Yes, but chances of purchasing them already painted are pretty slim now.
You could buy the "primer" assist steps and then would have to get them painted.

 

I ordered a pair but did not pick them up here is the # of the dealer 610-767-1181 Rentchlers Chevy call them & see if they still have them they are primer w/hardware let me know if they have them maybe I could send them to you or they could ship them to you

 

Most consumers do not and should not have to go on the internet to enthusiast sites for a particular make & model and nit pick around for info on inherent design flaws for which they should then have to order optional equipment to counteract the flaw in the basic design, or to at least compensate for a design shortcoming. Which is what this issue is: a flaw or at least a shortcoming.

The farthest most people go in pre-purchase research is review sites like New Car Test Drive (nctd.com), edmunds, kbb, Yahoo, etc.-- to read road test and review articles and ratings. I have yet to see anything about the rock chip paint damage design flaw in any reviews and/or road tests on such sites.

 

Man, there are so many ways I could go with this... I'll just say that the buying public most certainly EXPECTS new vehicles to be as perfect as they can be made. This speaks directly to the whole import brand vs. domestic brand build quality debate.

I'm a Chevy guy and I love my HHR, but Chevy most certainly better believe they owe the consumer the most perfect vehicle they can produce, because their very survival depends on it in the face of offshore based competitors like Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, et al.

 

That is exactly what I am talking about! I thought that I had read just about everything I could read about HHR on several websites before my purchase. I knew nothing of the paint chipping issue until a neighbor approached me and told me that I'd better get running boards or my paint would be ruined. His car was repainted twice and running boards were added all under warranty. He paid nothing. I didn't find this site and all this info until I specifically searched for "HHR running boards" after the fact. If I had known about this particular problem I certainly wouldn't buy a new HHR without running boards. Since the manufacturer was aware of this problem and didn't forewarn me to add running boards I feel that they should make this right. Why would I ever buy another GM car if I'm left with bitter feelings about this car? I'm sure that they would want to make things right and have a customer for life, right?

 

Why don't people get it?

It's NOT a design flaw! It's a 60 year old design style. So it has been having the same issues for 60 years. Back then, as now, the answers were not use the design/don't buy it, get running boards, or just deal with it.

I know I would never have thought to research the historic problems with the design before I bought the HHR. I'm also glad that I liked the look of the running boards and would have gotten them anyway.

My point is, this design have been around for a long time. If you want a retro car, expect retro problems. There's a reason the design style went out of fashion. I'm sure this was one of the reasons. Problems like this don't go away with the passage of time. We could have bought a PT. It doesn't suffer from this problem because they didn't use a similar design.

If you research pics of cars from the 30's-40's that had similar fenders styles you'll notice two things; they will mostly have running boards or a protective pad very similar to what GM did with the HHR.

 

Running boards are not the "magic, cure all" solution for the the sandblasting!! I used to think that they were but not any longer.

Dory was driven off the lot w/ running boards, and now, 23K later, the rear fenders are starting to show a bit of scarring.
The boards may slow down the effect, but it's still going to occur.

 

Is the scarring in the area where the fender pads are on non RB equipped HHRs?

 

Ya id like to see pics of the areas. It might be different. Im half tempted to put on 3M Clear Bra down there and see how long it lasts till it needs to be replaced.

 

Yep.