2009 Sierra All Terrain Paint Chipping Horribly

[Scuba Steve]

I've had my 2009 Sierra All Terrain for a year now and have been noticing that the paint has chipped terribly on the front side of both rear wheels. It is chipped all the way down to bare metal. It has a little over 42000 miles on it and I have rarely driven it down any gravel roads. It also has factory installed mud flaps. I had the dealer look at it and they say it is doublful that it would be covered under GMs corrosion warranty because it is chipped. Has anyone else had this issue? Not much of a warranty if they can come up with any excuse to not honor it... My 98 Silverado Z71 with over 200000 miles on it didnt have this much paint chipping. I'm a little disapointed to say the least. I will see if I can post pictures to see what everyone thinks.

Steve

 

[Z15]

Steve

Sounds like its from road debris and that would not be covered by warranty.
Do you have the stock OEM tires or something more aggressive? I learned my lesson years ago that aggressive tires will destroy paint quickly.

 

[Scuba Steve]

They are the original tires that came on the truck. Like I said though, I don't drive on gravel very often. I would consider 99.9% Pavement/Highway and .1% gravel normal driving conditions, especially for a trim package sold as "All Terrain". To me it appears to be very weak/thin paint or a design flaw. The flair of the panel seems to stick out too far and catches any debris that is thrown back by the front tires. I noticed that the design was changed on the 2010 models.

 

[Z15]

My 2010 has a clear protective film in front the rear tires, other than that the body is exactly the same.

Its not necessarily gravel roads, lots of grit on paved roadsas well. I know, I worked for many years as a state DOT Survey Technician and more than once I had take someone to the ER because of dirt sand blasted into the eyes (past safety glasses) by speeding traffic. We would get sand blasted a lot. We found everything from money to dead bodies along the roadways.


Mike
2010 GMC Sierra SBEC SLT Z71 All Terrain
2009 CTS4 AWD Performance Sedan

 

[Scuba Steve]

Here are some pics:

I don't think I'm asking too much for the paint on a $30K+ truck to hold to normal driving conditions for at least 50,000 miles am I?

 

[Scuba Steve]

My 2010 has a clear protective film in front the rear tires, other than that the body is exactly the same.

Its not necessarily gravel roads, lots of grit on paved roadsas well. I know, I worked for many years as a state DOT Survey Technician and more than once I had take someone to the ER because of dirt sand blasted into the eyes (past safety glasses) by speeding traffic. We would get sand blasted a lot. We found everything from money to dead bodies along the roadways.


Mike
2010 GMC Sierra SBEC SLT Z71 All Terrain
2009 CTS4 AWD Performance Sedan

You are correct, I was thinking of the 2011s with the re-design of the wheel wells. The 2010s have the clear film in that spot. It looks like a mod needs to approve the pictures before they get posted. I just got a call back from the local GMC dealership on this. They say I have to go through the dealership that I bought it from which was the local Chevy dealership. I guess they don't want to be the bad guys that tell me no.

 

[Z15]

I do not see any design changes on the 2011 or 2012's.

Nothing will change body wise till the 2014 models appearing in 2013.

Sometimes the original selling dealer will do repairs as a good-will gesture and find a way to make GM pay. There is no incentive for another dealer to do that. But if it was a used vehicle, it might be wishful thinking.

 

[Scuba Steve]

Well I got a little more clarity on this issue....I took it to the dealership's collision center and hadn't even stopped my truck when the manager and painter noticed that both box sides had been repainted and the drivers side was full of body filler.They both agreed that minor rock chips were expected, but what they saw was beyond terrible.Whoever did the paint /repair did a horrible job. So they referred me back to the sales manager to see what could be done. As it turns out, they sold me a severely damaged truck but didn't disclose that when I bought it. Needless to say, I am beyond angry about this. I hope they take care of me, but my gut says I'm screwed. I meet with the sales manager tomorrow.

 

[GMC Customer Service]

Scuba, let me know how things go. I hope your dealer is able to take care of you. If not let me know and I'll do what I can to help you.

Jeff Morris, GMC Customer Service

 

[Scuba Steve]

After a little argument, the sales manager finally agreed to split the cost of repair/repaint 50/50 with me. Not what I wanted, but it's better than nothing. My only mistake was trusting that one of the largest GM dealerships in the state to not screw me over. This was my post-deployment Christmas present to myself last year and it appears that it is the gift that keeps on giving. Oh well...my truck is currently in the body shop getting fixed and I get an $800.00 bill for Christmas.