Hi everyone I purchased a new Spring Edition a few weeks ago so I am a newbie to this forum. I have how ever been lurking here for awhile though reading some of the invaluable info. By the way I love it. I was hoping to get a little assistance from other Spring Edition owners. Here's the problem, Several days after I brought it home I notice there was a color difference with the drivers door and the rear passenger door. At first I thought I was seeing things so I decided to give it some time. Well I spent the last two weeks or so looking at it from every possible angle and all different lighting conditions, and there is a definite shade difference. Today I brought it in to the dealer and to my surpise everyone that looked at it saw and acknowledged it. More importantly their body shop manager told me it is definitely a problem with manufacturing. We looked at a couple of other new Spring Editions that were on the lot and saw similar flaws. As it stands now we are waiting for the factory rep to take a look at it and determine what course of action will be taken. That should be fun :clappy: Anyway what I am asking is, if any of you other Spring Edition owners would like to take a look at yours. To best check it you need to stand approx. 10 to 12 feet way if you have the same issue believe me you will see it. It would appear some are worse than others. At this point in time I am not sure what course they will want to take, but I am curious to see how many others like mine are out there. Thanks in advance for any help!

Thanks for the heads up, I'll be checking mine tommorow!

Some other HHR owners with varing colors have noticed the same issue in the past. Some of the discussion was that body parts may of been painted at different times. Hoods and doors were discussed if not on this forum on another forum. I remenber this from October and early Nov. Try a search for paint issues.

Welcome and glad to have another S.E. HHR Owner here..:welcome: :hhr: :welcome: :steering:

Well I can not see anything on my Amethyst color. But when I took it in to have them look at the hood dent the body shop guy noticed that my hood and bumper where a slight shade off. It said with special paint colors sometimes come out a little off.

I've noticed this in about all vehicles today. The way these things are painted then assembled, I'm surprised you don't see a Dark Silver car with a Silver metalic Hood. Gm has always had different shades of colors on their vehicles. Really Ford and Chrysler do to. They paint part of the vehicle in one shop and the other in another section and different times. And of course there is the change in batches of paint too i'm sure. My Dark Silver/Gray HHR does have a little different shade on the doors compared to the rear quarter panel and the hood, but it's so close, I'd be afraid the colors would really be off if they tried to patch it. I've seen GMC emblems on Chevrolet trucks, I've seen Firebird emblems on Camaro's. Maybe if they repainted the whole vehicle?....Na I doubt they would, but you could press it i'm sure if there is that much difference. To me it does make each vehicle unique, like it's own finger print.
It is frustrating to see such workmanship show so at times though.:bow:

Is the same door on each HHR you looked at different? Or is it different parts on each car? The reason I ask is that it seems to me its more significant than parts being painted on different days. After all, how in the world can a body shop get anything to match after repairing and painting, perhaps years after a car was built, if they can't count on the paint being an axact formula, exact color? I would bet that the paint they used was simply mixed wrong from the supplier, and all parts painted with that batch are the wrong color.

In any event your in for a lot of fun - not.

Yes, I also had paint matching problems. Both Spring edition HHR that my dealer had was defective. I ordered mine before they came out and the local body shop corrected mine and when I went to pick my HHR up, the other one was in the bodyshop for paint. I have noticed this on several others also. Dont seem to know what has happen to GM's quality control.

Yes, I also had paint matching problems. Both Spring edition HHR that my dealer had was defective. I ordered mine before they came out and the local body shop corrected mine and when I went to pick my HHR up, the other one was in the bodyshop for paint. I have noticed this on several others also. Dont seem to know what has happen to GM's quality control.

Sent you an e-mail regarding this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks ;)

nice another Florida owner..Welcome!

Mine seems to be fine. The only thing they left on from the factory was some tape where the top of the back door connects to the body. I haven't taken time to remove it yet to see what is behind it. It just might be some kind of protection when they mount the back door on.

I saw my first Spring Edition in person today and one could clearly see a difference in the shade of the paint on the driver's door versus the rest of that side of the vehicle. I am quite sure it was not the lighting or anything.

