PSA: Setting Expectations - Condition of your paint may disappoint you, but a paint correction/ceramic coat and a good detailer will fix your problem.

[DAC17]

My detailer called them "paint nibs". They were on both my BW and my 22 Bolt, but only on the horizontal surfaces. Needed a light wet sanding and polish.

 

[Jameson's Viggen]

I have an unique position, being an Cadillac design employee and having a car with issues. I would rather it be me than a off the street consumer. An issue like this gives people room to say things like "This will be my last GM/Cadillac or even American Car".

So we have an internal message board and so I shared the story and the pictures.

Two days later the head of Quality Control at Lansing contacted me to get my VIN and ask some questions.

I could tell she would love it if it wasn't an QC issue, she really wanted it to be the mistake of my detailer doing paint correction. I shot that down for a few reasons. 1) There is clear coat over the exposed primer 2) you literally could not get any equipment to even get into that edge 3) I have had two inspections by body shop professionals, they all know its from time of assembly.

She is taking it seriously though and is trying to send someone from QC to inspect the car themselves at the body shop before work has started.

 

[Throat Yogurt]

I have an unique position, being an Cadillac design employee and having a car with issues. I would rather it be me than a off the street consumer. An issue like this gives people room to say things like "This will be my last GM/Cadillac or even American Car".

So we have an internal message board and so I shared the story and the pictures.

Two days later the head of Quality Control at Lansing contacted me to get my VIN and ask some questions.

I could tell she would love it if it wasn't an QC issue, she really wanted it to be the mistake of my detailer doing paint correction. I shot that down for a few reasons. 1) There is clear coat over the exposed primer 2) you literally could not get any equipment to even get into that edge 3) I have had two inspections by body shop professionals, they all know its from time of assembly.

She is taking it seriously though and is trying to send someone from QC to inspect the car themselves at the body shop before work has started.

It's good that the QC person is taking an interest in your case, hopefully it will feed back into the production process to improve initial quality overall.

Does she know about all the other QC issues that have been reported all over the forum? Missing badges, body panel colors that don't match, paint nibs, paint divots, missing fasteners, interior panels not connected, etc. Given how few BWs have been made overall, and what small percentage of those is represented on this forum, the number of QC issues we are hearing about is frankly astounding.

The design and engineering of the Blackwings is amazing. But I feel they are being shot in the foot by the assembly and delivery teams, which, if the anecdotes on this forum can be extrapolated to data, are just awful.

 

[Jameson's Viggen]

It's good that the QC person is taking an interest in your case, hopefully it will feed back into the production process to improve initial quality overall.

Does she know about all the other QC issues that have been reported all over the forum? Missing badges, body panel colors that don't match, paint nibs, paint divots, missing fasteners, interior panels not connected, etc. Given how few BWs have been made overall, and what small percentage of those is represented on this forum, the number of QC issues we are hearing about is frankly astounding.

The design and engineering of the Blackwings is amazing. But I feel they are being shot in the foot by the assembly and delivery teams, which, if the anecdotes on this forum can be extrapolated to data, are just awful.

She will when I bring them up, I didn't want to open the flood fates off the bat.

My team co workers, we talked about it, and its frustrating we are fighting for a MM to have perfect surface highlights for a car to be assumbled with a body line being off by 1/4".

 

[Furinax]

No complaints about the paint so far. My previous car was a Lexus and the paint job on that car was spot on. I don't see any blemishes while cleaning the CT4V (mine is Shadow Metallic).

What I do have issue with is the color palette that Cadillac offers. I saw all the colors on their swatch list and even the "exciting ones" seemed dull. The only vibrant one I found was Electric Blue. Everyone says since the demographic of Cadillacs is older they don't really go after flashy colors....

Looking to vinyl wrap the car in something- preferably red or blue. This way I don't have to bother with PPF.

 

[Jameson's Viggen]

No complaints about the paint so far. My previous car was a Lexus and the paint job on that car was spot on. I don't see any blemishes while cleaning the CT4V (mine is Shadow Metallic).

What I do have issue with is the color palette that Cadillac offers. I saw all the colors on their swatch list and even the "exciting ones" seemed dull. The only vibrant one I found was Electric Blue. Everyone says since the demographic of Cadillacs is older they don't really go after flashy colors....

Looking to vinyl wrap the car in something- preferably red or blue. This way I don't have to bother with PPF.

My Blaze Orange is pretty damn flashy.

 

[RDATLTE]

No complaints about the paint so far. My previous car was a Lexus and the paint job on that car was spot on. I don't see any blemishes while cleaning the CT4V (mine is Shadow Metallic).

What I do have issue with is the color palette that Cadillac offers. I saw all the colors on their swatch list and even the "exciting ones" seemed dull. The only vibrant one I found was Electric Blue. Everyone says since the demographic of Cadillacs is older they don't really go after flashy colors....

