Paint issues
Racer
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 482
Likes: 4
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.
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.
100%. I'm in the same boat.BTW this should have never continued after the first production run. The first 1000 buyers should have refused delivery. This would have stopped production and forced a solution. But sales were great and continued, so why solve a problem that doesn’t exist? GM rolled the dice and won. They did it with people’s lives, a few upset Corvette owners wouldn’t upset them.
Besides GM always has something up their sleeve for year 3 or 4 of a production run to continue the sales. Just think when the paint facility is running and perfect paint jobs are compared to " it looks good to me" the trades will take off. Current C7s will sell to guys waiting for a good used price and GM gets to sell many more C7s all over again. Its actually very smart.
This only worked because GM has many loyal customers that would rather have a C7 with poor paint vs no C7.
Last edited by Dan12; Oct 2, 2015 at 12:25 PM.
Racer
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 332
Likes: 67
From: Needham MA.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 2,596
Likes: 120
From: East Tennessee
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 !
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 !
But I can live with it, 3 out of 10 is where I would put it.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 1,157
Likes: 522
From: Central Jersey
I just spent the better part of two days polishing my new Laguna Blue coupe.
Wash with dawn, clay bar and three coats of premium sealer. I could find not a single drip, run or scratch anywhere in the paint. Impressive.
Orange peal is everywhere to varying degrees.
Still, car buffs up brilliantly and is eye popping.
It won't win a concours trophy but I suspect it would do well at any local car show judging.
That works just fine in my world.
Wash with dawn, clay bar and three coats of premium sealer. I could find not a single drip, run or scratch anywhere in the paint. Impressive.
Orange peal is everywhere to varying degrees.
Still, car buffs up brilliantly and is eye popping.
It won't win a concours trophy but I suspect it would do well at any local car show judging.
That works just fine in my world.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 980
Likes: 106
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 $$ for have my body shop repair it . The car is under warranty, this is a serious defect .
If enough of us get together maybe they will listen and do something.
My complaint was sent to the chairman of GM. They are spending millions to fix it but that doesn't help the thousands of 2014-2016 owners like us that have lousy paint.
There are many owners that don't care and are willing to except this level of paint quality but I am not one of them. I am embarrassed to drive this car they way it is and refuse to pay $$ 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.
Racer
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 332
Likes: 67
From: Needham MA.
what is their spec ?
Well said and why should any one have spend their money to fix it paint issues. I have a problem with high cost and barely acceptable paint quality, so what is wrong with GM? If you are in the market for a Corvette get one off the lot and give it a good inspection, its your hard earned money and no one else cares but you.
My feeling is that there is no spec on gloss at BG, or the spec is so wide that what ever they turn out is passed .
Interesting article attached .
The human eye is very subjective , what looks good to one person may not be to another. Orange peel / gloss needs to me measured by an instrument to see if passes or fails .
Unless highly trained about paint process, a service manager has no idea what he/she is looking at and can not make any statements that the car "meets the standard" What is the standard ???
http://www.byk.com/fileadmin/byk/sup...range-Peel.pdf
5th Gear
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 5
Likes: 1
My car is perfect! Paint sucks, though. Pearl2015, you need to contact GM customer service and tell them what has happened to your paint. Either the dealer should repair under warranty or GM should have it taken care of. After reading your post I would not want the dealer to touch the car, and I would relay that to GM. I have crappy paint but it at least covers the entire car and does not look like leprosy.
There is no excuse to do crappy work and then not want to repair it properly. And only giving a 7 year warranty is WRONG. I had parts on my C6 repainted and got lifetime warranty on the paint.
You are used MC as the dealer who did the work, mind telling us who MC is? I can't imagine dealer screwing up the paint on a new car and not repairing it. I had a Toyota MR2 that the make ready guys buffed the hood and deck lids before delivering the car and took all the paint off the edges. The dealer took the car and repainted the deck lid, hood and corrected the doors and fenders so the whole car looked like glass.
Bug the fool out of GM and be a thorn in their side until the paint is corrected. Once that is done I will bet that you will love our car again.
Best of look to you.
There is no excuse to do crappy work and then not want to repair it properly. And only giving a 7 year warranty is WRONG. I had parts on my C6 repainted and got lifetime warranty on the paint.
You are used MC as the dealer who did the work, mind telling us who MC is? I can't imagine dealer screwing up the paint on a new car and not repairing it. I had a Toyota MR2 that the make ready guys buffed the hood and deck lids before delivering the car and took all the paint off the edges. The dealer took the car and repainted the deck lid, hood and corrected the doors and fenders so the whole car looked like glass.
Bug the fool out of GM and be a thorn in their side until the paint is corrected. Once that is done I will bet that you will love our car again.
Best of look to you.
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5th Gear
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 5
Likes: 1
I bought a jar of zymol wax ($56 a jar), the car had bumps extending from the clear coat. Did not use any other product on the car besides the regular zymol car wash. You could not scrape them off with your fingernail, they had to claybar them off. You could feel and see them rising from the car. very strange.
