“They don’t make them like they used to” has never been truer than with modern vehicles. In fact, according to New Atlas, vehicles “bought in the last few years have twice as many problems as they had in 2010,” with some brands averaging “more than five issues” per model.
Recently, TikToker Colton Roberson (@stackinyotes) garnered over 304,000 views when he filmed a short video showing how even the paint jobs on the new 2024 Chevrolet trucks are lacking in quality.
New trucks, new problems
Roberson films a short 58-second video showing flaking paint along the sides of his new 2024 Chevrolet with only 3,000 miles on it. He also shows viewers the lack of paint near the rear bumper. Then he shows a second brand-new 2024 Chevrolet riddled with chips.
“Chips everywhere on a $100,000 truck,” Roberson said as the video ends.
Unfortunately, the issue with chipping paint on Chevrolet trucks isn’t a new phenomenon. Torque News reported in 2016 that the 2014-2015 models were experiencing excessive paint chipping and peeling. “The complaints are widespread, from different climates all over the U.S. and Canada.”
The problem stems from General Motors “reformulating paint mixtures to be more environmentally friendly.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration received 33 complaints about paint chipping on the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and four complaints for the 2015. According to Torque News, complaints about chipped paint are widespread across multiple car forums.
For the latest models ranging from 2020-2024, General Motors put out a service bulletin in October 2023 for trucks sold in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand for peeling or chipping paint on the front fender to the body seam. Its response isn’t to repair the issue for its customers but rather to blame the problem on a headlamp too tightly positioned on the panel. The service bulletin breaks down how an owner can mitigate the issue by loosening the headlight.
@stackinyotes @GMC @Chevrolet why are your trucks built so bad now? I have a 2008 chevy with 600,000 miles on it a 2012 GMC with 200k a 2018 with 200k a and the paint doesnt look like this. Can someone at GM please explain. #GMC #chevy #robot #painting #fyp ♬ original sound – Colton Roberson
What do viewers think?
Some viewers claimed that chipping paint was the least of his worries.
“You think the paint is bad wait till you hear about the transmissions,” a viewer replied.
“Already have just got the AT4xHD out from the shop. It was there for 3 months waiting for a valve body,” Roberson replied.
Others said the issue isn’t going to go away anytime soon.
“GM switched to cheap water based paint. Rain drops chip the paint these days,” a viewer said.
“It’s the waterborn paint and it’s hard to match and sand,” another agreed.
“And they’ll keep doing it as long as people keep buying them,” a viewer added.
Others vented about the widespread lack of quality in new products.
“Companies have figured out how to cheap out on everything on a Truck and still over charge,” a viewer said.
“They do this for a reason hoping you will be back in 24-36 months spending another 100k for a new one,” a second added.
The Daily Dot reached out to Roberson via TikTok Comments and General Motors via email.
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