paint issues--please help

[ViperSmith]

Kris, you seriously have more patience than I do...

 

[SRTviper]

thanks for all the advice, i really do appreciate the feedback. i do want to let some of you know the reason i'm being so picky about this is because i did pay 139k for this car and after tax, tag, and title it came out to 153k and that was 10 weeks ago so not even 3 months. One of the main draws for me was how Ralph talked about the perfect paint with no orange peels and the detailed process for painting on the the stripes. The car is my daily driver and the dealership has had it already for 10 days and they along with SRT & the chrysler customer car advocate say to adjust the door so it won't hit anymore and do the paint work correctly they would need the car for 2 or 3 weeks which means i get to ride around in a dodge avenger or chrysler 200 and still be on the hook for the $11 a day minimum insurance coverage (I'm sure i can get them to pay for that). i have fought tooth and nail for them to send factory painted parts to replace my damaged parts so the fix would only be two days but they say they won't do that. One more thing the dealership did "touch up the rear brake duct (see pic) and i want everyone who said not to worry about it look at this and tell me, would you let the dealership now touch up your door? Let's face it with the inability to devalue the car with performance mods since the PCM is locked why would I let the dealership devalue the car with modding the paint? what would you do?

That is touched up? It still looks messed up. Well then looks like you have an incompetent dealer and need to find a new one ASAP, because they clearly don't understand the care needed for a car like this. This is so disappointing, 40% of the reason I was looking into the viper as well was because I would avoid dumb dealerships that don't know what they are doing like with the GT500. Doesn't SRT make them all spend like 20k to even be considered to be on the list of dealers and then train their techs for a long time so that customers do not get horrible service exactly like this????

This is very very disappointing.

 

[PDCjonny]

Disgraceful.

 

[Policy Limits]

What's the status ?

 

[KB Viper]

What's the status ?

It has to be "cleared" to go to another dealership for the repair since the new dealership is not coverd by the same corporate tech and that won't be done until 8/14. It's funny I thought this was America and I could go where ever I wanted for service.

 

[doctorbob]

I would just call SRT and tell them to come fix it or take it back. Quality control at the plant is the issue here.

 

[SADVIPER]

^ thats a pipe dream up here!

 

[Hemotoxic]

Man, sorry to see this. I wouldn't necessarily trust a dealer paint touchup either. If you feel the need for a nuclear option, I suggest you look up a lemon lawyer in your town. I don't know how Cali's LL goes but I'd expect it to be pretty robust. See if the prospect of having to buy back a new Viper has any effect on SRT's willingness to hook you up with factory paint.

 

[VIPER 93]

The lemon laws for each state should be
in the books that came with the car. I
hired a lawer out of San Diego for my
2000 tundra.

 

[ViperSmith]

Also note, I believe Lemon Laws apply to the state you purchased the car from, not where you reside.

 

[Dan Cragin]

I would be happy to help you with this. Glen Thomas is a local dealer to me. I am sure they would help if I had an issue fixing this. It takes a bit of time to properly align these windows, I worked on this quite a bit on the Gen 4's and am sure that it bleeds over.

 

[Policy Limits]

I believe where I am if the same problem is addressed unsuccessfully three times or more within a certain period of time, the lemon law applies; not sure about your state. Most consumer attorneys provide a free consultation and most Attorney General Departments have a consumer protection division. It's a six figure purchase, the value of a house for lots of folks & hence a big deal. Hope everything works out.

 

[KB Viper]

I believe where I am if the same problem is addressed unsuccessfully three times or more within a certain period of time, the lemon law applies; not sure about your state. Most consumer attorneys provide a free consultation and most Attorney General Departments have a consumer protection division. It's a six figure purchase, the value of a house for lots of folks & hence a big deal. Hope everything works out.

I am going to drop my car off at the SoCal viper clubs recommended dealer which is glen Thomas dodge. They have a great rep with viper owners in the area and the SoCal pres is coordinating this with the Chrysler customer at advocate and SRT to make sure this is my last visit for this particular issue. After this attempt, which will be the third if the issue is not resolved I'll look at my other options. I'll be sure to update the thread accordingly.

