Paint work issues

[British Bulldog]

I wanted to ask for some honest opinions here about the quality of paint on my new 2021 1500 Longhorn. Black Pearl……….COVERED in orange peel. I was so happy to get it, I admit I didn’t pay as much attention until I set out to polish. Dealer has submitted a warranty claim….. denied!
what do I do? Needs wet flatting and repolishing. Independent places won’t touch it in case they burn thru the very thin clear coat. See pics below. Very hard to capture on film.

 

[mikeru]

That's as bad as I've seen on these trucks. Can't say I'm surprised that they denied your claim though. Maybe @RamCares can help but I wouldn't hold out too much hope on that. Not sure what I'd do if I were in your shoes. I'd probably try to see if I could live with it. Too bad you didn't notice that before you took delivery, but I understand how that could be missed. You expect a new truck to be flawless (of course they never are).

 

[KKBB]

It looks pretty bad to me in the pics. If they won't do anything I would get one of those meter things that measures the thickness of the clearcoat and if its thick enough, polish with a compound to get it flat. Lots of good videos on YouTube how to do it

 

[British Bulldog]

It is pretty bad! you should see it in the flesh. My fault for not spotting it. Worst thing is i bought o9ut of state and the locals are really not bothered to push for me I suspect. Oh well..........by next year I may be brave enough to have a go myself. I have done this before on vehicles but not to this extent and so new and dammed expensive if I balls up

 

[GTyankee]

the Classics that are coming off the Warren assembly line will be worse than the new body style coming off the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant
Even Ram bragged on how much better the SHAP Paint shop was

But no, Ram will not fix the Paint Job
They refused on my 2009 & my 2016

I took both of them to Body Shop that is closed on weekends
The owner of the shop allows the employees to do side work at the shop when it is closed.

He also allows his Main Painter to work at other quality shops, as long as the other shops call to ask if the painter is available.
West Coast Customs has used him to do Paris Hiltons Pink Bentley, among others

 

[British Bulldog]

black is by far the worst colour for this. I have a lovely shiny orange peely truck!
I will keep plugging away at them and also try to find someone reliable enough to do this (maybe!)
The ironic thing is everyone I speak to around here refers me to the GMC /Chevy dealership as they are reputed to produce the best work around here

 

[Bigs]

Yeah orange peel sucks big time. Noticed on mine as well but not as bad as what I'm seeing here. That's insane IMO.
Pretty much every car I have owned has had orange peel and on darker vehicles, it shows up even more unfortunately.

I know some people that have wet sanded their vehicles to get rid of it but then you remove a lot of clear to do this. I wouldn't be happy that's for sure.

Good luck, I hope FCA wakes up as this is a huge quality issue.

 

[Riccochet]

The easiest route would be to wet sand and polish. I would just knock it down a little via wet sanding, not completely remove it as you'll likely go through the clear coat. Once polished hit with a good ceramic coating.

 

[British Bulldog]

This is what I wanted, ideas! Thanks fellas…….
I still want to try FCA further, but I will definitely wait till the vehicle is older to do it myself, if I do! Scary S:;t this, one mistake, mega bucks!

 

[British Bulldog]

Any one recommend a GOOD ceramic coat I can do myself after or if I wet sand?
As I mentioned earlier, most paint shops around me are very reticent to do this for me.
I even approached a ceramic coating firm in the Twin Cities and he said again, they do paint correction, not overall sanding.
I am sure there are places to have this done but at what cost? The ceramic guy said I was looking at thousands not hundreds to have this done professionally. ****** me! On a new truck!

 

[mikeru]

I'm not surprised that it will cost thousands. It's a labor intensive process. Since so much of your truck is affected it will require lots of hours to fix all of that.

 

[Riccochet]

A body shop would be the best bet to have it sanded and polished. Like mentioned, it's labor intensive. Figure about 16 hours for one person to 2 stage wet sand and then 2 stage compound and polish.

As for ceramic coatings. There are many, many on the market that are user friendly. My personal recommendation would be Apex Surface Protection Metal Oxide. It's pricey, but worth it.

 

[British Bulldog]

Thank you Rick O’Shea! ( see what I did there?) I will look into that finish. Can it be done by myself or professionals?

 

[Riccochet]

Thank you Rick O’Shea! ( see what I did there?) I will look into that finish. Can it be done by myself or professionals?

If you aren't comfortable doing a decontamination and correction to your paint you might be better off having a detail shop do it. Otherwise the coating is very simple to apply. In a garage or somewhere out of direct sunlight is needed. Criss-cross apply the coating in 2'x2' section, allow to sit for 30 seconds to a minute, use 1 microfiber to lightly even out the product, use a second microfiber to fully remove the product and buff to a shine. Repeat on the entire vehicle. All surfaces, minus the glass, can be done. Plastic, trim, lights, chrome, everything.

Alkaline wash
Iron remover
Clay bar where needed
1 or 2 step paint correction
IPA prep
Coating application
24 hour cure
Topper application

 

[British Bulldog]

Thank you. You have gone to a fair bit of trouble for me. I did look this stuff up, it looks the business. So, i will need ALL the above, correct? Alkaline wash for contaminants, same for iron remover. Clay bars I have used before. IPA prep(whatever that is) coating and topper coat seem to be available at the Apex site. I watched a couple videos, this fella knows his stuff, I think.
Again, thanks

CLIVE

 

[Mike Townsend]

I have Opti-Coat on my car and it looks awesome. It is the second car I've had it on. BTW, you can ceramic coat the glass. You can coat the wheels also. It works pretty well.

 

[British Bulldog]

Mike,
Did you do the Opti-coat yourself?

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

Mike,
Did you do the Opti-coat yourself?

Nice job Clive O' Bulldog

 

[British Bulldog]

Well, I have just had Hannah from Ram Care PM me so MAYBE I might get some feed back from FCA, we will see.

 

[bm02tj]

Wet sand and re clear coat