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

[KiaofMuncie]

Stinger car in paint.

 

[MisterMac]

Maybe it's the dry air in El Paso...

My new bumper, freshly painted, was installed by my dealer Thursday. Friday and today. XPel is being applied by my dealer's installer covering the entire front end, including the bumper.

Noone should conclude that clear bra cannot be applied to a recent, non-factory, paint job simply because typical installers of clear bra don't know enough about the reality to assume the risk of a failure by doing so.

 

[AV8R]

Stinger car in paint.

SOrry dont get the joke....it’s obviously not a kia.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Was your trip to the dealership to prove @forzanerazzurri or anyone else wrong really necessary?

Not necessary. But informative, to dispel hyperbolic "ALL Stingers are affected" nonsense. It is important to those not already affected by bad paint to consider the actual danger of their own car, or projected purchase, having the same problems. And that risk is minimal. That is a core aspect of this subject, to keep perspective. It in no way minimizes anyone's ongoing ordeal, because saying "very few Stingers have failing paint" does not negate or minimize those that do have failing paint.

"Appeal to authority". Okay, if that's how you see it, I can't argue the point. But Kia is the deliverer of the goods. They are the biggest self interested party here. Each of us is a pea sized issue compared to the whole world of car manufacturing. I think Kia's reaching out efforts are amazing. But there will be failures even in that along the way because of strained relations from high emotions on the side of the afflicted buyer and harassed Kia representatives. That's why all talk of legal action is counterproductive to what we all want, which is to have affected cars sent away with satisfying paint jobs.

I do hope that the other colors manifesting the same issues as the Yellow will receive the same treatment. It's too early to tell if Kia will include the rest even on a case by case basis. And we can't expect equality when there are so many cases with differing conditions. Even the Yellows are not equal since some have pristine bumpers and others have chipping/flaking not related to road damage. Last of all we have the paint warranty, which should satisfy most cases. If not, then this would go on for a long time. And that is the last thing Kia wants. So trusting "authority" seems like a smart thing to do, imho.

 

[bumble bee]

I dont care who that was pointless. Cost more to sand off all the paint and the interior then the cars worth. For sure.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I want to praise our clear coat. All this talk about paint quality has made me paranoid, go figure. But last night I picked up my son from the airport and drove him home. He was exhausted and dragged his yooge suitcase out of the trunk without lifting it. I heard it smack my bumper. But it was dark and I was tired myself and said nothing, just wanting to go home to bed. Well, this morning I saw two parallel black marks about an inch apart. WTH!? I reached down and rubbed them and they wouldn't come off. Words my mother never taught me flowed forth: I was sure that I was seeing the black plastic through two big, ugly scratches. But when I wiped them with a paper towel soaked in isopropyl alcohol, viola! they vanished instantly without a whimper. Fabulous day! I looked carefully, expecting to see at least some marring of the clear coat that would need buffing out and waxing. Nothing. You can't tell that anything hit the clear coat at all. So, I think we have a very good clear coat on our Stingers!

 

[forzanerazzurri]

I want to praise our clear coat. All this talk about paint quality has made me paranoid, go figure. But last night I picked up my son from the airport and drove him home. He was exhausted and dragged his yooge suitcase out of the trunk without lifting it. I heard it smack my bumper. But it was dark and I was tired myself and said nothing, just wanting to go home to bed. Well, this morning I saw two parallel black marks about an inch apart. WTH!? I reached down and rubbed them and they wouldn't come off. Words my mother never taught me flowed forth: I was sure that I was seeing the black plastic through two big, ugly scratches. But when I wiped them with a paper towel soaked in isopropyl alcohol, viola! they vanished instantly without a whimper. Fabulous day! I looked carefully, expecting to see at least some marring of the clear coat that would need buffing out and waxing. Nothing. You can't tell that anything hit the clear coat at all. So, I think we have a very good clear coat on our Stingers!

You are a Kia plant, arent you. You are seriously working overtime on the Kia damage control. You really don't have to try this hard. If the product is as amazing as you say, let it speak for itself.

 

[forzanerazzurri]

Suggesting a class action lawsuit is emotional right off the bat. To suggest that there is only common sense here is disingenuous. Kia will respond positively if approached positively. The first antagonistic salvo will result in Kia's people circling the wagons. Then try and get anywhere with this!

