[GM Kid]

Believe it or not, I spent about seven hours giving my new car its first wash/polish/wax on Friday.

You always learn a lot about a new car when you first lavish this much attention on it, and it was no different this time. I noticed that I picked up a couple of small nicks I'll need to touch up. Those aren't any big deal, but I did become curious about some marks I found on the rocker extensions.

On each side of my car, in almost exactly the same spot (about halfway along the rocker, just where it rolls under), the paint's been worn off. It's just a little spot--maybe three-eighths of an inch long by an eighth-inch wide. On the passenger side, it's actually a gouge. I can fill that with touch-up paint and polish it smooth. On the driver's side, it looks like someone beat me to it: there may have been a gouge, but it appears someone with a buffer tried smoothing it out and wore right through the paint. A little M-shaped bit of black shows through. Can't touch that one up, as it's already smooth.

As I mentioned, these symmetrical defects are in the area where the rocker rounds under, so they're kind of pointed downward. The rub-through on the driver's side becomes invisible when you step back, obscured by the overall
glare from the shine.

So I'm wondering how these cars are held down during overseas transport. Would there have been some kind of strap or tether running, say, over the rockers and through the doors? Of course, my Phoenix-area dealer had to transport my car by trailer up from a Yuma dealer; maybe the damage happened then.

These aren't the kind of little scars I'm going to ask the dealer to fix. I'm fairly handy touching up stuff, so I'll just do it myself. Has anyone else found anything similar?

 

[Tom]

I have not gotten the chance to clean adhesive from the film they put on the car off yet. That is the difference between AZ and NY weather. and I have my car over 3 months.

 

[GM Kid]

Tom--

Your mention of adhesive brings to mind something else I discovered--an inch-wide opaque band along the lower edge of the passenger-side door. As I was polishing/waxing on Friday, I almost didn't notice it. I caught a glimpse when I saw light reflecting off this area a little differently than off the rest of the door. I used a lot of elbow grease on it and lessened the opaque look to the point that you can scarcely see it, but it's still there. Almost looks like overspray. Does anyone know if there was some kind of tape covering the lower door edge?

 

[b_a_betterperson]

Had plenty of adhesive all over my car. The thing that really got me steamed was that the rear undertray and back bumper (the horizontal part that's rolled all the way under) got trashed either by one of the dealership monkeys or someone driving it on/off the carrier. To GM's credit, the zone office stepped up and got it fixed.

 

[GM Kid]

What did you do to get the adhesive off your car? I'm still not certain that what I'm seeing on my lower door edge is adhesive, but it certainly could be. Maybe I should've tried bug-and-tar remover before I polished and waxed.

I'm still curious about the minor paint damage on the rockers, though. Has anyone else seen anything like that on their cars?

 

[b_a_betterperson]

P&S Remove All Solvent. Bug & Tar remover works, too.

 

[GumbyGoat]

You always learn a lot about a new car when you first lavish this much attention on it, and it was no different this time. I noticed that I picked up a couple of small nicks I'll need to touch up. Those aren't any big deal, but I did become curious about some marks I found on the rocker extensions.

I agree!!! I had the same problem with my passenger side rocker panel. I learned after a serious ($1200.00 out of MY pocket) unnoticed shipping damage to a truck I had. It pays to thoroughly scrutinize the car before you take it home. It's funny how they have the car in that specialty lighting, not unlike a jewelry store. I had them take it outside in the sunlight. That's where I found the damaged rocker panel. It had to be re-painted, no charge to me. It took me about 30-45 minutes of walking around my GTO, inside and out, before I said I would take it. They gave me the option of taking money off the price of the car or giving me an "IOU". I took the IOU!!!

 

[Tom]

GM customer dis-service was so pathetic with our Aurora and the damage it came with that i leased the GTO. I figured if there is a defect, i just tell them on a service order, and walk away.

When customer serivice representative Paul Nagy tells me he has no supervisor for me to complain to, that I can go to the BBB if I dont like his first level decision, and that I should have spent more time inspecting the car when I picked it up, I swore I would never purchase another new GM product.

He didnt like my answer that I got off the train at dusk and walked the 1/4 mile to the dealer, saw my car in front, cleaned, but before the march rain that had already dried on the car. I told him I walked around it, then was shuttled in to sign a bunch of papers with the assurance that any defects will be repaired. The fact the GM shut this olds dealer down before it could be remedied didnt phase the jerk.

My biggest complaint with GM is the clowns they have in customer service that are not GM employees. They dont care about the answer they give, just move the files. And then the press blames the union for all the problems.

back on topic. rant off.

 

[GM Kid]

These scuffs on the rockers annoy me, but (and this is weird) at least they're symmetrical! I mean, they're in the exact same place on each side. Small comfort, but oh well.

I'm not going to have anyone repaint the whole rocker just to remedy a small defect that generally points downward. I mean, if you want to think of a cross-section of the rocker as a clock face, these problems are at 4:30 or 5:00. I guess I'll just live with them. The only thing I'm thinking of doing is asking if the dealer has an expert touch-up guy. Most dealers do. If so, maybe I'll let him to the fixing.