Looking to vinyl wrap the car in something- preferably red or blue. This way I don't have to bother with PPF.

Wrap will not give you the protection that PPF will.

 

[rubberduck]

Anyone have any scuffed up wheels on delivery?

This weekend I finally got around to cleaning off the adhesive that was on the wheels (presumably from wheel protection pieces for transportation) and found several scuff areas on the front wheels. It's odd that they are only on the front and suspect it had something to do with transportation. I plan to bring this up to the dealer, but also wondering what my expectations should be for repair or replacement. On Friday I was at the detailer and showed them to him, and he didn't think he could fix them.

 

[MattH]

Anyone have any scuffed up wheels on delivery?

This weekend I finally got around to cleaning off the adhesive that was on the wheels (presumably from wheel protection pieces for transportation) and found several scuff areas on the front wheels. It's odd that they are only on the front and suspect it had something to do with transportation. I plan to bring this up to the dealer, but also wondering what my expectations should be for repair or replacement. On Friday I was at the detailer and showed them to him, and he didn't think he could fix them.

Your dealer should have a "wheel" guy. Our guy is like a wizard, he could make that where you would never notice it.

 

[DAC17]

Your dealer should have a "wheel" guy. Our guy is like a wizard, he could make that where you would never notice it.

Our local guy is actually called the "Dent Wizard" wheel repair guy!

 

[1StunnaV]

Anyone have any scuffed up wheels on delivery?

This weekend I finally got around to cleaning off the adhesive that was on the wheels (presumably from wheel protection pieces for transportation) and found several scuff areas on the front wheels. It's odd that they are only on the front and suspect it had something to do with transportation. I plan to bring this up to the dealer, but also wondering what my expectations should be for repair or replacement. On Friday I was at the detailer and showed them to him, and he didn't think he could fix them.

what happens is the the vinyl they place on them to "protect" them ends up coming partly loose during transit.... It catches sand and dirt and turns into sand paper, going from protecting them to causing damage....... same with the vinyl on the spliitters....

shipments for 2023s will be different, though....

 

[668LT4]

shipments for 2023s will be different, though....

I like the sound of that!!

#2023CT5-VBlackwing

 

[rubberduck]

what happens is the the vinyl they place on them to "protect" them ends up coming partly loose during transit.... It catches sand and dirt and turns into sand paper, going from protecting them to causing damage....... same with the vinyl on the spliitters....

shipments for 2023s will be different, though....

Thanks Dustin, that makes sense. Do you usually have no problems getting the scuffs out?

 

[jonnywaffles11]

Thanks Dustin, that makes sense. Do you usually have no problems getting the scuffs out?

I had to scrub each wheel with isopropyl alcohol to get all the glue off - took 20 min per wheel on the tech bronzes. I did not have any surface marring after this though. Are you sure you've fully removed all the residue with alcohol?

 

[rubberduck]

I had to scrub each wheel with isopropyl alcohol to get all the glue off - took 20 min per wheel on the tech bronzes. I did not have any surface marring after this though. Are you sure you've fully removed all the residue with alcohol?

Yes, I used 99% IPA with microfiber towels. On the spots with the scuffs, I went over them several times with no luck. I could try a wax/cleaner, at the time I didn't think it would work.

It's ridiculous that the car came to me this way. I also spent around 20m on each wheel.

 

[GT325]

Gave my 5BW it’s first bath today. Had a small amount of residual adhesive on 3 wheels one on a few spokes. Came off fairly easily. No permanent marring that I could see. The wheels sure a darn nice when you get up close to them.

 

[ClassaxV]

I don't know what to think as my 23 Raven Black 4 arrived with decent paint. My goto shop commented they hadn't seen a Black Caddy come in from the factory in that condition. I was like how bad is it, and John said that compared to what he's used to seeing from GM it was great. So everyone's mileage may vary. What I will say is that for being the most popular color, I haven't seen that many black blackwings anywhere on the road. LOT's of the baby blues but not black.

 

[Tflong24]

This is comical, a NEW car shows up with paint damage and the CUSTOMER is expected to correct it. Only on a GM forum...... Not much else can be said here. Sad.

 

[rubberduck]

Yea, it was a shock to me as well having owned only GM trucks which I never really looked that carefully at the paint. My previous cars were German and seemed like the paint was fine. Now with the 5BW and the help of this forum I’m a budding paint snob.

I really wouldn’t want the dealer to do any work on my paint and preferred to take it to a reputable shop. The shop owner said my paint was pretty good and they only did a minimal amount of work on it.

 

[RDATLTE]

I've been lucky to not have any paint problems in the past or with my 23' BW.

BUT, my recently acquired 23' gmc 2500hd has the option of the painted wheel arches. The paint is so far off between the arches and the rest of the truck, I'm somewhat embarrassed to drive it. It is getting fixed under warranty but wow! All 4 arches are like this.

Yea, that's bad. Looks like Rift vs White.