Reds, Blacks, Blues, and any even more rare failures, will get to move forward and obtain spiff repaints on a case by case basis; not from some class action lawsuit! That's not even practical. It would play out over years. Nobody would be getting over it.

Now, if you can get a group together who accuse Kia of not honoring their paint warranty, that would be a different approach. But I will guess that the number of angry owners who actually have a legitimate beef against Kia not honoring their paint warranty will be extremely small, not enough for a class action in fact.

I would suggest that providing legal advice is probably a very bad idea on a public forum like this. Youve done it several times now.

 

[forzanerazzurri]

Just got back from the auto body shop doing the respray on my Stinger in Sept, turns out he and his wife know my wife through an old neighbor, so I feel much better as he has been in business for over 30 years and was recommended as the best in my area. We are going to stay in contact during the process.

I asked him a bunch of questions we all have asked on this board and got educated answers from an expert in the field:

1. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the issue was with the prep of the metal surfaces. The reason Kia is not repainting the plastic is because the prep and paint process for plastic is different, there was no issue with that process. All plastic comes off the car and set aside during respray of the metal parts.

2. I asked if there would be an issue with color mismatch, he said even if he sprayed the plastics, it would never perfectly match because of the different materials (metal vs plastic) then showed me the mismatches in the sun already on my stock factory paint job.

3. Reason for not painting door jams is because they rarely see sun. He said the real issue is that exposure to the sun's UV causes a reaction in the paint and undercoating, because they didn't prep the undercoating correctly, the sun then causes the reaction that is causing the problem. Door jams won't see the sun much therefore we probably won't see the problem in that area which is why they aren't repainting that area.

4. As for how to blend edges without noticing, bumpers come off for respray, he said windows come out as well and then the open area gets masked from the interior. As for door jams, there is a stick on foam that goes on the door jam edge where the door closes to provide the match line and overspray from getting in. He said this product provides an invisible blend line and works well.

I took pix of the entire bulletin Kia sent him if anyone is interested. I can post it here but it's 9 pages. Basically it is as described above. Kia does not want to go down to the metal, he said they will if he has to but the issue was with whatever they rubbed on the undercoating prior to paint, they thought it was dry and ok to use but it was not and didn't allow the paint to stick properly. Cleaning up and re-prep of the undercoating before respray will fix the issue.

I hope this answers some of the questions posted. If there are anymore, let me know and I'll ask him.

Dont want to be a downer but the problem with blending onto the door jams as stated in your post is that youre blending onto panels that arent prepped to receive paint and therefore they wont bond properly. The new clear coat which is blended will have an edge which is sprayed directly on the existing door jam clear coat which will not have enough surface roughness to adhere to. This is why resprays almost always have flaking clearcoat after a few years along the blended edges. It's just expected and accepted on repaints which usually happens after several years of ownership but is rather disappointing to expect on a brand new car. You probably wont notice the blend if the shop is competent but dont expect the clear to not flake in the future

 

[eflyguy]

 

[Tonkabob]

I want to praise our clear coat. All this talk about paint quality has made me paranoid, go figure. But last night I picked up my son from the airport and drove him home. He was exhausted and dragged his yooge suitcase out of the trunk without lifting it. I heard it smack my bumper. But it was dark and I was tired myself and said nothing, just wanting to go home to bed. Well, this morning I saw two parallel black marks about an inch apart. WTH!? I reached down and rubbed them and they wouldn't come off. Words my mother never taught me flowed forth: I was sure that I was seeing the black plastic through two big, ugly scratches. But when I wiped them with a paper towel soaked in isopropyl alcohol, viola! they vanished instantly without a whimper. Fabulous day! I looked carefully, expecting to see at least some marring of the clear coat that would need buffing out and waxing. Nothing. You can't tell that anything hit the clear coat at all. So, I think we have a very good clear coat on our Stingers!

You may want to start another thread on how awesome your KIA paint is because this one is for people with paint issues. I take really good care of my car so have never scratched it myself but the one small scratch i do have the paint flew right off so no rub out required. We know your paint is good move on. Someone posted about a hit and run on their ceramic silver yesterday and you could tell the paint put up a good fight. (As expected the ceramic had no paint chip issues and was a Feb build) Some Stingers seem to have normal paint, some do not. I have crappy flaky paint and KIA wont pay for it so far.

