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I Have A Paint Problem On New Avalanche

R

Razorback

GUEST
Help! I have a problem with the paint on my Victory Red 1500 Z66. I picked it up one week ago and gave it its first loving wash yesterday. I noticed three problems with the paint: 1) tiny black spots that look like they are on top of the clearcoat and will come out with a little buffing 2) tiny black spots that look like they are imbedded in the clear coat and may not come out with buffing, & 3) tiny white spots that look like they are completely covered by the clearcoat.

These can be found pretty much all over the truck, but are mostly on the hood and top.

I took it back to the dealer today for their comment. The body manager said that they will use "Clay Magic" followed by buffer on the "bad spots". This will take care of the spots on top of the clearcoat, but he did mention the possibility having to repaint the hood and other areas as required.

Note, its birthday is 01/02 and I just got it, so it has been sitting around for a while.

My questions:
1) Has anyone else seen this and what did you do?

2) I like the idea of clay and buffing, but should I trust the dealer with this or is it something a detailing novice could perform better on his own truck?

3) I do not think that I should have to put up with repainting parts of a new vehicle. If repainting is required, is this justification for a new vehicle? Has anyone fought that fight?

4) The spots are very tiny and no one will know they are there except me. If it comes to repainting and I lose that battle, should I take the repaint or live with the spots? I am leaning toward living with the spots.

I look forward to hearing your input.
 
Most likely (and hopefully) it is just the kind of stuff that adheres to your surface when the truck has been sitting on the lot for 8 months. Especially the fact that you say it's predominatly on the hood/roof. He is probably right about using a clay bar. Check out YGMNs detailing threads list. You will probably want to wash it very thoroughly with Dawn (clean surface as good as possible) and then clay bar the entire painted surface. Follow this with a good paint sealant (Zaino) or a top-quality wax. There are all kind of instructions in the above threads.

Jamie
 
I have a black z-71 born on 1/02 and just noticed the other day some white spots on the passenger side front fender. I just figured I got into something and really didn't pay too much attention to whether it was over/under the clear coat.
 
I've goat a LPM born on 07/02 (just a baby!) I have two spots where it looks like someone... as the vehicle was being clear coated dropped little hard pebbles in the stuff. They're raised off the surface... and one of them feels a little sharp!!! Doesn't budge with buffing though! :(

-------Bow:B:tie
 
I get the tiny black spots on my vehicles from time to time. The clay bar takes them off. Mine are caused from spiders killing insects and the blood or juices leave little black dots all over everything.. :D:
 
I ahve a black Av the paint is flaking in tiny spots on the hood and front fender. Took it back to the dealer but the service department was closed. Spoke to the service manager on teh phone and he said he would take care of it lets se what happens when I have time to take it in.
 
1) ?tiny black spots that look like they are on top of the clearcoat and will come out with a little buffing 2) ?tiny black spots that look like they are imbedded in the clear coat and may not come out with buffing, & 3) ?tiny white spots that look like they are completely covered by the clearcoat.
Click to expand...

Sounds like industrial fall out and rail dust from transporting....this is pretty normal and body clay should remove......

1) ?Has anyone else seen this and what did you do?
Click to expand...
I had it and I clayed the truck when I brought it home....almost all new cars have this unless you are lucky some are more severe than others....some dealerships clay the car before they are on the lot but not likely.

2) ?I like the idea of clay and buffing, but should I trust the dealer with this or is it something a detailing novice could perform better on his own truck?
Click to expand...
I would do it myself but I have done this many times.....I would clay it myself first and then inspect paint... probably 99% of problem will be gone.....You can expect some minor paint defects under the clearcoat....I have 2 that annoy the hell out of me but it is not worth it for them to repaint for this.....no real way to get rid of damage under clear without removing clear and then respray clear to entire panel...

3) ?I do not think that I should have to put up with repainting parts of a new vehicle. ?If repainting is required, is this justification for a new vehicle? ?Has anyone fought that fight?
Click to expand...
Clay the truck first and then look at it and decide.......

4) ?The spots are very tiny and no one will know they are there except me. ?If it comes to repainting and I lose that battle, should I take the repaint or live with the spots? ?I am leaning toward living with the spots.
Click to expand...
Again try the clay and see what happens....Send me some pics up close so I can see what you are talking about and I will try to help you through it...

Good Luck
 
Thanks for the postings.

The spots are just too small to show up on a picture. The spots could well be just stuff that settled on the top while it was sitting on the lot next to the highway. It looks more chemical than organic (bug stuff).

I have decided to try to fix it myself before handing it to the dealer. I just have a greater trust in my ability to do it right. I also have trust that they have the ability to fix any problems I may cause.

The next step is to go through the hundreds of postings on Zaino and other paint care. Then I have to find a spare 8 hours. Oh well, its been there for eight months, a week or so longer shouldn't hurt.

I will post the results. Wish me luck.


 
I had those same things on my Pewter Paint job. I think it is what Zaino calls "Rail Rust". When most cars are shipped they are shipped by railroad and the dust off the railroad settles on cars finishes.

To make a long post short, the clay bar took all of those spots off with some serrious rubbing. Now my paint is flawless. Try it out.
 
Wiki said:
I had those same things on my Pewter Paint job. ?I think it is what Zaino calls "Rail Rust". ?When most cars are shipped they are shipped by railroad and the dust off the railroad settles on cars finishes.

.
Click to expand...