Heres the deal with the painting process. I worked in a paint shop(Ford) for 10 years as a maint. supervisor. The only way the color gets different is that part of the vehical was damaged on the line being assembled or in transport to it's destination. If repaired by hand and it went so far as the primer underneath being reapplied this will cause the difference. The primer is the key as this is the base for the auto. Ford as well as the other big 3 use different color prime depending on the vehical color. Don't know if this helps but there is a 99% chance that part that is different color was damged and or replaced.

I wanted to post a follow up. If there is a problem with say all the right rear passenger cars then here is the most likly senerio.

1)Something or someone in the process caused constaint damage.
2) Missing parts (doors, hoods, liftgate) and the rest of the auto was painted then the part comes in and was hand painted or painted with different operators on overtime.
3) Mexicans were taking a siesta and missed a spot....ha...ha

I am the original author of this thread. In the interest of keeping everyone up to speed, I had my 4th meeting today with the dealer. I spoke to the service director and he in turn with 2 factory reps. One being their standard rep. and the other a factory paint rep. They are aware of the problems and admitted to me that it is a "wide spread" issue with the Spring Editions/Victory Red. Their theory is the robot that was to paint the drivers side of the vehicle was misaligned and the top coat coverage was applied to lite. Hence the different shades. Some sort of decision as to what they are going to do about it, is suppose to come down in the next few days.

I have spent my whole working carreer in the automotive arena (38+ years) I have seen vehicles come in that were damaged in transport. I even saw them drop off the transport as the were being delivered. This type of problem is one of the first things I checked for. No sign of it. Let me emphasize, other than some isolated cases with other colors, this only pertains to the Victory Red color. I have already informed them that "patch painting" the drivers door is not an acceptable solution. So we shall see. Thanks again !

I've examined my Spring Edition VR in different light conditions and cannot see a difference in paint colors at all. I suppose they are not all effected by this problem.

I've examined my Spring Edition VR in different light conditions and cannot see a difference in paint colors at all. I suppose they are not all effected by this problem.

It's my understanding that although there are many out there like mine, not everyone that came off the line were affected. It sounds like you may be one of the lucky ones. Good luck to you !

I have a Black LS and i've noticed a small spot where you can see primer. The dealer said that the paint gun must of misfired for a second. It has the clear coat on, but very little paint. Will get painted when the running boards and the rear fenders get done.

Ok Guy's we have a bottom line on this ugly and time consuming situation. After numerous meetings and discussions with the so called decision makers here's what they offered me. Re-paint the front driver's door. Which I told them early on that it was an unacceptable solution. Or they will do an assisted buy back. Which means I get to pick out another HHR, but I must pay for the mileage I have put on the current one. Plus pay for the tag and title transfer again. And any difference between the cost of the two vehicles. Which may sound good, but here's the clincher. They will not let me have another Spring Edition/Victory Red one. That tells me two things. One GM is definitely aware that the problem is wide spread and two there is not a good one out there to be had. After personally looking at a bunch of them myself I would have to concur. So GM has managed to back me in the corner with two decisions, neither of which is acceptable. Any thoughts ?

Any thoughts ?

Dark Silver Metallic ROCKS! :thumb:

Dark Silver Metallic ROCKS! :thumb:

I think my user name says it all. I only buy Red. But it's really more than that. GM put together what I think is an attractive optioned vehicle, and it is the reason I purchased it. Why should I have to give up the unique wheels. pinstriping and interior, just to mention a few. I don't think it's unreasonable to puchase a new vehicle and expect it to be one color.

come on its red yes , its built buy robots and spanish workers nothing agaisnt them , but come on its only a car , not built buy god, repaint the door and love it do u think there going to give u all your $$ back NOT:lol: , i,m not trying to be a jurk:D but i think its funny:nuts: u picth a fit and cant live with it live life full , love the car they are building with there flaws, love 2hhrs :nuts: :nuts:buy a summit white , white is white

I have a Dark Silver Metallic. (It's really "Charcoal," but GM won't call it that.) Anyway, there are several; places where the paint is "foggy" (a term meaning they didn't get good enough coverage with the two-stage paint), and you can see it plainly on the hood and front fenders. Even though I keep a show quality shine on my car:

http://www.socalhhr.citymax.com/i/Hidden%20Pics/Riax_Fontana_Front.jpg

...every time I look at the fenders I'm reminded that it's not perfect. Now that the car is 8-months old and has 4 door dings in it (even though I usually park in the next county!), I'm seriously considering a full custom repaint (yes; I'm certifieably crazy!).