 

[MerlintheMad]

You are a Kia plant, arent you. You are seriously working overtime on the Kia damage control. You really don't have to try this hard. If the product is as amazing as you say, let it speak for itself.

It is speaking for itself. That's what anecdotal accounts are for. They are called "testimonials" as well. All satisfied buyers/owners are happy to share their accolades. Kia is buying these kinds of "plants" with great cars and service. And for some reason you don't like it.

 

[MerlintheMad]

You may want to start another thread on how awesome your KIA paint is because this one is for people with paint issues. I take really good care of my car so have never scratched it myself but the one small scratch i do have the paint flew right off so no rub out required. We know your paint is good move on. Someone posted about a hit and run on their ceramic silver yesterday and you could tell the paint put up a good fight. (As expected the ceramic had no paint chip issues and was a Feb build) Some Stingers seem to have normal paint, some do not. I have crappy flaky paint and KIA wont pay for it so far.

You could make the obvious connection: I posted about clear coat. The clear coat is very good. So good, in fact, that it is quite possibly what is hiding bad paint. It is sealing it in. If the clear coat is really good, that could delay things considerably: which is probably why Kia wants all the Yellows resprayed (including the still pristine ones).

 

[DiabloStinger]

Someone pissed in someones cheerios. Jesus. The problem with this thread is it makes people post about calling Kia corporate when they get one rock chip. I literally saw a FB post with that context.

If my car was flaking paint I'd get a new car out of kia. End of story.

 

[Tonkabob]

Someone pissed in someones cheerios. Jesus. The problem with this thread is it makes people post about calling Kia corporate when they get one rock chip. I literally saw a FB post with that context.

If my car was flaking paint I'd get a new car out of kia. End of story.

That would be great but KiA isnt offering free cars to non yellow and in some cases not covering chipping paint at all. I have over 50 chips not even counting the front end which is too hard to count.

 

[Tonkabob]

You could make the obvious connection: I posted about clear coat. The clear coat is very good. So good, in fact, that it is quite possibly what is hiding bad paint. It is sealing it in. If the clear coat is really good, that could delay things considerably: which is probably why Kia wants all the Yellows resprayed (including the still pristine ones).

My paint guy said the clear coat was bad and that is what is causing the chipping.

 

[NYLAWBIZ]

If in fact the problem is as widespread as it seems, KIA will have to address it. If they don't voluntarily, then some law firm will commence a national class action lawsuit, with the bad publicity included.

 

[MerlintheMad]

That would be great but KiA isnt offering free cars to non yellow and in some cases not covering chipping paint at all. I have over 50 chips not even counting the front end which is too hard to count.

And yours is possibly the worst case scenario to appear on this thread: worst failing paint, worst Kia response, worst situation by not being a Yellow. Don't make it worse by losing your temper with Kia. Or it will only get worse. I wish I could offer real options to fix your car; but all I can think of is what has already been said: if you love the car otherwise, then get as much warranty work done on it as you possibly can wangle out of Kia, and repaint the whole thing, then go forward with a paint job worthy of the rest of the car.

 

[MerlintheMad]

If in fact the problem is as widespread as it seems, KIA will have to address it. If they don't voluntarily, then some law firm will commence a national class action lawsuit, with the bad publicity included.

This is like round and round we go; this has been pointed out already. It's why I believe that Kia will include the other colors that have chipping/flaking cases open, with picture evidence collected by the dealers, and already a communication trail that admits the claim isn't for road damage. Get enough of these from the other colors, and Kia will see the writing on the wall that you succinctly restated here. They are not stupid.

 

[ant]

Unless you have a yellow stinger, the path to getting a new replacement stinger is UNLIKELY and probably UNPRECEDENTED. That is why people are unhappy.

This thread is ridiculous. Some owners are getting screwed over with terrible paint on non-yellow stingers and getting little to no support from KIA. Then they come here and hear a bunch of shilling and crap like it’s easy to just get a buyback or a swap. WRONG. If it were easy to get a buyback swap or repaint on non-yellow stingers do you think you’d be seeing this thread grow with discontent? Instead you’d see a lot more satisfied owners.

Can the staff moderate this thread more? People complaining about paint problems is on-topic but people saying the paint is great is off-topic and should be moved to some paint lover thread. Allowing all this clear coat/paint shilling talk is obviously causing a lot of drama.