Dealership Tire Shine Damages ZR2 Twice

Mghost1997

New member
Joined
Jul 27, 2024
Messages
3
Reaction score
7
Location
Florida
Two weeks ago bought a new 2024 Silverado ZR2 in white. Long story short - the next day noticed brown splatter all over the side of the truck.

I was able to get most of it off the side panels but not off the lower textured panels.

After round and round with dealership, they refused to find another truck. My options were to repaint (not desirable) or pick something else from the lot.

They said it was rail dust from transport. I am 99% sure it was not there when i left the first time. My thought was it was splatter from tire shine.

They had a Bison in white on the lot and we agreed to a new deal. I asked under no circumstances were they to put tire shine on.

This time they put Simoneiz ceramic coating on as well. When I pick up the new truck, the wheels were glistening with tire shine. They assured me it had plenty of time to dry. I get home and looked at the truck and it was an absolute horror show. Splatter again everywhere.

By this time the dealership was closed. It was a greasy, oily texture. Still dripping on the tires. Well I thought I got it all off the paint.

This morning I found some stains remaining so took back to dealership.

The desk manager again says it is rail dust. I say how is that even possible when I wiped it off. I showed them the bucket of towels I wiped off the truck and tires.

Now they want to roll back the deal because they refuse to take responsibility for it. They said they have to wait for GM to come up with a resolution.

So now they have destroyed two beautiful ZR2's and want GM to foot the bill.

Is GM white paint really this fragile? Or is the dealership just negligent?
 
It’s all about what product they used. I had it happen to my truck after I used an armor all product and one from Griots garage. Need to switch to a water based product and problem will be solved. In my case, the stains eventually went away. I would give it some time if you like the truck. I’ve seen it happen to light gray trucks too. Probably happens to every color, just not noticeable on the darker colors. Just my .02.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_3858.jpeg
    IMG_3858.jpeg
    171.8 KB · Views: 64
  • IMG_3857.jpeg
    IMG_3857.jpeg
    212 KB · Views: 64
I love car detailing, but for me and my truck being a daily driver… it’s hard to do anything more than what is needed to protect it. I’m not doing car shows, not entering any concours d'elegance, no one to impress.
Either way they don't allow anything less than a 6.2 in the Concord Grape De'elegancia
 
Two weeks ago bought a new 2024 Silverado ZR2 in white. Long story short - the next day noticed brown splatter all over the side of the truck.

I was able to get most of it off the side panels but not off the lower textured panels.

After round and round with dealership, they refused to find another truck. My options were to repaint (not desirable) or pick something else from the lot.

They said it was rail dust from transport. I am 99% sure it was not there when i left the first time. My thought was it was splatter from tire shine.

They had a Bison in white on the lot and we agreed to a new deal. I asked under no circumstances were they to put tire shine on.

This time they put Simoneiz ceramic coating on as well. When I pick up the new truck, the wheels were glistening with tire shine. They assured me it had plenty of time to dry. I get home and looked at the truck and it was an absolute horror show. Splatter again everywhere.

By this time the dealership was closed. It was a greasy, oily texture. Still dripping on the tires. Well I thought I got it all off the paint.

This morning I found some stains remaining so took back to dealership.

The desk manager again says it is rail dust. I say how is that even possible when I wiped it off. I showed them the bucket of towels I wiped off the truck and tires.

Now they want to roll back the deal because they refuse to take responsibility for it. They said they have to wait for GM to come up with a resolution.

So now they have destroyed two beautiful ZR2's and want GM to foot the bill.

Is GM white paint really this fragile? Or is the dealership just negligent?
The paint isn't great and the clear coat is thin and porous. Lots of people report this issue, especially with Armor All ceramic. I'd say it's coating mfg, GM, and dealer at fault.

Fer crissakes, WTF is rail dust? Is it like moon dust, star dust, fairy dust, or just regular ol everyday gawd damned dust?

Me at the dealer:

"Say rail dust again MFer, I dare you to say it, I double dare you"!
 

Attachments

  • SmartSelect_20240728_224936_Google.jpg
    SmartSelect_20240728_224936_Google.jpg
    73.8 KB · Views: 8
Last edited:
It’s all about what product they used. I had it happen to my truck after I used an armor all product and one from Griots garage. Need to switch to a water based product and problem will be solved. In my case, the stains eventually went away. I would give it some time if you like the truck. I’ve seen it happen to light gray trucks too. Probably happens to every color, just not noticeable on the darker colors. Just my .02.
Thank you,

The tire shine they used was petroleum based. The second day it wiped off on my finger looking like oil.
 
The paint isn't great and the clear coat is thin and porous. Lots of people report this issue, especially with Armor All ceramic. I'd say it's coating mfg, GM, and dealer at fault.

Fer crissakes, WTF is rail dust? Is it like moon dust, star dust, fairy dust, or just regular ol everyday gawd damned dust?

Me at the dealer:

"Say rail dust again MFer, I dare you to say it, I double dare you"!
😂 Thanks for the laugh. Apparently rail dust is metal particles embedding into the paint from a train transport. I thought they were blowing smoke but apparently it is a thing.

In my case it was 200% from dealer tire shine. They are just trying to deflect blame and have GM pay.
 
