Help! Extensive Paint Damage From The Dealer

[Engi_Nerd]

Finally got a call from the manager who offered to replace it or let me out of my lease. He was cool about it, just wish I wasn't left seriously sweating it for the last few days. Going to go inspect the replacement car this evening.

I did call Kia's service number, and was promptly given support. Was really nice to very quickly talk to someone and be able to send pics and get their response in real time. High quality support for sure!

Will let you guys know what I end up doing. May just be a chicken $hit and get my Mr. Magoo A4. Thanks for the help!

 

[scharn]

I saw a lot of stingers when I was searching for mine, and i'd say half looked like that... just from top to bottom swirl marks. I asked one of the dealers why in the hell they were doing this to their cars, they looked at me like i was crazy for noticing. I continued to pry into how the cars were washed, and learned they weren't (at least the show room floor ones were not), instead they had someone come every few days to take a cloth and wipe of the dust...

It's fixable just takes time and money. Also you wouldn't need to take half the clear coat off, the paint on these cars is pretty soft, good pad and decent finishing polish would do the trick.

 

[ZyroXZ2]

Oh man, that's terrible... I feel you, though: I took delivery at night, and it wasn't until later that week when I detailed it myself that I found the horrors of an actual paint chip caused by clear scraping, what looks like a box cutter that took out some paint, a creased tire leading into a dent on the very edge of the wheel, and my taillights swirled af.

I knew it'd be hard after a week, so I demanded a touch-up pen. They gave me one, but I'm pissed I didn't see all that sooner, but that's what happens when the delivery timing is bad

Glad they got you sorted out, though!

 

[eflyguy]

My GF is getting a car in the next couple of days. The dealer (Mercedes) has three red carpet areas (literally, big pads of red carpet) in the main showroom behind car-sized doors that open to the outside, and every "delivery" happens on one of those. They are well lit, and being indoors you can inspect the vehicle at your leisure no matter what the conditions outside.

Makes you think about how you would take delivery of any vehicle in the future..

 

[Jason]

Glad to see another Stinger owner from my hometown! I've had mine since March and just saw my first Stinger in the wild yesterday near Erie Basin (with NC plates).

FYI I also had a swirl mark on top of the rear hatch. I emailed the sales associate just for him to take note so it can be fixed during its first service. They were very apologetic and Kia actually sent me a $50 gift card for the trouble.

 

[stinger1168]

Finally got a call from the manager who offered to replace it or let me out of my lease. He was cool about it, just wish I wasn't left seriously sweating it for the last few days. Going to go inspect the replacement car this evening.

I did call Kia's service number, and was promptly given support. Was really nice to very quickly talk to someone and be able to send pics and get their response in real time. High quality support for sure!

Will let you guys know what I end up doing. May just be a chicken $hit and get my Mr. Magoo A4. Thanks for the help!

That's great news! Sounds like they're doing the right thing and it's all going to work out I'm really curious how scratches like that formed in the first place. I know some say it's mechanical car washes but I've been through some really crappy car washes and this never happened to this extent. I would imagine the dealership has insurance to cover themselves for something like this.

 

[eflyguy]

Swirls are not from a car wash. That has to be by hand or hand-held machine. It's commonly believed that car washes cause damage, but if you dig into the subject a little, you'll find that isn't the case - at least, with modern, well designed systems.

 

[StingerGT68]

Swirls are not from a car wash. That has to be by hand or hand-held machine. It's commonly believed that car washes cause damage, but if you dig into the subject a little, you'll find that isn't the case - at least, with modern, well designed systems.

Unfortunately, most car washes are still not that modern. A "good" car wash owner told me most places don't use nearly the right amount of soap to prevent clear coat damage to the cars. Maybe he's wrong, but that's what I was told. I've only ever taken my car to a steam wash place, they do a nice job.

 

[StingerGT68]

I hate to say it, but all of our cars are going to look like that eventually. I only handwash or steam wash and there's still light marks when you look at it in the right light.

I think Kia really skimped on the clear coat here. The lightest brush and boom...scratch.

 

[eflyguy]

I might be fortunate to live in an area where older washes are not as common. It's not unusual to see a pricy exotic or two when just popping out to the grocery store, and on weekends you'll find them all over the place. Heck, a guy just a few doors down recently upgraded his '16 R8 for a new one. Not saying they are using the car wash, but the majority of other high end vehicle owners are, as evidenced by the lines at the handful of washes. I used to have an unlimited wash membership with one, and took my black Sorento thru at least weekly.

 

[Engi_Nerd]

To say things went downhill quickly when I got to the dealer would be an understatement. The car's color makes it hard to see that damage in the sun, and they pulled an immediate "You're just getting cold feet and I am not letting you out. Just so you know". I laughed, pretty taken aback and asked them to pull it in to the shop so we could look under lights and they begrudgingly did so. Pulled right up next to a big ol bucket and tire brush they were using on the paintwork . Now claiming to see see one or two of the thousands of scratches, they replied "all cars have these! they're normal. We'll was them out. Won't even touch the clear coat."

I lost my cool for a bit. Maybe swore once or twice. Then replied that my black 2012 optima was perfect and it was not normal and certainly far from acceptable on a 50k car. They threw up their hands and said they'd unwind the deal and that's what we did.

So yeah. After getting jerked around at a handful of Audi dealers, and now outright shafted at Kia, I think I'm just going to ride my bike to work . Hopefully the kid I sold my GTI to is enjoying it.

