Local dealer had 3 new 2SS cars come in, one Red,IOM and Silver. I noticed that the Doors on the Silver car just plain did not match the rest of the car. The IOM car the doors,rear spoiler and front cover did not match at all. The Red car looked great. All 3 cars were loaded and had a $38k sticker. Seems like a lot of money for a car with such poor paint?

Have any of you noticed the doors not matching? Are they painted at a different time? I know the cover front and rear along with the spoiler is painted of site, (at least thats what I have been told).

 

happens a lot with the paint over different types of materials

 

We would swap out doors and other panels from other stockpiles if something happened to the actual vehicle's panel during paint.

Let's say last week a vehicle went thru and something bad happned to the cab during paint. We would pull that vehicle off the line, strip all the good parts off of it and scrap the rest.
Then, if a vehicle went thru today and something bad happened to the hood, we would pull that hood off, scrap it, and then take the hood we recovered last week (as long as it was the same color).

I'm not sure if Oshawa does this but this is what they do at my old plant.

So it could be possible that the paint wouldn't match perfectly because the two vehicles were painted at different times under different conditions.

 

Well that would make sense. Its still a hard pill to swallow that 2 of 3 had doors that didnt match.

I guess I can see the front cover having a little difference being a different material.

I remember the 4th gen SS Camaro. GM would send them to SLP for the hood and such. The hoods would look like they belonged on another car LOL. The new cars I saw were not that bad.

 

Interesting. Did you say anything to the dealership folks?

 

I did, and the sales guy said it was just the body lines in the doors making it look different. I can say that without a doubt the doors on the silver and orange car were a different shade, along with the covers and spoiler on the orange car. I know most folks wouldnt notice, but I am very picky when it comes to my cars. If I had ordered either of those cars, I would have backed away and refused delivery.

The Black, Red and Grey cars that I have looked at do not appear to have this problem, or at least not that I noticed. A yellow car I looked at also had paint match issues.

I am not sure whats going on, but GM has been painting cars for a long time and I just dont think that this is acceptable in 2010.

I am content waiting a year to get my dream car and I think the hype and issues will be taken car of by then.

 

I was at a party with Settlemire today and we were talking about this. He said the same thing, and from a metal flake standpoint, it holds up. The door and the rear fender are on two completely different planes. They do get painted at the same time as well.

 

Look at some pics of a G8, Vette, or Aveo.. its just a side effect of the big flake they use in the silver at GM.

 

As time passes I'm seeing hearing of more and more of this (paint match issues on the same car from one panel to the next). Seems to be tied to the metallic colors and yellow. I remember back when the 4th gens came out there were problems with white looking different depending on which type of material it was being painted on either steel or SMC and if this is the case with the 5th gen I have to shake my head. We are far to many years on from the 4th gen to have these same problems today. I love the 5th gen from concept to production and have defended it all along but I have to admit this irks me. The first few times I saw this I passed it of as a fluke but it was while looking at the pictures of Jason's CG 5th gen that I concluded this appears to be pretty wide spread.

My Vette happens to be Machine Silver and there is zero color or shade shift on any panels no matter the angle despite being a metallic flake. And while there are no steel panels on the car like the 5th gen my front fenders are carbon fibre unlike the rest of the car which is SMC and again the paint matches perfectly. Even my 01 SOM SS has a perfect paint match between the SMC fenders and door panels and the steel quarter panels. The hood and spoiler.....that's a different story due to post production work done at SLP.

 

Thanks for asking Jason, So It could be a mater of how the metalic is laying on the body lines. Or maybe on certain cars the base coat is not going on thick enough or evenly across the body. That would certainly give the look that I have noticed.

 

You must be extremely lucky. I work in the collision industry, and I can't recall a newer Corvette whose bumpers, especially the rear, matched the rest of the car perfectly. It's caused by the way the metallic sets up from surface to surface. Go out to your car and look at the very bottom of the rear bumper where it meets the quarter panel behind the wheel. I would be willing to put some money down that there is a color discrepancy, especially on silver.

This is not a GM-only problem. Hondas and Toyotas are really bad about this.

 

Here's an example. You can see that the bumper has a bluer hue than the rest of the car.

 

It is not exactly a defect. The side door is one plane. The rear fender sheet metal doesn't begin on the same plane, it is a different angle if you will. The the light reflects off the metal flake differently on two different planes and the eye notices it. This is more a matter of physics than anything. Even the front clip has the same issue, but since the material is different it may make it more noticeable.

However, The trailing edge of the front fender and leading edge of the door are closer to the same plane if not the same, so it should match perfectly.

 

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2642690
Third pic down is an example of what I am talking about. If the car isnt in the sun it isnt noticeable.

 

Here are a few few pics of the rear fascia on my Vette. I actually do see a difference in color when I look for it. Never saw it in the past. Next time it's sunny here I'll have to see if the bare eye can catch it also. The first few (with the chrome rims) are in less than sunny conditions when I first got the car the last few (with the Comp Grey rims) are with more light.





Not so bad here but more shaded.



Direct sun.





The front fascia doesn't seem to do it though.




I still don't think these are as dramatic as what I'm seeing on the 5th gen though.