The rail dust only comes off with iron remover, turns it purple. Pretty cool to watch it work. Be nice to know why certain tire dressings react that way with the clear coat and if it happens to other colors or if it’s just white.
 
Same thing happened to me. I made a post about it and at the time GM was actually going to do a buy back. But after running the numbers of the buy back and getting a new truck it was going to cost me several thousand dollars due to the interest rates.

They offered to repaint basically the whole truck minus the hood, roof and tailgate. The tire shine had gotten into the door sills so they were going to have to take off the doors, remove windshield and a bunch of other crazy stuff.

In the end, they gave me a $2500 gift certificate that I had to use within 90 days. And they gave me 250,000 Chevy points.
That is the equivalent of $5,000.

One of the reasons I went with the gift certificate and points is that had I let them do the work, it would be listed on the CARFAX that it had repainted, which could have lowered the value.

The dealership was USELESS. So I went on Linkden and searched for regional managers of GM and basically started cold emailing them the whole story. Within 24 hours I was getting responses and 2 days later a regional manager drove 3 hours to meet me at a local dealership.

The spots have faded 98%.

Gift certificate paid for
Bed mat
Front and rear camera
Amp/sub
Puddle light upgrade
Wireless charger install in console

Still have over 250,000 points
 
Same thing happened to me. I made a post about it and at the time GM was actually going to do a buy back. But after running the numbers of the buy back and getting a new truck it was going to cost me several thousand dollars due to the interest rates.

They offered to repaint basically the whole truck minus the hood, roof and tailgate. The tire shine had gotten into the door sills so they were going to have to take off the doors, remove windshield and a bunch of other crazy stuff.

In the end, they gave me a $2500 gift certificate that I had to use within 90 days. And they gave me 250,000 Chevy points.
That is the equivalent of $5,000.

One of the reasons I went with the gift certificate and points is that had I let them do the work, it would be listed on the CARFAX that it had repainted, which could have lowered the value.

The dealership was USELESS. So I went on Linkden and searched for regional managers of GM and basically started cold emailing them the whole story. Within 24 hours I was getting responses and 2 days later a regional manager drove 3 hours to meet me at a local dealership.

The spots have faded 98%.

Gift certificate paid for
Bed mat
Front and rear camera
Amp/sub
Puddle light upgrade
Wireless charger install in console

Still have over 250,000 points
That's probably the best solution. Otherwise, I woukd have just LineXd the rockers.
 
Just another reason I won’t use tire shine.
Yep, it make a bigger mess as it collects dust and road debris. Not to mention flinging off on the truck.

I will use it occasionally to get the black back in my tires. I put it on, let it sit overnight, then wash it off and it doesn't have any residual material. These Toyo RT Trails have a tendency to turn a tan color on sidewalls. It won't wash off, so the tire shine does the trick.
 
Same happened when I bought mine. They "detailed" it for me and little tan slop everywhere. Service manager even came out trying to scrub it all off and took pictures. Dealership was great of course on the front side of it all but have totally ghosted me since the ordeal. Typical song and dance. OCD easily can consume me on this one but multiple washes has seemed to help work it away. Without dressing the truck in 3M protectant film etc, the chips from rocks and blemishes from driving will overshadow em eventually anyway. Line X cures all :LOL:
 
Just purchased my truck last week,, have the same issue. I am going to have the guy who does my ceramic coating fix it if possible. He does paint corrections.
 
Just purchased my truck last week,, have the same issue. I am going to have the guy who does my ceramic coating fix it if possible. He does paint corrections.
A quality detailer should be able to polish it out because it has to be 100% gone before any ceramic can be applied to the paint. You should be fine!
 
Two weeks ago bought a new 2024 Silverado ZR2 in white. Long story short - the next day noticed brown splatter all over the side of the truck.

I was able to get most of it off the side panels but not off the lower textured panels.

After round and round with dealership, they refused to find another truck. My options were to repaint (not desirable) or pick something else from the lot.

They said it was rail dust from transport. I am 99% sure it was not there when i left the first time. My thought was it was splatter from tire shine.

They had a Bison in white on the lot and we agreed to a new deal. I asked under no circumstances were they to put tire shine on.

This time they put Simoneiz ceramic coating on as well. When I pick up the new truck, the wheels were glistening with tire shine. They assured me it had plenty of time to dry. I get home and looked at the truck and it was an absolute horror show. Splatter again everywhere.

By this time the dealership was closed. It was a greasy, oily texture. Still dripping on the tires. Well I thought I got it all off the paint.

This morning I found some stains remaining so took back to dealership.

The desk manager again says it is rail dust. I say how is that even possible when I wiped it off. I showed them the bucket of towels I wiped off the truck and tires.

Now they want to roll back the deal because they refuse to take responsibility for it. They said they have to wait for GM to come up with a resolution.

So now they have destroyed two beautiful ZR2's and want GM to foot the bill.

Is GM white paint really this fragile? Or is the dealership just negligent?
This is advice after the horse is outta the barn, but after your first experience I wouldn't have accepted the truck until they cleaned the shine off. And certainly would have snapped some pics and showed the to the dealer manager for confirmation before I left.
 

Most Member Reactions

Back
Top