pdiddy972

That's exactly what Magride in the Vette does. Remember that Delphi, a division of GM, invented Magride.

VETTE-NV

So??? You've got 400K miles on your Prius. I'll alert the media. What does that have to do with comparing a Porsche to a Corvette?

Foosh

That's BS in bold above.

Other than exotics, starting at over $200K, which are wet-sanded and buffed during the paint process at the factory, I've never seen any car from any manufacturer without orange peel. Porsche certainly has it too, perhaps less, but it's there.

I've owned 8 BMWs and several MBs in the last 20 years. Some were better than others, but they all had it as well.

nmvettec7

The paint on my 2014 Porsche Cayman 981 is like glass. No orange peel of any kind. The paint is perfect in quality.

I don't know about other Porsche owners, but there is simply no comparison in the paint quality between my Porsche 981 and my Corvette C7.

The Porsche paint finish is far superior to the Corvette C7.

Perhaps GM will resolve the issues that have been noted by so many C7 owners with the new paint plant.

..

VETTE-NV

Very true. The orange peel on my CLS was pretty bad, but the SL550 was a bit better. I do think Porsches have better paint than most.

I don't know why some people feel the need to $hit themselves over these German cars. They offer some wonderful qualities and features but ultimately, I find them devoid of character and completely unreliable. I've done my time with them and doubt I'd ever go back. They're really not all that special.

sunsalem

Other than Porsche, most don't fair well in reliability ratings...particularly BMW.

spearfish25

Some build quality changes I'd still like Corvette to accomplish:

Upgrade the buttons/switches
Audi knows this one. Every button has a satisfying 'click' when pressed, doesn't wobble, and every button in the car has the same characteristics. Worst offender in the C7 for me is the steering wheel controls. Creaky wobbly shitty D pads. And I have to use them all the time.

DIC responsiveness
It just feels cheap when you turn the selector dial and the display doesn't change between setting. Then you turn it again and it changes two settings instead of one in a slow,piecemeal way on the screen.

Interior materials
My wife's Infiniti QX60 has nicer leather than the 1LZ and 2LZ cars. Kind of disappointing.

Paint
It's not just orange peel. I have more paint chipping and lifting at panel gaps and edges than I've ever seen on any car I've ever had. Now that I have PPF on the car, I can't get it fixed without considerable out of pocket expense. Shitty.


Fortunately my 'like' list is much much longer. Despite these little ****les, it's my favorite car I've owned by a very wide margin.

One thing I always notice on the new P-cars is the wheel arches. They have perfectly shaped and spaced the wheel arch gaps to match the tires. I enjoy watching a new Porsche drive along and seeing a perfect 2" wheel gap all the way around the 21" wheels.

patentcad

My 2017 Z51 has no orange peel that I can see in the Torch Red paint, and it has no rattles, at least after 5 weeks/1200 miles. We'll see how it holds up now that temps are rising and I can drive it more.

I don't have the mag suspension, but the ride of the car is amazingly good, particularly in Touring mode. I'm continually astonished that a car with such large, aggressive low profile tires that handles so much like a race car can have a ride this comfortable. It really is a grand touring car, you could drive this coupe cross country and never feel beat up. The C6 was also that way, the C7 is just as good or better with respect to ride. I am impressed with the fit, finish and quality on this car.

Foosh

I have no argument with your statement that the P car has a superior finish to the C car.

I do doubt yours is a "perfect finish." I've never seen one of those.

It's hardest to see on light silver, especially in natural light, but I'm certain I could find some.

I've examined 1000s of cars including many P cars, and I've never failed to find OP under fluorescent lights. It's just endemic to today's environmentally friendly paints. The only way to avoid it entirely is both a body color and clear coat wet-sanding and buffing.

ersatz928

I love the "Play-Skool" toy feel of the climate control *****.......they scream Chevy Spark whenever I turn them......but otherwise the C7 interior is a leap above what my C5 was....

VY427

The only production cars I've seen that have very little or no orange peel are Bentley, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin and, surprisingly, Viper. Though I haven't seen a Pagani or Bugatti in person, I imagine those cars have very little orange peel, as well. Honorable Mention goes to McLaren and Lamborghini, which have pretty nice paint finishes.

Porsche's paint finish, IMO, has less orange peel than Corvette's (overall), but I wouldn't quite place it with the cars I mentioned above. My Shark Grey C7's top surfaces have a pretty nice finish and little orange peel, but its side panels have noticeably more (not to mention some mold imperfections in the door panels).

Foosh

Agreed, and speaking of mold-imperfections, I think a lot of people don't fully understand the Corvette finish imperfections, many mistaking it for OP. A lot of people are counting on the new BG paint shop to create perfect finishes, but I've heard nothing about how the mold imperfection issue is going to be addressed.

By this time next year, after enough new cars painted in the new shop have rolled out, I'm quite certain, there will still be considerable whining about the same issue.

Moreover, a dozen people can look at the same car, 4 will say it has a perfect finish with no OP, 4 will say it's OK, and 4 will say it's one of the worst finishes they've ever seen. Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder.

