VETTE-NV

Could you please post a pic that shows the fitment of the rear fascia on your car? I'd love to see one that fits properly.

ALMS21

While I more often than not disagree with Guibo, he is dead on correct here. There are many cases with empirical evidence of said issues on the C7 that have accurately been pointed out. This needs to be addressed by GM. They have done a helluva job on the design and interior (save for the god awful low grade carpeting) on the C7 and it would be a damn shame for the car to be "type cast" because of this paint/panel issue.

Guibo

Those are not the best Porsche cases. That was specifically a case of a guy on the Porsche forum who actually complained about that level of orange peel. Source of those images:
http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...64-post40.html

The best ones are nearly mirror smooth, like glass. You're more than welcome to find similar examples of horrible orange peel on Porsches. For example, here's a Cayman at a dealer, with dust and water spots still on the car. Look at the quality of the reflection: You can tell the salesman standing nearby could probably lose a few pounds, but you can also see the external staircase on the building in the distance (not just the staircase, but the individual steps), and make out the bushels of leaves on the palm trees.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/porscheconnection/8628148683/sizes/o/in/set-72157633190162934/
Compare that paintjob to the blue C7 I posted, which you can see in its original form on these forums (also from a dealer):
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c7-g...ealership.html

You think it's by sheer dumb luck that that OP stumbled upon such a car? How about this:
"Spoke with the GM at the dealership this morning and he indicated someone from GM came and looked at the car on Fri and told him they are all like that! Yep, he has delivered four so far and indeed thay all have crappy paint.
One customer had his car buffed even though he was told there would be negative long term paint problems. He didn't care because he is only keeking the car a year or two.
As I left the dealership I sat at the stop light next to a new Hyundai that was bright red and it had a perfect paint job with no orange peel."
--http://www.stingrayforums.com/forum/stingray-corvette-detailing/994-orange-peel-5.html#post8647

"Attended a Cars & Coffee event today and got to see 8 C7's in white, torch red, red tintcoat, black and laguna blue. All had substantial (near total) but evenly distributed orange peel. When they sat next to C6's the difference in the paint was remarkable."
--https://www.corvetteforum.com/articles/c7//forums/showthread.php?p=7150937

"I own a clear bra installation business and both Corvettes and Porsches are my two most worked on vehicles....I have yet to see any paint issues with any model of Porsche we have worked on (hundreds of cars) and so far 3 of the C7s we have installed film on (out of 6 total) have had paint issues that either I or the customer caught. One of those cars is going back to BG... its that bad...And to add I didn't see these issues on the C6 models."
--http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1585351190-post177.html

Still isolated incidents?

Looks to be a fitment issue identical to these ones. Top car was the show car at the Road America ALMS event.


Here's a sampling I posted elsewhere in case anyone thinks it's isolated.


I'm going to guess by his non-answer that his car definitively has the same fitment issue. The picture he posted earlier of his car suggested that to be the case.
http://oi44.tinypic.com/2mrckjs.jpg

I don't mean to be disrespectful in the least, but that's another example of a "flawless" car on the forum.

People are free to make the accusation but unfortunately for them, I can link them to the original source in the vast majority of those examples.

b4i4getit

You and a few others from your fan club just can't admit that GM is putting out some crappy quality for the C7. Consider that the C7 is the most expensive Chevy and cannot compete with the lowest priced Chevy in terms of fit and finish. I grow tired of the rant that we should accept inferior build quality just because we get a car that has high performance. What planet are you guys from ?

Hirohawa

Those are brutal.

It appears as if the bumpers are sized incorrectly and it is not an alignment issue.

If so this is a major issue paint aside.

My C6 BTW has negligible orange peel and has a really nice finish, much nicer than my old C5 Z06.

