a huge price difference. (edit: that's as much or more than a multilayered lacquer paint job; might as well just get a brand new paint job when it looks timely, rather than spend that much soon after buying a new car.)

Agreed, the price diff for full front vs full car is staggering and does not make sense given time/materials. The doors and rear should be much easier based on my discussions with the install place. I think they push the full car to the true exotics and super cars (at least here in Scottsdale AZ) so that may have something to do with it...meaning the super car market will accept a $7500 full car PPF.

 

[somedudedontknowwhoheis]

I've been having trouble getting estimates for the repaint of my car.

A few of the places I've called (I sorta researched a radius of an hour from where I live) haven't wanted to estimate my car. Once I explain the level of work that needs to be done, they usually tell me I need restoration work and they don't do that (despite advertising they do "total paint" jobs). Some of them I've taken the car to in person, and one shop actually told me after looking at the car for a couple hours that Kia needs to buy the car back or I need to look into a lawyer / lemon laws. That regardless of the paint job it won't match how it should have been done at the factory (his point was that no place is going to disassemble the car to the point it was like at the factory when it was painted) and the value will be hurt. This shop refused to give me an estimate and wanted me to have the Kia rep call them...

I spent a day and a half researching areas and trying to get estimates and I've only got one so far. The whole repaint vs buy back has been in the back of my mind the entire time and it does bug me. I'm not really sure what I should do at this point, this was my first new car purchase, I even cancelled my Tesla Model 3 reservation for it (not that those haven't had their share of early issues).

The Kia rep wanted at least two estimates, so I may try to get another, the only estimate I have right now is lower than I thought it would be. I tried uploading my paint protection invoice to them, but Kia closed my case for the second time so I couldn't (come on Kia, why do you keep closing my case, nothing has actually been resolved yet). Between no mention of reimbursement for the paint protection, uncertainty about the quality of the repaint, how long I'll own the car (purchase not a lease) and it's value, I may ultimately push for a buy back. Maybe rebuy one later. They haven't mentioned a rental either if my car does get repainted (I'd be really surprised if they didn't at some point), all of the shops have said 6-8 weeks for this kind of work. Was planning on turning over my estimates to Kia tomorrow but since I only have one and am uncertain about the repaint at all I may hold off and think on it.

I've read every post on this thread so far, I'm open to the thoughts of those here.

 

[A Member Who Left]

I've been having trouble getting estimates for the repaint of my car.

A few of the places I've called (I sorta researched a radius of an hour from where I live) haven't wanted to estimate my car. Once I explain the level of work that needs to be done, they usually tell me I need restoration work and they don't do that (despite advertising they do "total paint" jobs). Some of them I've taken the car to in person, and one shop actually told me after looking at the car for a couple hours that Kia needs to buy the car back or I need to look into a lawyer / lemon laws. That regardless of the paint job it won't match how it should have been done at the factory (his point was that no place is going to disassemble the car to the point it was like at the factory when it was painted) and the value will be hurt. This shop refused to give me an estimate and wanted me to have the Kia rep call them...

I spent a day and a half researching areas and trying to get estimates and I've only got one so far. The whole repaint vs buy back has been in the back of my mind the entire time and it does bug me. I'm not really sure what I should do at this point, this was my first new car purchase, I even cancelled my Tesla Model 3 reservation for it (not that those haven't had their share of early issues).

The Kia rep wanted at least two estimates, so I may try to get another, the only estimate I have right now is lower than I thought it would be. I tried uploading my paint protection invoice to them, but Kia closed my case for the second time so I couldn't (come on Kia, why do you keep closing my case, nothing has actually been resolved yet). Between no mention of reimbursement for the paint protection, uncertainty about the quality of the repaint, how long I'll own the car (purchase not a lease) and it's value, I may ultimately push for a buy back. Maybe rebuy one later. They haven't mentioned a rental either if my car does get repainted (I'd be really surprised if they didn't at some point), all of the shops have said 6-8 weeks for this kind of work. Was planning on turning over my estimates to Kia tomorrow but since I only have one and am uncertain about the repaint at all I may hold off and think on it.

I've read every post on this thread so far, I'm open to the thoughts of those here.

Personally, if Kia has closed this case twice and cannot get their act together, get an attorney (lemon law or not) and take it public. It is not your responsibility to arrange to fix their issues. I had Hyundai replace a vehicle many years ago with a simple letter from an attorney. After all, it seems they want to “keep this quiet”. Good luck still.

 

[ajmitchell77]

I sadly just cast my vote... Black Premium build date 01/18, definite paint chips. My bumper was posted by Jason at Kia of Muncie in another post. The new bumper with 300 miles shows signs of headlights rubbing in two places. Hard to tell if it is actually rubbing off paint or creating dust from the headlight transparency.

On the hood I can distinguish the difference from a few rock rock chips I see. The rock chips are not uniform and there are signs of impact. They also go deeper. The paint chips do not appear to be from impact, are larger and do not go as deep. Kind of like flaking off.

I also have the spot on the hood between the wipers like others have posted.

I also believe that the rock chips would not be there if properly painted. My previous car was a Nissan versa with 180,000 miles and no chips where these are occuring. My wife drives a black 2011 Toyota Highlander with 80,000 miles. It does not have any similar marks to this flaking/chipping. It does have rock chips but in different locations than on my Stinger. And not very many of them.

This is dissapointing to say the least.

 

[KiaofMuncie]

I think we are going to see a separate issue for the rub. AJ-set up a claim with Kia and call Stinger hotline. Explain all issues.