Nod to noise reduction in the back? :D

[MerlintheMad]

I turned at the mouth of my driveway after rolling the trash cans out to the curb, and saw something dangling down below the diffuser. WTH!? MY car, with something unsightly hanging down from the undercarriage? Inconceivable!

I pulled it off before thinking about taking pictures:

Some sprayed on foamy gray stuff. Never noticed this area before. Why would this gray, sprayed on foamy stuff be around the outside edges of the battery box, but not in the middle?

Clearly, if this is any sort of compliance with "noise reduction" it is a slapdash effort. What else could the material (now starting to peel off after a year) be for?

(And what's up with those two holes? Are they drains? If so, why does the larger one have a grommet in it, while the smaller one does not? Missing grommet? The larger hole's grommet is only half in place. But the inside of the battery box is clean as a whistle; the whole area of battery and spare tire looks almost antiseptically clean after going through an entire winter:
)

(Meanwhile, I discover another piece of packing plastic; on the underside of the handle to the hatch floor cover; I am eleven days short of fourteen months into my car: is this some kind of record for how long, after purchase, that pieces of plastic are still being discovered?
)

 

[Peeso33]

Couldn't this be a scrap mark, or an old injury, from your late night date with the lane divider median last year somewhere in California?

 

[MerlintheMad]

I don't think it lines up with the way my car high centered; the damage was well to the left.

This is off the center of the battery box. Other smaller flakes of the foamy sprayed on gray stuff appear to be peeling. You can see some of that in the second picture in the OP.

 

[robz32]

More than noise reduction that foamy grey stuff, is more a rust protection layer. I would suggest either respraying that section or reattaching the one you removed.

The two holes need to have a rubber grommets that prevents any water or debris from entering the battery area. From the looks of it, it seems that you hit something (perhaps at the same time you had your accident last year) and it removed one of the grommets and loosen the other one (bigger one on the center) and peeled the rust protection layer.

 

[ShannonC]

Here's a shot of mine.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Okay, look at this (how many of us get under the rear and look at the bottom of the battery box?):

The brand spanking new battery box on the GT2 is flat. I looked at two GT2s and one Premium; they are all pristine and exactly alike. Mine is deformed. And now I see scrape marks (shiny!); and why is it sprayed black around the area in question?

The left scrape parallel to the chassis goes right over that dangling piece that was my sign that all is not well. The lateral one (furthest away in the picture) is obviously the furthest forward extent of the damage, and whatever it was that scraped along the battery box and pushed it up broke off the smaller hole plug (which I suspect is the end of the battery vent hose; does the end of part number 6 attach to the top of the missing "plug"? Battery for 2018 Kia Stinger | Kia of Huntington ) and pushed in the large grommet. There is a matching parallel scrape on the right; the three scrapes together form a rectangular shape c. 3.5" wide (including the width of the scrapes).

The service supervisor at "my" dealership said that this looks like a body shop repair first, to straighten out the bends, before service can even start to work on replacing that extended "plug". Crap. (Btw, he didn't know what the missing part is for either. And his best guess is some kind of drain. But he didn't suggest any connection with the battery.)

The object backed over was clearly rectangular at the point of impact: see the two side scrapes leading to the parallel one at the far end? So, not a rock per se. Nothing I can imagine could have done this. Something flat, pretty horizontal; and it also left two residual scrapes beyond the parallel one. But nothing is bent there. Really, the only bent area is around the smaller hole, which I suspect occurred when it got snagged and torn out.

Is the smaller "plug" the battery vent port or not? I can't find any parts referencing the underside of the battery box.

After posting this, I'm going to go take the battery out and have a looksee, put the grommet back in; and if there is any further "light and knowledge", I shall report back.

The oddest thing is the black spray paint around the grommet and half of the smaller "plug" hole. At some point someone felt the need to spray black over the tan underbody paint. And the damage from backing up happened AFTER that mysterious thing; because you can clearly see the bare metal through the black paint.

I have no clue how or when this occurred. I'm racking my memory for anything that happened while I was driving. It had to have occurred when backing over something, like a rock lining the parking areas in the canyons. But I almost never back in anywhere, and besides I would have noticed it at once, pulled forward, got down to see the damage that made the noise, and cussed extensively. I'd not forget THAT!

So it happened when somebody else was behind the wheel. The only other person to drive my car is my wife, but only when I've been in the car (and a whole three brief times in a whole year plus). The only other possible people would be car wash guys putting it in the tunnel and taking it out at the far end to wipe it down. No backing up involved in any of those scenarios. The only other people who'd ever get behind the wheel would be the body shop guys last June when I got my PPF installed; or Jerry Seiner's mechanics when they moved my car around to service it, or put it in their car wash. Or Wheel Werks: but they don't back up except to back out of their service bay, and there is nothing whatsoever to back over; I know, because I've backed out of their bay myself once.

