Are You Having Problems With The Paint On Your General Motors Vehicle?
In February of 2006 I took delivery of a shiny black Cadillac CTS.
After about a week of daily driving to and from work a round trip total of about 24 km (14 Miles) I noticed a chip of paint missing dead centre on the hood. I chalked it up to an unlucky break and applied some touch up paint I had purchased from the dealer to cover the spot.
Every subsequent time that I washed the car there were more and more marks on the front end, some which looked like rock chips but there were several which were too small to be rock chips and were more about the size of a grain of sand.
My car has a factory installed rear trunk lid spoiler. After washing the vehicle, I was using a chamois to remove the water and noticed just under each corner of the spoiler there was paint missing on the trunk lid. This was definitely not rock chips. At this point I decided there may be something wrong with the paint on the car and called a GM dealer to ask if there had been any problems with the paint on this model of vehicle. They told me there had been no problems to date with the paint on these vehicles. We agreed that they would take a look at it when I brought it in for an oil change as the vehicle is covered under warranty and there was no urgency for them to see it right away.
During the following weeks, I noticed an increasing amount of these small flecks of paint coming off the hood of the vehicle advancing from the front leading edge, to the middle area and then up close to the rear of the hood up by the windshield. Not chips like a rock would make but small flecks about the size of a piece of sand. I can appreciate that the front verticle areas of the vehicle may be subject to debris thrown up from a vehicle in front of you traveling at highway speeds, but I have trouble believing that the flat horizontal areas of the vehicle such as the hood are subject to the same elements.
About a month later I made an appointment with the dealer to have my oil changed and inspect the paint on my car. I was told by the bodyshop manager that the paint problem was due to the roads that I drive on and he went as far as to suggest that putting your hand on the trunk lid spoiler to close the trunk lid was the cause for the paint coming off under the trunk lid. Holy crap, unless you have an automatic power assist trunk lid closer, I don't know of another way to close the trunk lid.
I have since contacted General Motors Canada Customer Satisfaction and had discussions with them about the paint on my vehicle. Amazingly enough, I seem to be the only person in all of Canada that is having this problem according to them.
If you own a late model (2003 - 2006) General Motors vehicle and have noticed that the paint seems to have a durability problem, (which I suspect may be due to the fact that GM and most auto manufacturers are using water borne paint) I would like to hear back from you.
If indeed I am not the only person experiencing this problem it may be necessary to approach GM collectively, as we all know and has been proven so often in the past, there is power in numbers when dealing with a monolith.
After about a week of daily driving to and from work a round trip total of about 24 km (14 Miles) I noticed a chip of paint missing dead centre on the hood. I chalked it up to an unlucky break and applied some touch up paint I had purchased from the dealer to cover the spot.
Every subsequent time that I washed the car there were more and more marks on the front end, some which looked like rock chips but there were several which were too small to be rock chips and were more about the size of a grain of sand.
My car has a factory installed rear trunk lid spoiler. After washing the vehicle, I was using a chamois to remove the water and noticed just under each corner of the spoiler there was paint missing on the trunk lid. This was definitely not rock chips. At this point I decided there may be something wrong with the paint on the car and called a GM dealer to ask if there had been any problems with the paint on this model of vehicle. They told me there had been no problems to date with the paint on these vehicles. We agreed that they would take a look at it when I brought it in for an oil change as the vehicle is covered under warranty and there was no urgency for them to see it right away.
During the following weeks, I noticed an increasing amount of these small flecks of paint coming off the hood of the vehicle advancing from the front leading edge, to the middle area and then up close to the rear of the hood up by the windshield. Not chips like a rock would make but small flecks about the size of a piece of sand. I can appreciate that the front verticle areas of the vehicle may be subject to debris thrown up from a vehicle in front of you traveling at highway speeds, but I have trouble believing that the flat horizontal areas of the vehicle such as the hood are subject to the same elements.
About a month later I made an appointment with the dealer to have my oil changed and inspect the paint on my car. I was told by the bodyshop manager that the paint problem was due to the roads that I drive on and he went as far as to suggest that putting your hand on the trunk lid spoiler to close the trunk lid was the cause for the paint coming off under the trunk lid. Holy crap, unless you have an automatic power assist trunk lid closer, I don't know of another way to close the trunk lid.
I have since contacted General Motors Canada Customer Satisfaction and had discussions with them about the paint on my vehicle. Amazingly enough, I seem to be the only person in all of Canada that is having this problem according to them.
If you own a late model (2003 - 2006) General Motors vehicle and have noticed that the paint seems to have a durability problem, (which I suspect may be due to the fact that GM and most auto manufacturers are using water borne paint) I would like to hear back from you.
If indeed I am not the only person experiencing this problem it may be necessary to approach GM collectively, as we all know and has been proven so often in the past, there is power in numbers when dealing with a monolith.
posted by Coyote | 10:36 AM
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