Bad Paint
 

I've owned my HHR for about a month now and the paint is starting to chip off the front of the hood. Also the rear door (driver side) is a lighter black than the rest of the car. When I wash the car and start to dry, that particular door ends up having a haze/streaks like a window would if you would try to clean it in direct sunlight. I wash my car either early in the morning or right before the sun sets in the shade BTW

I do know GM had bad primer on cars for a while, do you think that's the case with my HHR? it's a 2009 HHR 1LT Black/Black :thumb:

Chips on the hood - Could it be debris from the road kicked up by other cars?

Door paint difference - sounds like the door was previously repaired the repainted (albeit bad job).


Still the paint on HHRs and most cars made presently are not as tough - I think you can thank the EPA for that.

we checked the carfax report and it showed it's an accident free car. As far as the chips I thought it was from the road also, but the chips are in too close of a pattern to look like it's from the road.

It is simple. It is just crap tossed up from the road and todays modern paint.

Keep in mind todays pain like pointed out above is nailed by the EPA even at the factory. This is now a water based paint that is not as durable as the paint of old.

You add the todays water based paint with a HHR that has a lot of exposed painted surface area and you get chips.

If you tail gate or drive a HHR in a high debri area you are going to get chipped up pretty good. The only way to prevent it is the clear plastic bra from 3M.

Note paint is all the same on most cars today and chip are on the increase. Just the way it is in this so called Green Minded world.

Carfax is a good tool but it will not always tell you if a car has been worked on/wrecked.

Sure sounds like at least the door was a repaint.

Just because it doesn't have a carfax problem doesn't mean it was never worked on. My HHR you can tell the rear bumper was repainted (although it took me almost a year to notice)... It's got a clean carfax. If you don't report something to your insurance, and it doesn't involve a police report (backing into your house, or something else of yours on your property). Heck, my Grandpa had a '95 Caprice he bought new, and from day 1 you could tell the hood had been repainted...

Door paint could have been damaged with some kind of polish that was applied in direct sunlight, or just wrong for newer paints/clearcoat...... Not saying the OP did this, but at some point before he owned the car. You may want to get the opinion of a professional detailer, don't let him talk you into anything, just see what he thinks.

The chipping I'm going to agree is probably the normal chipping we are all seeing...... as far as the close pattern, maybe a previous owner tailgated a salt truck (hopefully that's a joke, but some people are not all that bright......)

:skull:

I will have to third the carfax as it never tells all.

I remember a member here posted a link to a truck at a dealer that was his former truck...showed it had a clean carfax, and the dealer said so too. Then he posted the picture of the truck with all the dents from the accident that he was in with it...