 

[past ohio]

Not sure if I am reading all the posts above correctly?? But several mention "factory painting" I don't think any are painted at Conner, all paint is done by the panel suppliers , correct ?? Guns and the individual painter play a big part or are the panels painted by a robot at the panel supplier ?? I don't think they even do any touch up paint if a chip at Conner...am I right or wrong ?? Good luck, I think you need to open a warranty log with Chrysler and don't give up....I had a Jeep that eventually had to be taken back....

 

[Policy Limits]

...And God Bless America...

 

[VIPER GTSR 91]

I sure hope the SoCal clubs dealer gets this right for you. Keep us posted and you really do have a lot of patience on this matter. Thanks for posting and SRT should be all over this to help you out.

 

[SSGViper]

You need to send Ralphy a twitter link to this thread. Viper is doomed with this crap service.

 

[Paul Hawker]

Kris.

Sorry to hear you are having these problems, but it sounds like you are well on your way to a solution.

Glen Thomas is a fantastic dealership, and has made a committment to servicing our Vipers. In addition, please take Dan Cragin up on his offer to put a set of tremendously talented and experienced eyes on this issue. Dan is one of the most experienced Viper tech on the planet. He has a fantastic paint and body guy that has worked magic on Vipers over the years. If you here the name "Ole" you have scored big time.

The Club has a great relationship with SRT and Chrysler and working together should be able to get this issue behind you.

I saw a door like this once before and it was caused by a delivery driver climbing out through the window of a partially open door. His trailer could not allow the door to fully open and he had put his total weight on the opened door crawling out. If this is the case, then it may have come out of the factory totally proper, but got damaged before delivery to you.

Thanks for keeping everybody (and I mean everybody) up to date on your experience on this issue.

 

[wikkid]

SRT QC *****. And its been a problem for quite sometime. Ive been on the SRT hotline which is great, the problem is the dealers ****. Im sure this will get sorted out after time, but at the rate there going they may run out of time.
Not all dealers, just about 80% of them...lol.

 

[Policy Limits]

petrified to go to a dealer...my plan right along was to have my personal mechanic whom handles all of my exotics do oil, filter, brake flush, tires etc in general maintenance. The problem of course is if u have bad luck & need warranty service.

 

[KB Viper]

Kris.

Sorry to hear you are having these problems, but it sounds like you are well on your way to a solution.

Glen Thomas is a fantastic dealership, and has made a committment to servicing our Vipers. In addition, please take Dan Cragin up on his offer to put a set of tremendously talented and experienced eyes on this issue. Dan is one of the most experienced Viper tech on the planet. He has a fantastic paint and body guy that has worked magic on Vipers over the years. If you here the name "Ole" you have scored big time.

The Club has a great relationship with SRT and Chrysler and working together should be able to get this issue behind you.

I saw a door like this once before and it was caused by a delivery driver climbing out through the window of a partially open door. His trailer could not allow the door to fully open and he had put his total weight on the opened door crawling out. If this is the case, then it may have come out of the factory totally proper, but got damaged before delivery to you.

Thanks for keeping everybody (and I mean everybody) up to date on your experience on this issue.

However it happened, im dealing with it. The car is going to be flatbeded to Glen Thomas next week as the check engine light & stability control light have been on for the last couple of days and worst of all the suspension is stuck in race mode (I've already disconnect the battery twice for 20mins at a time to reset and it did not work). I can attest that race mode works very well as the suspension is super stiff and driving the car on the street gets you a real good bounce. Again this is a daily driver so you can imagine how I feel stuck in race mode driving 40-50 miles a day.

And yes I have been emailing Ralph directly along with Vipers lead engineer Graham Henkle because with all the issues in play I feel like I have the right to. All I can do know is prey that the guys at Glen Thomas can align the door, fix the window, repaint the affect areas, diagnose the stability control & check engine light issue, and get the suspension to work all within a couple of weeks so that I can have my car back by labor day weekend.

Teresa and I were looking forward to meeting up with the group this weekend but that's not going to happen with the car stuck in race mode, maybe next time.

Kris

 

[ViperSmith]

Kris, you have my deepest sympathies - what a pain.

 

[ViperSmith]

I've only had two mechanical issues. Every once in awhile the reverse lockout gate doesn't work and every once in awhile the ESC light turns on. ESC goes away by restarting car. Lockout I am unsure what causes that.