I know it's your "baby" - but I would take the door repaint and move on.
they're great - but they're only cars...(blasphemy, I know...) :lol:

Enjoy it while you have it! :thumb:
Just my :2cents:

just got my spring a few days ago.... no apparent paint problem, either that or I'm going blind.:>:>

I echo some others here...if you like the SE, get the door painted. Its such a comparatively small issue to give up a vehicle and cost yourself extra $$. I am sure a human will get the match right!

come on its red yes , its built buy robots and spanish workers nothing agaisnt them , but come on its only a car , not built buy god, repaint the door and love it do u think there going to give u all your $$ back NOT:lol: , i,m not trying to be a jurk:D but i think its funny:nuts: u picth a fit and cant live with it live life full , love the car they are building with there flaws, love 2hhrs :nuts: :nuts:buy a summit white , white is white

One man's ceiling is another man's floor :lol:

It's not just the Victory Red, it's all the colors in the HHR spectrum. Not only that, it ranges through most of the GM models. Same with other manufacturers. It's part of a refined mass production process. The body gets painted, then the other panels are painted either on another line, another day, whatever. We used to have a GM plant next to me in Framingham, Mass (They built the Pontiac 6000/Chevy Celebrity line). As school students we used to tour the plant and you would see how things were done, with many people on the line making sure that things were right. They changed the process with a new paint facility in the 80's. Faster "better" paint. Actually it was less people. Then, in following modernization (even less people, NAFTA), the plant was closed. So what it boils down to is doing more with less. Less people, less follow-up, lower quality. I think we can blame Bill Clinton for some of it.

You noticed too SoCal, Yea the paint on the hood of my Dark Metallic is blotchy too, as if they didn't get enough paint in spots. Also the front fenders/bumper are darker than the doors on mine too. The paint used on my HHR is waterbased, wonder if this is a problem too. Wifes 03 Impala is base coat/clearcoat.

Water based car paint????? Never heard of it. Non-Metalic maybe but all auto paint I have ever seen is petroleum based.

Water based car paint????? Never heard of it. Non-Metalic maybe but all auto paint I have ever seen is petroleum based.

Not on all modern cars. They are starting to switch over to water based paints because they are less toxic. Here is a little article from Hot Rod but if you search the internet I'm sure you can find out more. :lol:
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/113_0507_autoair_paints/

Ok Guy's we have a bottom line on this ugly and time consuming situation. After numerous meetings and discussions with the so called decision makers here's what they offered me. Re-paint the front driver's door. Which I told them early on that it was an unacceptable solution. Or they will do an assisted buy back. Which means I get to pick out another HHR, but I must pay for the mileage I have put on the current one. Plus pay for the tag and title transfer again. And any difference between the cost of the two vehicles. Which may sound good, but here's the clincher. They will not let me have another Spring Edition/Victory Red one. That tells me two things. One GM is definitely aware that the problem is wide spread and two there is not a good one out there to be had. After personally looking at a bunch of them myself I would have to concur. So GM has managed to back me in the corner with two decisions, neither of which is acceptable. Any thoughts ?

I wouldn't like a repaint job either but you're lucky GM even offered you the assisted buy back for a off color door, I like red but if it was going to be a problem then I would go with another color. Just my :2cents: worth.

Not on all modern cars. They are starting to switch over to water based paints because they are less toxic. Here is a little article from Hot Rod but if you search the internet I'm sure you can find out more. :lol:
http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/113_0507_autoair_paints/


Interesting. Learn something everyday. Thanks.