Hirohawa

And this is not unprecedented either. The C5 had a major drop in interior compared to an early 90's C4. My 1990 C4 had great leather quality and bolstering of the seats that was far far superior to the C5 seats - so Corvettes have taken steps backwards in the very recent past.

bdharris68

What is GM saying about these paint issues and parts of the car not fitting correctly. I'm waiting on my car to be built and this is very alarming of the quality that everyone is calling out. I've owned Dodge trucks the last 20 years and have not had any of these problems not even when the body style changed. My truck now is a year and a half old and looks flawless.

mpuzach

I think a lot of us would like to hear the answer to this question. Is there any possible way they could not be working on a solution to the root problems?

romaja

Must be ancestor worship, brand loyalty etc . Clearly there is a problem that needs to be addressed. To try to defend such an indefensible position is lunacy.

b4i4getit

It looks like it is hit and miss. Some people say they have a flawless vehicle. Maybe they do, are visually impaired, or very accepting of poor quality. I think there are some pretty good cars and some awfully bad cars. When you order a car you are taking your chances at this stage. It looks like the factory production is consistently inconsistent. I would rather choose from a dealer that has a dozen or so cars in stock so that I can QC them myself. While this will not happen in the short term I have every confidence that it will happen soon enough.

runutzzzzz

I'll let you know in the next day or so what they say. The Service Advisor says GM thinks it's part of the white protective vinyl they put on. They obviously didn't look at the pictures yet!

Second. Did they even put that stuff on the C7s? Don't they all just get a cloth cover?

sbayes

All I can say is WOW at the evidence presented. This level of Fit and Finish is embarrassing for GM. Nothing more to say and I'm not a GM hater.

Guibo

I think the front bumper is probably an alignment issue. Out of all the cars I've seen, it's about a 50:50 split, with half of them being near perfect at the outside edge. Some of them that are perfect on the outside have alignment issues on the inside, between the headlight and hood, however. This suggests that quite a few are perfect, meaning alignment is probably at the heart of this. Then there are the cars that are bad on both sides, like this car that was on display at the Baltimore GP:

Looks like the entire bumper is shifted over, affecting both sides. It's rare, but it happens. I think one of the Carlisle show cars was like this, and I've seen it on one or two customer cars.
The rear fascia definitely looks like a mold problem. That's running darn close to a 90% defect rate from what I've seen (and could be 100% with higher res photos). I think once the line slows down to reflect long-term demand, these issues will be ironed out.

Slappy3243

This is old already. There were pictures of M3's with nasty orange peel posted. Maybe you saw them and maybe you didn't. I don't really care enough at this point to go digging around. I enjoy my C7 when I am in it and even when I am not.

But you guys win. The C7 is a horrible failure (as sales show) and GM should just stop producing such an embarrassment. If you want a Chevy, stick to the Cruz.

mammoth713

I think this is ridiculous that someone would find this "acceptable" and that OP is just bitching/moaning..

I would be furious if my car was doing this even if it was a brand new chevrolet Spark! The year is 2013, there is no reason for paint to be this flawed. Give me a break..

OP, I hope the dealer works with you to figure that out. That is clearly not acceptable

jr3

Great looking truck.

jr3

Here's a few shots of the Indy pace car / show car...

The finish on it looked pretty good. Doesn't seem to have much orange peel.. Those first show cars were probably polished and prep'd pretty good to get a good finish.

clayton1

Can someone go to a big dealer that has many c7's and take a look at , post pics etc. Its sad to see so many poor QC issues. Hopefully they get it figured out...and/or hopefully the people who dont care keep buying, LOL!

Michael A

Forget the show cars. I looked at the show cars GM had at SEMA, and they had obviously either been wet sanded, or repainted. There wasn't any orange peel on any of them. I wish I could say the same for the production car I saw at another booth at SEMA.

I just drove my 14 year old C5 this evening, and was admiring the smooth finish, and straight body panels that car has. If the C7s looked like my C5, we wouldn't even be having this discussion, and my order would be in, along with everyone else's. The finish really is gorgeous, and it is non-metallic so there is no hiding the orange peel.

I know some people can't appreciate good quality, but I do. I appreciate the good workmanship that went into building my C5 every time I drive it.

Michael

VETTE-NV

The GM cars at SEMA may have had less orange peel but they definitely did have the front and rear fascia alignment issues as seen in some of the photos I posted on this and other threads. Orange peel can indeed be reduced by some sanding, but the alignment of panels that simply do not fit cannot be cured. The GM rep who was showing off the silver convertible, periodically letting a few chosen people sit in it (the ones she deemed worthy), looked at me suspiciously when I was snapping close up pics of the problem fittings.

The three Ron Fellows cars I saw earlier in the week parked at the Venetian had horrible orange peel. Completely unacceptable.

Even in this photo of the well-prepped pace car, the front fascia is not aligned properly. If that's the best they can do at this point for a high profile show car, then there has to be some serious sizing issues.