 

[bushido]

However it happened, im dealing with it. The car is going to be flatbeded to Glen Thomas next week as the check engine light & stability control light have been on for the last couple of days and worst of all the suspension is stuck in race mode (I've already disconnect the battery twice for 20mins at a time to reset and it did not work). I can attest that race mode works very well as the suspension is super stiff and driving the car on the street gets you a real good bounce. Again this is a daily driver so you can imagine how I feel stuck in race mode driving 40-50 miles a day.

And yes I have been emailing Ralph directly along with Vipers lead engineer Graham Henkle because with all the issues in play I feel like I have the right to. All I can do know is prey that the guys at Glen Thomas can align the door, fix the window, repaint the affect areas, diagnose the stability control & check engine light issue, and get the suspension to work all within a couple of weeks so that I can have my car back by labor day weekend.

Teresa and I were looking forward to meeting up with the group this weekend but that's not going to happen with the car stuck in race mode, maybe next time.

Kris

That *****. Sorry to hear about the problems..

Man from others having code glitches, to this... I'm glad I didn't buy one because I would of taken mine right out to Laguna Seca,and who knows what would happen. Driving it hard..

 

[sambo32]

What codes are popping up when you do the self diagnostic on the dash

 

[TrackAire]

However it happened, im dealing with it. The car is going to be flatbeded to Glen Thomas next week as the check engine light & stability control light have been on for the last couple of days and worst of all the suspension is stuck in race mode (I've already disconnect the battery twice for 20mins at a time to reset and it did not work). I can attest that race mode works very well as the suspension is super stiff and driving the car on the street gets you a real good bounce. Again this is a daily driver so you can imagine how I feel stuck in race mode driving 40-50 miles a day.

And yes I have been emailing Ralph directly along with Vipers lead engineer Graham Henkle because with all the issues in play I feel like I have the right to. All I can do know is prey that the guys at Glen Thomas can align the door, fix the window, repaint the affect areas, diagnose the stability control & check engine light issue, and get the suspension to work all within a couple of weeks so that I can have my car back by labor day weekend.

Teresa and I were looking forward to meeting up with the group this weekend but that's not going to happen with the car stuck in race mode, maybe next time.

Kris

I hope that the dealership and SRT get this figured out for you quickly and you don't have any more issues. If this isn't resolved in less than 2 weeks, the next flatbed showing should have a new replacement Viper on it for you. From a marketing standpoint, this is the only smart move SRT should be thinking about if they honestly want to continue selling more Vipers to new owners.

Cheers,
George

 

[ViperSmith]

I hope that the dealership and SRT get this figured out for you quickly and you don't have any more issues. If this isn't resolved in less than 2 weeks, the next flatbed showing should have a new replacement Viper on it for you. From a marketing standpoint, this is the only smart move SRT should be thinking about if they honestly want to continue selling more Vipers to new owners.

Cheers,
George

SRT should be bending over backwards. Sort of why I love Nordstrom. They will do whatever to make you happy.

There should have been no gripes, SRT should have jumped in and done whatever to make Kris happy.

Take the door off, ship it next day to Prefix and have them fix it.

 

[JETSTAR]

Not sure if I am reading all the posts above correctly?? But several mention "factory painting" I don't think any are painted at Conner, all paint is done by the panel suppliers , correct ?? Guns and the individual painter play a big part or are the panels painted by a robot at the panel supplier ?? I don't think they even do any touch up paint if a chip at Conner...am I right or wrong ?? Good luck, I think you need to open a warranty log with Chrysler and don't give up....I had a Jeep that eventually had to be taken back....

All the body panels are painted at PreFix by real people no robots an I'm sure the paint was perfect when it left there shop
My car came with 3 chips in the drivers door probably from shipping but I'm fixing them at my shop because I'm not crazy about any dealer paint work

 

[SylvanSRT]

paint used to be done at ASC, i think Prefix may be doing all viper paint now, or at least stipes. No paint work is done at CAAP. whole panels go on or get sent back to supplier/contractor. Lemon laws in states differ, number of days in servic, number of times attempted to fix same problem ect.... if you do get to that point...most states also must pay for your attorney that handles the lawsuit if you win

 

[palindrome]

This is a travesty. I would be freaking out on them if they gave me this run-around after spending 140k. So what was the purpose for special dealers only to be branded official SRT? Just to make more money by the dealership paying a premium? What a crock. Best of luck sir!