I'm open to suggestions. And, recommendations about whether or not this is serious enough to worry about. The scrapes could turn rusty. I could get that taken care of at the same time I straighten the metal out. Here's the thing about rust: if this had occurred months ago, wouldn't the scrapes already look dingy after a salty winter and spraying the undercarriage numerous times at the car wash? These scrapes look brand new. Mysteriouser and mysteriouser?!​

 

[MerlintheMad]

Here's a shot of mine.
View attachment 24604

Thanks! While I was composing, some kind soul thought of getting under there and taking a pic.

 

[MerlintheMad]

That "plug" on the bottom has nothing to do with battery venting. I can see the vent hose clearly and it exits out to the side of the battery box.

 

[Kazz]

Better quit the Dukes of Hazzard jumps, Merlin.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Forgive the poor focus on my TracFone. It doesn't like closeups but it was handy. Clearly, the grommet was sprayed at some point. This will never be answered: why black spray paint was applied to the underside of my battery box. Probably it has zero connection to the subsequent (recent?) scraping along the bottom of the box from backing in somewhere along the top of something.

There is no way that I can take that battery out!. Holy crap! Nearly a dozen nuts or bolts need to come off, disconnecting the battery in the process. Botheration! I got as far as the strap and bottom clamp, and gave up when it came time to start messing with the electrics. Heh!

 

[MerlintheMad]

Better quit the Dukes of Hazzard jumps, Merlin.

This car won't jump at a 150 MPH, it clamps to the road. Besides, you have to explain how a scrape can get on a surface that has more ground clearance than under panels and exhaust pipes. Riddle me that. Backing up is the only way it could happen.

 

[Peeso33]

So what's the plan now? Body shop quote first? Or were you trying to access the battery compartment side to try and bang it out/flat?

 

[MerlintheMad]

So what's the plan now? Body shop quote first? Or were you trying to access the battery compartment side to try and bang it out/flat?

I had notions. With the battery out of the way it would be pretty simple to level the edges of the small hole all the way around, preparatory to inserting a new "whateveritis" plug thingie. Right now, I have the grommet back in place. And I'm imagining filling the smaller hole with silicon. I won't do that until I find out what the plug thingie is for. No need to involve a body shop. But if I do need to replace the plug thingie, I'll need the battery out first, and I won't be doing that by myself.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Thought about that black spray paint some more. This scraping the underside of the battery box had to have occurred before (how and when it occurred, who can say?). But whoever did it sprayed some Rustoleum or similar to cover the exposed steel. Now it has happened again (how and when, who can say?). The previous incident did not pull off the exposed "plug thingie"; you can see that much by where the black spray paint stopped, around the base of the plug thingie, so it was still there. This time the impact knocked out the whole thing and deformed the underside of the battery box.

If I return to Jerry Seiner and talk about this, and ask to look around for a piece of equipment or a protruding whatever in the shop, what would they say? I'm mulling this one over ...

 

[westcoastGT]

Clearly the car is a lemon , ask to get a new one and threaten you will write them chapter and verse daily until they cough up a new one .................good luck !

 

[Peeso33]

If I return to Jerry Seiner and talk about this, and ask to look around for a piece of equipment or a protruding whatever in the shop, what would they say? I'm mulling this one over ...

Not gonna happen. Yes, the honeymoon is officially over.

I took a few pics of the same area. Mine (MY19)also has some sort of black spray paint covering it. Stop stressing about, just get it fixed and move on. Don't drive yourself (more) mad.

 

[MerlintheMad]

@Peeso33 what happened to your pics?

If you have black spray paint, it means one of two possibilities: Kia damaged the underside of the battery boxes on some Stingers during production or shipping and sprayed them before delivery; or something in typical service departments exactly lines up with the underside of this battery box's ground clearance, and when it gets backed over and scratches the buff paint the shops spray Rustoleum to guard against weathering down the road.

Either way, you're right, the honeymoon is over. It lasted over a year, which is a pretty good run, considering this is a "marriage" to an automobile dealership! Hah! I won't stress over it by bringing it up with Jerry Seiner. Time to get a can of black Rustoleum and respray those scrapes.

In the meantime, what is that plug thingie for?

 

[MerlintheMad]

I looked in my shed and found the flat black Rustoleum that I used years ago to spray the brown drum brake housings behind my rear mags on my Voyager. Those rear rims looked a lot better after the drums were blacked. Now, the same can has just heavily coated the aggrieved foamy, gray stuff Kia puts on the outer edges of the battery box. The bright scrapes are now under a fresh coating of Rustoleum. I am content.

(… except for, what is that dangling, plug thingie for!?)

 

[MerlintheMad]

Sprayed with Rustoleum flat black (looks dark gray in pic). Looks better.