5th Gear
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 5
Likes: 1
I am getting a quote from a very good paint shop. You are correct, I do not want them to touch the car again. The dealer wants $6k + tax and license to put me in a 2016. I think that is unfair, since I have been fighting the problem for months now. I am leaning towards the bumper to bumper 7 year warranty and them paying for me to have it painted elsewhere.
5th Gear
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 5
Likes: 1
I know! I looked at a Porsche, the paint was awesome. This will be my last Corvette (I have had 3 - 95, 05, and this 15.) Both of the old Vettes I sold look beautiful to this day.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 920
Likes: 87
the hood on me AW looks very good ...the rest of the car sucks ...so it proves GM can paint correctly .... why the entire car cannot look like the hood ... another note ...under the hood the paint is very thin with skipped areas ...what the hell is that all about
The paint underside of the hood on my audi is better than the Vette doors and fenders ..
The paint underside of the hood on my audi is better than the Vette doors and fenders ..
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 3,151
Likes: 294
From: Opelousas, Lousiana
CI 6-7 & 9 Veteran
My car only has a few of OP "pimples" on the bumper. The rest of the car is smooth and clear. When I took the car in for service, I asked them to see if they could do anything about the little bumps on the bumper. After I got the car back, they told me that the body shop manager said all of the imperfections on the bumper were "rock chips." There are a couple of rock chips, but I am sure he could tell the difference in them and what I was talking about.
I gave up on them doing anything but I am planning to buff them tommorrow with my PC and an adams pad to see if I can polish them down a little. If that does not work, maybe I will consider getting the bumper wet sanded.
I gave up on them doing anything but I am planning to buff them tommorrow with my PC and an adams pad to see if I can polish them down a little. If that does not work, maybe I will consider getting the bumper wet sanded.
Pro
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 551
Likes: 48
From: Spring TX
If you watch "How It's Made Dream Cars" for the C7 you'll see that the panels come out of the priming / painting booth with orange peel (look at the close up of the white fender) - which is then baked. There is something causing it right there - maybe the paint mixture is bad or the thinner evaporates too quickly in the heat near the oven?
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 11,825
Likes: 2,474
From: Ft Lauderdale
Tech Contributor
If you watch "How It's Made Dream Cars" for the C7 you'll see that the panels come out of the priming / painting booth with orange peel (look at the close up of the white fender) - which is then baked. There is something causing it right there - maybe the paint mixture is bad or the thinner evaporates too quickly in the heat near the oven?
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 2,596
Likes: 120
From: East Tennessee
the hood on me AW looks very good ...the rest of the car sucks ...so it proves GM can paint correctly .... why the entire car cannot look like the hood ... another note ...under the hood the paint is very thin with skipped areas ...what the hell is that all about
The paint underside of the hood on my audi is better than the Vette doors and fenders ..
The paint underside of the hood on my audi is better than the Vette doors and fenders ..
I have a '15 Silverado and '15 Jeep cherokee sitting right next to this '16 C7 and its really bad.
Honestly, and I said this two years ago, the only way to improve it is to flat out stop buying them. Once they have your money you can forget about anything cosmetic unless you are persistent and have a lot of time.
Everyone who is buying a C7 right now is just helping pay for the new shop, hope the C8 buyers will appreciate it. Like that will happen on CF
Last edited by kp; Oct 8, 2015 at 10:27 PM.
Pro
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 693
Likes: 17
From: San Leandro California
the hood on me AW looks very good ...the rest of the car sucks ...so it proves GM can paint correctly .... why the entire car cannot look like the hood ... another note ...under the hood the paint is very thin with skipped areas ...what the hell is that all about
The paint underside of the hood on my audi is better than the Vette doors and fenders ..
The paint underside of the hood on my audi is better than the Vette doors and fenders ..
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 1,157
Likes: 522
From: Central Jersey
I have a pet theory on the paint issue. I've never been on the plant tour but, As I understand the process, parts are hung on racks and moved into a paint booth. The rack is given a negative charge and the paint passes through the nozzle with a positive charge, Rather than spraying the part directly, the booth is filled with atomized paint which is attracted to the negatively charged parts. This would obviously work quite well with metal parts which will hold a proper charge. May not be the same with non ferrous material ( plastic) resulting in uneven coating. Just a theory.
Pro
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 551
Likes: 48
From: Spring TX
I have a pet theory on the paint issue. I've never been on the plant tour but, As I understand the process, parts are hung on racks and moved into a paint booth. The rack is given a negative charge and the paint passes through the nozzle with a positive charge, Rather than spraying the part directly, the booth is filled with atomized paint which is attracted to the negatively charged parts. This would obviously work quite well with metal parts which will hold a proper charge. May not be the same with non ferrous material ( plastic) resulting in uneven coating. Just a theory.
Pro
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 561
Likes: 39