Factory defect or shotty repair job?

[G4M3OVR]

I bought my ZL1 in September and am ashamed to say I haven't noticed this until today. On the inside of the passenger side door, there appears to be wrinkles and paint runs that indicate to me that the car was repaired and resprayed prior to me purchasing it. I wasn't informed of any repairs done to it but I also know that under a certain dollar amount, the dealer isn't obligated to say a word. I contacted the dealer I purchased it from and they are claiming that it's a factory defect and can be repaired under warranty by any GM dealer. I'm calling shenanigans... What do you guys think? I threw a couple of driver's side door pics in for reference.

[Ringo64]

If they're going to repair it for free, what's the difference? If they weren't offering to repair it for free than I would start complaining.

[G4M3OVR]

The thing is, the dealer I bought it from is 200+ miles away and they personally aren't offering to fix it, just that allegedly, any GM dealership will fix it. I'll be looking into that shortly. The difference is that if it was a repair job, it'll be stuck in my mind and will irritate me to no end for as long as I have the car. Not to mention knowing that I may have been blatantly lied to by the dealership.

[ChrisBlair]

Paint runs are a defect. In my opinion so are those wrinkles, especially if there is no outer door skin damage. Frankly I'm shocked that they said they will fix it. In my opinion, those wrinkles are not from repair of damage. To repair that type of damage would have been costly. In my opinion they are badly stamped parts

[G4M3OVR]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

Paint runs are a defect. In my opinion so are those wrinkles, especially if there is no outer door skin damage. Frankly I'm shocked that they said they will fix it. In my opinion, those wrinkles are not from repair of damage. To repair that type of damage would have been costly. In my opinion they are badly stamped parts

My question is, why is this door the only part of the entire car that has ANY paint runs? The ones in the pics are just a couple. There are also several under the door panel. Also, along the bottom of the door there are little inlets. On the driver's side, within the inlets, are weird squiggly things in every one of them but there are none inside of the inlets on the passenger door. Maybe I'm going insane...
Driver's side-

Passenger's side-

[GearheadSS]

Honestly, judging from your pics, I'm not seeing any inconsistencies in the paint quality other than those drips and wrinkles in the one pic. Do you see any trash in the paint anywhere? The paint looks consistent in both bottom pics and I'm not seeing anything in the paint in those pics.

I'd say that, unless there's trash in the paint on the passenger door, you probabaly have factory paint and defects. If there's nothing on the outside of the door, I'd let it go.

[ChrisBlair]

G4M3OVR-

The car is not painted as one unit at the factory. "Your" doors weren't made or painted as a matched pair, almost certainly. Either of them could have ended up on an LT.

They look odd, I agree but they are not the type of thing I expect to see from damage. I'd hazard to guess that the tooling dies were going out of spec when the parts were stamped

[yellowrs]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

G4M3OVR-

The car is not painted as one unit at the factory. "Your" doors weren't made or painted as a matched pair, almost certainly. Either of them could have ended up on an LT.

The whole car is painted at the same time by several computers.
There are several factors why the paint might have run.
I would take it back to the dealer and have em repaint it.
Luckily it is in the inside of the doors so I would not worry too much.

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by yellowrs

The whole car is painted at the same time by several computers.
There are several factors why the paint might have run.
I would take it back to the dealer and have em repaint it.
Luckily it is in the inside of the doors so I would not worry too much.

Are you sure about that? Doesn't seem like efficient production. When I had my Solstice, there were people that had slightly 'off' shades on their front fascia. Those were painted sperate from the car

[G4M3OVR]

Originally Posted by GearheadSS

Honestly, judging from your pics, I'm not seeing any inconsistencies in the paint quality other than those drips and wrinkles in the one pic. Do you see any trash in the paint anywhere? The paint looks consistent in both bottom pics and I'm not seeing anything in the paint in those pics.

I'd say that, unless there's trash in the paint on the passenger door, you probabaly have factory paint and defects. If there's nothing on the outside of the door, I'd let it go.

I'll take another closer look to see if I can't find anything. The only other thing I noticed by glancing while in my fit of rage, was that the GM stamp on the bottom of the door is very difficult to see compared to the driver's side. And when I say difficult, I mean you really have to look for it while the driver's side sticks out like a sore thumb.

Thanks for the replies so far guys, I really appreciate the insight.

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by G4M3OVR

I'll take another closer look to see if I can't find anything. The only other thing I noticed by glancing while in my fit of rage, was that the GM stamp on the bottom of the door is very difficult to see compared to the driver's side. And when I say difficult, I mean you really have to look for it while the driver's side sticks out like a sore thumb.

Thanks for the replies so far guys, I really appreciate the insight.

Turns out I may be wrong rre: when the parts are painted, but this can be a sign of over-paint, obviously

[el ess A]

Originally Posted by ChrisBlair

Are you sure about that? Doesn't seem like efficient production. When I had my Solstice, there were people that had slightly 'off' shades on their front fascia. Those were painted sperate from the car

It's true. And even on the Camaro, the fascias are painted separately and there's still an off-color on those from time to time, although they've gotten a little better.

Keep in mind as well, if a quality defect in the paint, etc, was found at the factory, do you think they'd strip down the whole car again? No. They'll spot repair it. Yes, sometimes they have to fix cars before they ship them.

Hard to tell from some of the not so crisp pics, but it appears to me that it's factory paint.

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by 130R

No expert, but I'd have to say there's been body work done to the car. In the 2nd to last pick that looks like bondo in the cutout. That doesn't seem like a place where an adhesive is used, and doesn't look like an adhesive.

I would take it to a body shop and see what a professional has to say.

If it has been repaired, I'd be pretty pissed the damage and repair wasn't disclosed. That would seem to be pretty fraudulent and you should be made whole, like at the very least, a new door...

Looks like poorly applied seam sealer to me

[ChrisBlair]

Originally Posted by el ess X

It's true. And even on the Camaro, the fascias are painted separately and there's still an off-color on those from time to time, although they've gotten a little better.

Keep in mind as well, if a quality defect in the paint, etc, was found at the factory, do you think they'd strip down the whole car again? No. They'll spot repair it. Yes, sometimes they have to fix cars before they ship them.

Hard to tell from some of the not so crisp pics, but it appears to me that it's factory paint.

No, I don't think they strip and paint. You misunderstand me.

The door skin is usually separate from the inner structure. The parts are stamped sperately.

So if the outer skin has no damage but the inner structure is damaged, to me, that means they removed the skin, fixed the door structure, put on a new skin, and repainted.

Seems to me that costs a lot. They would rpelace the door and move on, in my opinion