Not for another two years!

Official Announement from GM, "Most recently, in May 2015, GM announced it would invest $439 million at the plant for facility upgrades, including a new 450,000 square-foot paint shop - almost half the size of the entire current production facility. Construction of the new paint shop, which includes substantial technology upgrades, is planned to begin summer 2015 and take approximately two years to complete. Corvette production schedules will be unaffected by the construction."

 

2016 black coupe - paint overall is very good, a little bit of op on the sides only, but depends on the lighting conditions and the viewing angle. Saw a brand new black Infinity top of the line sedan, and the op was absolutely horrible. I can't complain about my new Stingray.

 

I have Crystal Red also and have one spot on the passenger side between the top of wheel well and hood. Paint is a bit dull in one spot. I know it is there but no one else notices it. I figure it will work itself out over time. Some time a paint flaw can be made worse by over rubbing. If it needs correction I would use a professional body shop that does Corvette. Good luck!

 

purchased a new 15 LB z51 a few months ago,for some reason i didn't notice the op in the clear coat untill i put the car in my garage,was really disapointed in myself for not catching it at the dealership,took the car to a corvette body shop an asked how much to correct the clearcoat,said they wouldn't even touch it, to much liability,looked around till i found a pro body man who would do the work,well three days and $3000 later the car looks like it should have looked coming from the factory,it is absolutely gorgeous,at a corvette breakfast run sunday i was parked next to a 16 long beach red z06,beautiful car but no comparison as far as the op was concerned,so if you want your clear coat to shine,get it color sanded

 

A.W 2016 the paint...fit and finish ... All suck ..A.W. hides a lot ... but to anyone that cares about cars... the rating would be at best a 2 !

Just rented a Chevy Equenox { please excuse the spelling} white in color..not very impressed at all with the vehicle...but the paint job was WAY BETTER than my 2016 Vette !

 

GM is definitely slacking in the paint department, compared to the Germans. The paint is the only area where I still see vette owners having to make excuses for poor quality work. I was just watching a video review of a 2016 black vette and the paint looked like some amateur painted it in their garage without ventilation! I didn't see a single panel that wasn't covered in orange peel.

The thing that really annoys me is that there is no excuse for orange peel. Some people claim "it's mass produced it's not going to be perfect", that's BS. Obviously Audi, BMW, Mercedes, VW, etc can all nail the paint even in black without a spec of orange peel. I've painted cars before and orange peel is caused by poor ventilation, which allows clear coat floating in the air to settle back on the surface of the car before it's dried. With proper ventilation the clear coat is sucked out of the room before it can settle on anything and orange peel is a non issue. Evidently GM can't grasp the concept of installing proper ventilation in a paint booth...

In comparison my '09 Audi S5 has amazing paint on it even in black 6 years later, it looks like a mirror with a proper detail.

The darker the color of the C7 the worse the paint will look, which makes sense. Black shows EVERYTHING while bright colors like white and red tend to hide a lot of defects. That doesn't mean they aren't there, it just means you'll be less likely to see them without an inspection light.

 

I appreciate the opportunity to review your concerns with your 2015 Chevrolet Corvette. The Executive Office, in conjunction the Corvette Brand Quality Manager, has examined Service Request Number in which your concern is documented. The orange peel condition is meeting the current quality paint standard at the Corvette plant. General Motors does not support wet sanding the vehicle as the paint finish is the design intent.

I recognize that this situation has caused you a great level of frustration, and I hope that you can accept my sincerest apology on behalf of General Motors and Chevrolet. We look at each situation individually and are unable to provide assistance at this time.

Thank you,

 

The orange peel condition is meeting the current quality paint standard at the Corvette plant.

And that is the reality of it. My paint sucks if you know what your looking for , lots of orange peel, good thing is most people don't see it. They think the car is beautiful. I just bought a new SUV, the paint is far superior to my C7, a pearl white. Gorgeous paint on a vehicle that is just 2/3's the price of the C7. Guess this is why they are spending $400 mill on a new paint setup, just nothing more can be done with the existing one. Hopefully my C8 has a beautiful paint job, meanwhile I ignore the issue. Nothing can be done about it, so be it.

 

well do what I do drive it at night cant see the lousy paint in the dark.
what a joke from GM brass

 

GM arrogance at it's best .... same as the old days back in the 70's and 80's..
That is why I have not purchased a GM product since 1978 ..

Just bought a new 2016 Vette... looks like not much has changed ...

 

I wonder if anyone from GM sees these posts because when I called them for weeks on end they claimed they have not had any issue's. I wonder how they would feel about a class action suit.?

 

sign me up ....they dont care ...simple as that !

 

In their minds they really don't have any issues when they say it's designed to have orange peel. It's not a defect it's a feature! Just like cheap plastic, an interior out of a cobalt and inconsistent body gaps were a feature of the c6.

 

When I spend 75k to 100k for a car the paint should be near perfect. When you are on the plant tour the main concern is keep the line going and forget quality. When we were at one stop in the tour a female worker was adjusting the door with he butt trying to line it up. Thats quality control. On the same day watching completed cars coming to the last station the black ones had terrible orange peel, I feel sorry for the people who ordered them. Every Corvette should have a great paint job, instead of being the luck of the draw. The new paint facility is badly needed and maybe the C8 will be better, but at what cost to the customer.

 

Sold our 2007 Corvette and were planning on a 2016 Z06 convertible. This would have been my tenth Corvette. Corvettes have been very dear to me since watching the first showing of Route 66. I will admit, I am very meticulous with my cars, especially Corvettes. In preparing to order a new Corvette and having a little problem choosing a color we liked, we visited many dealerships to determine the color we would order. Every single Corvette we looked at had a large degree of orange peel. Enough that I would not consider buying the car if it was what we liked.

A new Corvette does not appear to be in our future. Hurts me to say that because I truly love Corvettes. But I refuse to spend nearly $100,000 for a car that irritates me every time I look at it, and even more when I detail it. For some, the lack of paint quality is not an issue, but for some of us, it is. If Corvette sales tanked because of poor paint, GM would solve it immediately. But as long as people except poor quality, there is little reason for a manufacturer to change. Three times I mentioned the paint problem to the dealers and received the same basic response. That is just the way Corvettes are painted today. Sad excuse for poor quality on an expensive car.

 

Not many of us see the light. We chose not to replace our 2014 C7 because of major mechanical issues and what is involved with the repairs, and dealing with GM. We have had just as many Corvettes with minor problems,but this one took the prize. With all the technology today and they can't paint a thin plastic fender, toy companies can do a better job and maybe GM should talk to them when they are in China buying parts for the C7.

 

2015 Torch Red Z06.....paint is perfect! Sorry to hear this about factory paint on a new car.

 

The fact of the matter is we are a small group of people here on this forum. It seems like there are a lot of us that have this problem. How many others that own Corvettes are not on the forum or just dont care about the QC of the paint, I bet the percentage of unsatisfied people is very large.

 

I agree with you . GM is just walking away from the problem which they know about (see my post from yesterday with their response) .
My complaint was sent to the chairman of GM. They are spending millions to fix it but that doesn't help the thousands of 2014-2016 owners like us that have lousy paint.
There are many owners that don't care and are willing to except this level of paint quality but I am not one of them. I am embarrassed to drive this car they way it is and refuse to pay $$ for have my body shop repair it . The car is under warranty, this is a serious defect .
If enough of us get together maybe they will listen and do something.

 

itchiesvette, you can count me in if anyone ever heads it up.