Steve Garrett

Foosh, why are you so skeptical? You're assuming that there still be "considerable whinning about the same issue".


Why don't we wait to see what happens when the new paint shop opens up before we ridicule them without any knowledge or evidence as to what will come out of that new shop??


The constant negativity on this Forum amazes me......

sunsalem

To Internet, is to bitch.

patentcad

The knee-jerk defensiveness of fans of anything on the Internet amazes me. How is it 'negativity' to compare Corvette quality to that of other brands and then report back accurate impressions? Just because somebody observes that Porsche may have higher quality than GM doesn't mean that:

A.) You should burn them at the Corvette Forum Stake

or

B.) That they hate America

or

C.) They don't love Corvettes

Although this could make for a helluva Forum BBQ Event.

thill444

I think the issue is the comparison itself. Price to performance wise the Porsche (whether it be Cayman S or 911) are a whole different tier in pricing with similar options.

It's like comparing a Kia Optima to a mid level Audi.

If Chevy priced the Corvette $20-40k+ higher but added more quality parts, marterials, and better quality control they would face a huge backlash and many Corvette buyers would be priced into cheaper cars.

CloudLS9

Motortrend has a couple of good articles that touch on many of the pros / cons brought up in this thread:

2017 Grand Sport vs 2017 911 Carrera S:
http://www.motortrend.com/cars/chevr...911-carrera-s/

2011 ZR1 vs 2010 911 Turbo
http://www.motortrend.com/cars/chevr...bo-comparison/

A common theme is that the Porsche is flawless to a fault. It's precision and poise is undeniable, but it's this predictability that makes it somewhat less exciting when pushed to the limits. The Engineer in me respects and appreciates the precision of the Porsche build and driving experience. You can flog a Porsche in a wet surface corner with no fear of ever losing control, but the kid in me enjoys regaining control of the Corvette after it steps out and being "red-eyed, white-knuckled, and blue in the face over GM’s most powerful super-duper car." Even when two examples obtain similar lap times, they do it with very different personalities and style. One personality or style might appeal more to some than others and this is likely why this thread is still going after two years. Personally, I like them both in different ways. That's why I've alternated between Porsche and Corvette for the last several years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Foosh

Mr. Bell,

You appear to have locked in on a limited point I made in response to another poster. The discussion was about all cars having OP, except for very high-end models that have undergone a very expensive manual surface and paint prep. It's fantasy to believe that you can produce that for anything close to the current price. The new paint plant won't be any more state-of-the-art than other more modern, mass-produced car plants already have, but it will catch BG up to the current state-of-the-art. There will still be OP, just less of it, as cars coming out of the most modern plants still have.

For the record, I'm perfectly happy with my C7 the way it is, complete w/ OP, a little panel waviness, and whatever other nits people constantly complain about here. I am totally satisfied I got my money's worth, and I love the car. I don't focus upon what I consider to be minor warts and consider it beautiful.

The point was some people are expecting miracles from the new paint shop for about the same money as the current cost of a C7. The GM PR machine is contributing to that. It probably will be a bit better. However, my prediction is that won't be enough to stop the whining, and I'm a long time industry observer. Every forum contains discussions of OP, even on what is currently considered the best.

I don't expect perfection, but I do know what it looks like, and I know what it costs. It would price the Corvette out of the bargain sports car market. I just don't need it.

T_B

No son, its not BS at all. Every single Vette that ive seen across the dealerships in California have had panel gap/aligment issues. EVERY SINGLE ONE. I didnt say they all have orange peel. Mines sure in the hell does. My buddies Z06 is clean as a whistle, no orange peel at all. But the panel gaps he has are even worse than mine ... front bumper/hood, read quarter panel/trunk etc. Ridiculous. No $60k+ car should EVER roll off of the assembly line like that.

My family has been driving GM vehicles and German cars ever since i was born. And as far as German cars go, i myself have owned a 528i, 650i and two C-classes(one is parked in my driveway next to my Suburban as i type). And not a single one of them had gap/aliment issues or orange peel. But yeah, what do i know, right?

That being said, the new C-classes are crap. They're put together far better than any American car i've owned(by far), but boy is it such a shitty car to drive.

oh and by the way, my vette is plagued with problems ... its not just those two things.

Foosh

Well, what do I know? I've only owned 20-something German cars from 4 manufacturers (Audi, BMW, MB, and Porsche) since 1986, and every single one of them has had OP, some better, some worse. That makes your contention not credible. It is particularly non-credible when you say, "my buddies [sic] Z06 is clean as a whistle, no orange peel at all." There is no such thing as a C7 without OP, unless it's been stripped down to bare panels which are smoothed, repainted, wet sanded, and polished after both base and clear coats.

And yes, I also recognize Corvette warts as well as anyone. Many (1/3) of my German cars were also plagued with mechanical problems and two were lemon-lawed.

Yet, I absolutely love my C7, which happens to be mechanically perfect, surface warts and all.