You are right. Probably rail dust. I work for a Volkswagen store and we get lots of cars in with black and white specks. The dealership can get this off. Just becareful they don't put swirls in the paint.
 
UPDATE OF ORIGINAL POST:

Well, today was the day to attempt to fix the spot problem with $85 of Zaino product.

Summary: All spots are gone and the AV has three coats of Zaino Z2. Looks great and is slick as a whistle. Even though I'm sore and sunburned, I'm glad I did it rather than handing it to the dealer.

Details:
a) 8.5 hours total. My neighbors must think I'm obsessed (or obsessive).

b) 5 hours was with clay bar. 3.5 hours was spent with on the hood alone. There were literally thousands of white and black spots. All spots were able to be removed, with some taking a little more scrubbing than others. Tailgate was second-worst. Sides and top had hundreds of spots, but were randomly distributed-requiring every inch to be carefully inspected. Rail dust seems the likely culprit. I don't know what a dead clay bar looks like, but I think this job is all it can do. Wound up going over a whole section to get the easy stuff then going spot-by-spot by inspecting/spraying/wiping it off with a microfiber towel so the liquid would not interfere with finding the next spot.

c) I used the ZFX accelerator in the Z2 and used a total of 1.5 oz for three coats over the whole painted surface.

d) I used Z6 between each layer and then again at the end.

e) The AV is a very big vehicle. The only way I could get the whole top was from the bed for the top-back and a step stool to get the top-front.

f) I could not tell a difference between the look of the first layer and the third layer. I went went three layers to make sure that the whole surface got at least one layer. It was kind of hard to tell where the stuff was. I hope the extra work pays off in longer lasting protection.

g) The Zaino product lived up to the expectations generated on this site. I don't have a premium wax to compare it to, but this did go on well and sure makes it shine. I hope it now lives up to the protection expectations described by others that have posted.

h) Overall, the paint quality on the AV is pretty good. There is noticable orange peel, but it is consistent over the whole body and I knew that at purchase, so I can live with it. There were only 2 or 3 minor flaws that will never be noticed.

i) I need a bra. I already have rock chips through the paint on the hood after only three weeks. I will look into a wind deflector next week as my first official mod. Does Zaino count as Mod?

Thanks for the previous comments, and I look forward to continued time spent keeping up with this board.

Razorback.

 
I zainoed my brains out this weekend too.

It is really good stuff, I would say.

With your doing 3 coats, you must be one sore
hombre!

I know I am!

I guess it is worth it now that you know the paint is clean and your baby sparkles!
 
Now thjat you have applied Z....wash it with the Z wash....you will be amazed....for me it tends to get a bit better after wash 2 and 3......then it settles out and remains the same for a long time.....

PS the Zaino QD wroks great on projection TVs...keeps the dust away... >:D
 
Supermobile & Maverick:
I agree, spending that much time and money on the AV, Zaino should definitly qualify as a mod. Who is on the committee that officially defines such things?

Maverick:
The comment about personal life: With the relaxation owning and driving the AV provides , I consider y'all fellow members of my group therapy. ;) If I can't tell you, who can I tell? :cry:

ygmn:
A bird left a deposit on my hood at work today that literally dried off and blew away on my way home. Just a little outline is all that is left. I was very impressed.
 
I have a black AV that I took delivery on in Jan. '02. During the first waxing I noticed there was an area on the tailgate that was obviously wet sanded and not buffed. I also noticed that the paint, especially on the hood, wouldn't come up to a nice deep shine as black should. After about 2500 miles I started to notice that the paint was easily chiped and numerous little white primer spots were turning up with the front of the hood being the worst. A trip to my dealer....said he'd get the factory rep on it. It's now Sept. and I have over 18,000 miles on it....still no factory rep! Paint is getting worse.
Anybody else with this prob.? ???
 
chevyray, a pretty tough first post, but yeah, my onyx black has 20 minichips on the hood, i got the bugdeflector a while back, but when i get behind a rock hauler truck i just know im getting wounded, the touch up bottle sucks cause every one still shows so i just keep adding another coat of wax. on a positive note hows the av overall, are you knocking out some mods>>> hey, want to brighten up your life? pull out the park lamp bulbs, pry out two of the wires on one side of the bulb and flip them over to the other side. a free mod forya. kinda bright. put in ambers down on the daytime lights, when you get in tuirn on the park lights and all 4 of your ambers will be a different look. I like making changes just ..because,,, have fun reading stuff in this club,, ask for help and you will get it... right here at the cafcna... got change gonna count hood chips tomorrow during wax job!!
 
I have the Victory Red paint and have used the clay bar with pretty good results. However I did notice what appears to be dirt in the paint that the clay will not smooth out. It looks like the dirt or dust, was in the spray gun and shot on with the paint. Have you notice any of this in your Red paint? I wouldn't mind so much if it was anywhere but the middle of the hood.
 
On close inspection in the bright sun, I can notice some tiny "non-red" particles in the paint, but I cannot tell if they are supposed to be there or not. Its almost as if they are a component of the paint.

If your "dust" is just on the hood, then it probably is foreign matter, but mine is uniform over the whole truck, so they either messed up everywhere or its supposed to be like that.

After claying, the surface is very smooth, so there is nothing left on the surface. However, the close inspection in the sun indicates my success rate with the clay on the spots was about 95%. Several very small spots could use a little more work. Oh well, I guess I'll tackle that next time I have to clay the truck.

 
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