 

[KiaofMuncie]

To say things went downhill quickly when I got to the dealer would be an understatement. The car's color makes it hard to see that damage in the sun, and they pulled an immediate "You're just getting cold feet and I am not letting you out. Just so you know". I laughed, pretty taken aback and asked them to pull it in to the shop so we could look under lights and they begrudgingly did so. Pulled right up next to a big ol bucket and tire brush they were using on the paintwork . Now claiming to see see one or two of the thousands of scratches, they replied "all cars have these! they're normal. We'll was them out. Won't even touch the clear coat."

I lost my cool for a bit. Maybe swore once or twice. Then replied that my black 2012 optima was perfect and it was not normal and certainly far from acceptable on a 50k car. They threw up their hands and said they'd unwind the deal and that's what we did.

So yeah. After getting jerked around at a handful of Audi dealers, and now outright shafted at Kia, I think I'm just going to ride my bike to work . Hopefully the kid I sold my GTI to is enjoying it.

I am sorry you had to experience this. Text me and let us help you out.

 

[DiabloStinger]

You had amazing photo evidence. Thankfully they took you out of it. Did they not offer you a replacement?

Edit. I would also post that vin so no one else gets stuck with that paint job.

 

[stinger1168]

To say things went downhill quickly when I got to the dealer would be an understatement. The car's color makes it hard to see that damage in the sun, and they pulled an immediate "You're just getting cold feet and I am not letting you out. Just so you know". I laughed, pretty taken aback and asked them to pull it in to the shop so we could look under lights and they begrudgingly did so. Pulled right up next to a big ol bucket and tire brush they were using on the paintwork . Now claiming to see see one or two of the thousands of scratches, they replied "all cars have these! they're normal. We'll was them out. Won't even touch the clear coat."

I lost my cool for a bit. Maybe swore once or twice. Then replied that my black 2012 optima was perfect and it was not normal and certainly far from acceptable on a 50k car. They threw up their hands and said they'd unwind the deal and that's what we did.

So yeah. After getting jerked around at a handful of Audi dealers, and now outright shafted at Kia, I think I'm just going to ride my bike to work . Hopefully the kid I sold my GTI to is enjoying it.

Glad you got out of it. A tire brush... WTF??? LOL

 

[StingerGT68]

Put the dealer's info on blast in the dealer section of the forum. Ridiculous for them to treat you (and the cars) like that.

 

[ZyroXZ2]

To say things went downhill quickly when I got to the dealer would be an understatement. The car's color makes it hard to see that damage in the sun, and they pulled an immediate "You're just getting cold feet and I am not letting you out. Just so you know". I laughed, pretty taken aback and asked them to pull it in to the shop so we could look under lights and they begrudgingly did so. Pulled right up next to a big ol bucket and tire brush they were using on the paintwork . Now claiming to see see one or two of the thousands of scratches, they replied "all cars have these! they're normal. We'll was them out. Won't even touch the clear coat."

I lost my cool for a bit. Maybe swore once or twice. Then replied that my black 2012 optima was perfect and it was not normal and certainly far from acceptable on a 50k car. They threw up their hands and said they'd unwind the deal and that's what we did.

So yeah. After getting jerked around at a handful of Audi dealers, and now outright shafted at Kia, I think I'm just going to ride my bike to work . Hopefully the kid I sold my GTI to is enjoying it.

Oh shi-... I'm sorry, man! The Stinger GT is a fun-value GT niche car: you would have loved it!

Maybe just let yourself cool down for a bit, and try again at a different dealership. My car has its "lousy dealership" damage, and they tried to jerk me around even though I could clearly point it out. As I said before, all I got was a touch up pen. You had clear and obvious surface damage with excellent photo evidence. In fact, all you had to do was go to one of the showroom cars (because they're always more careful with those and often put light coats of detailing products on them) and point out how one of those doesn't look like that, and I think they would have either offered to polish/repair yours.

Again, though, I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out in your favor. You should try again, later

 

[Engi_Nerd]

Oh shi-... I'm sorry, man! The Stinger GT is a fun-value GT niche car: you would have loved it!

Maybe just let yourself cool down for a bit, and try again at a different dealership. My car has its "lousy dealership" damage, and they tried to jerk me around even though I could clearly point it out. As I said before, all I got was a touch up pen. You had clear and obvious surface damage with excellent photo evidence. In fact, all you had to do was go to one of the showroom cars (because they're always more careful with those and often put light coats of detailing products on them) and point out how one of those doesn't look like that, and I think they would have either offered to polish/repair yours.

Again, though, I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out in your favor. You should try again, later

Thanks! I may see if I can get fucillo to match the price of the other dealer and find an identical car in their network. It really felt like a special package. I loved the motor, the styling, the hatch, the color, and the driver assist tech. Kia deserves serious cred for these machines! Only things I thought were less than ideal were the headroom, the long reach to the touchscreen, not enough change between comfort and sport dampers, and that my particular car felt pretty floaty above 95, even in sport. Maybe the 19s fix that? Either way, sorely missing it already.

 

[eflyguy]

I looked closely at three on the lot yesterday, and they all had significant swirling. To the point that I would not accept delivery.

Perhaps the paint issues discussed elsewhere also makes them prone to this type of damage. I think I posted in this thread, that kind of damage is not expected from a modern, well designed, automated car wash.

 

[robz32]

There is not automatic car wash that will not leave scratches on any clear coat, no matter how soft or hard it is.
The nature of those automatic car washes does not allow them to leave the paint undamaged. The brushes they use are rarely cleaned after each wash and on top of everything the forces and speed at which they slam the paint without the proper lubrication and with the dirt still in the paint is what causes all the swirl marks.