In-n-Out

Yes, Criswell had the car on the lot for sometime. Sterling Blue wasn't a hot color (everyone who sees it though in person loves it).

Additionally, I had to get my rear panel/bumper re-sprayed because there was an issue with the paint. The local dealership took care of it.

I also have an issue with the molding on the rear hatch where the rear window is. The black plastic piece looks like it wasn't fully cured as there are some rough areas where it should be smooth. It is also greyish in color in those areas. It also looks like it was cut somehow where the lip and the window meet. Sort of like a screwdriver or something put several gouges in it. Brought it to the local dealership who sort of blew me off. Was told it looked like something rubbed up against it and not sure how you (as in me) are going to get it fixed.

Just a little peeved that it shipped with all these issues.

Skid Row Joe

Geeeeeez..........

djnice

If you are talking about the inside of the window this could be normal. It is a little rough and unfinished some worse than others. My 18 is better than my 17 was.

iclick

I agree and approached the problem in a similar fashion. See this thread for more info, #92 for my solution. Still looks good nine months later and although under close scrutiny it appears a bit less tidy than the area on the right headlight it is acceptable. Nobody except me and another C7 owner looking for it would ever notice.

Foosh

Depending upon how bad it is, I might be inclined to use the same approach.

Always Red Dave

BINGO EXACTLY THE BEST FIX POST# 92 from the other thread! I Would only use this and nothing else. Same procedure as touching up a rock chip something you would never repaint for. Just my honest persistent opinion. Do not want to see your cars looking worse than the paint defect . By the way your car came out fantastic and it is still factory original stock!

In-n-Out

Ok, here are some photos of my paint issue.

Zo62018A8

They are ordering a factory painted torch red bumper for me but could be over a month till they get it. He said if they try to repaint and color match the existing bumper it might come out a different color.

NashvilleGrandSport

POST 67:
Exactly what mine looked like before the dealer fixed it in November prior to delivery one week after purchasing the car off the dealer's lot.

No issues since (yet!).

Pathetic that they could not get this right at the plant over the period of time this has been an issue.

Foosh

I don't think "pathetic" is quite the right term. I think they've tried hard to improve the paint process since moving to the use of SMC panels for weight-savings reasons.

SMC panels are one of the main reasons that the C7 is still the least expensive, light-weight, near-super, sports car in the world. Everything else has gotten fatter and fatter, and/or almost every other sports car with similar performance is at least 2X the price.

No matter how hard BG tried, I think it took building an entirely new paint facility, a totally new process, and new tooling, including new state-of-the-art robots, to address this and other paint issues. It's not like they didn't try to address it in the old facility.

There's a video floating around this forum where a BG plant executive explains the advantages of the new facility and process. Among the enhancements in the new plant and process is a new capability (more sophisticated robots) to spray panels at all angles, all the nooks, crannies, and edges, to produce better overall coverage and smoothness. It also includes a much longer and lower heat curing process also to help with smoothness and better paint adherence.

I'm sure each individually-painted panel in the old plant came out of paint covered, but poor paint adherence on the edges of some panels led to the chipping seen on some cars relatively soon after assembly. I doubt cars left the factory with visible edge chipping, but with uneven coverage and adherence issues, it didn't take long for it to appear either at dealerships or shortly after customer delivery. The flexible nature of SMC material is also a factor, and why you don't see things like edge chipping on metal-body cars. Ensuring paint adherence is easier on metal.

I have not seen this issue reported on any of the cars that came out of the new plant since it started operations in November.

Zo62018A8

Im just disappointed that my car that has an MSRP of close to $90k and is the most expensive car I have ever bought in my life has worse paint quality than a $20k kia or hyundai. Also why arent the body panels lined up properly on these cars?

Foosh

The reasons have been discussed ad nauseam here, but I guess you've missed them. Start with the post above yours. The Cliffnotes version is: metal panels are easier to work with than SMC panels.

I suppose many here would be happier with a metal-bodied Corvette that weighed 500+ lbs. more. I would not.

JoesC5

GM has been painting SMC for a long time. Not only was my 1998 C5 equipped with SMC panels, the front fenders on my old 1990 Cadillac were SMC, as was the hood on my 1983 Camaro Z28.

Oh, by the way, the front and rear fascia are not made of SMC, and it seems the problems are with the paint not adhering to the front fascia.

Thunder22

Same for me, but it was Mike Furman at Criswell that emailed him. The first fascia arrived damaged, the 2nd one was perfect and I haven't had any issues since it was fixed.

Thunder22

That's the way to do it (factory painted). It takes only a few minutes to swap.

Something to check on with your dealer/body shop is that they order the nose badge as well and not re-use the existing one. The new fascia doesn't come with the nose badge.

Foosh

I know Joe, but I believe a change was made to a lighter-weight type of SMC at some point during C6 production, and fully-transitioned into the C7.

During the infamous "flying roof" panel era of the C6 Z06 (it happened to my 06 Z06), panel de-bonding was blamed on the new lighter SMC material they used on the roof, and the fix was said to be going back to the previous heavier version of SMC they had been using. That's what they told me they did to my car. Whether that was a completely factual explanation or not, I do not know.

There are different types of SMC in terms of composition, and it would make sense for a lighter SMC material to have more flex.

Allen_B

Watching this thread since my 2017 has similar issues with the rear fascia and keeping close watch on the nose. Couldn't agree more that this is in fact pathetic- a brand new vehicle with an MSRP of $96k in my case. I am amazed with the performance and tech of the C7 but perhaps a military lesson is in order for GM- You have to be brilliant on the basics to be successful...

Have had it evaluated by my local dealership and they will repaint the rear piece, just waiting for warmer weather. With that, I would love to know how to press the issue for a factory painted replacement. I just see this becoming a recurring issue and uneasy with the prospect of removing and subsequently damaging the mounting tabs on the current cover.

Anyone with info on how to (respectfully) request a replacement versus repair would be appreciated...


Allen

Thunder22

who is joe and what are you talking about?

Thunder22

do a search on GM bowling green head of Quality control assurance you'll get his name. Just email him.

Foosh

I quoted you accidentally because you were posting twice as I was responding to Joe. I fixed it.