Full Body Paint Cracking After only 3 trips

[Walking thunder]

Has anyone else had issues with the full body paint on their Cardinals? Last Aug I took my first trip from Houston to NM when I arrived I saw that the paint on a few of the joints on the exterior had cracked. I took it to a dealership to see about getting it fixed under warranty they didn't seem too interested. I have had a few paint shops give the opinion that what has happened is that they painted over joints and trim that should have been caulked after painting not visa-versa. I have been in DFW for a while and now the dealership handling the claim says they have mostly has these claims denied!!!!
I paid extra for the full body paint and never would have believed that after the first trip it was already cracking and peeling!!
So now I am in the 4th month of trying to get this covered. After 2 sets of photos I'm being told that there wasn't sufficient evidence in the photos to warrant the estimate given to FR.
If they think just fixing the current issues and not redoing ALL the trim and joint is sufficient......I do not.
I see on the latest out of the factory that this method of painting has been discontinued. I'm other words it was done properly.
The Texas Lemon Law applies to RVs and since this is now my second attempt to get it fixed.... I'm considering this option.
So anyone else have this issue? What was done? I have spoke to several others where it has happened. Some got fixed others didn't. Here's just a couple of pics

[918jeeper]

Have the same problem on my 2013 Cardinal. You can get the paint codes and mix the paint with new caulking and recaulk. Or remove the old caulking, touch up the bare exposed areas with paint and use a clear sealant to recaulk those areas. I had to take a razor and cut along the edge of the cracked paint to prevent it from pulling the paint off further as I removed the old caulking.

[MillerTime]

Don't have a cardinal but im in the paint and body industry.
You need to see what kind of sealant was used. If it is silicone than nothing will ever stick to it. Seams that are to be painted should use a "seam sealer", that is what is used on all butted edges, roofs, floors, trunks etc on vehicles.
Unless the sealant is paint able, than this is going to be a recurring problem.
If they did use silicone, rather than tearing the camper up to remove it, i would just get some touch up paint from an auto parts store, or paint markers and just paint over it ever so often.

Sorry about your problems....that sux.

Fyi, lemon law or attorney talk will probably not help your situation. As soon as you drop that in a conversation then most dialogue with the factory will stop.
Also, doubtful that this would be a lemon law applicable issue. Yes its a pain/bothersome issue, but not an issue that would prevent it from being used would cause any harm.

Just keep trying to work with FR and try to find a factory cardinal warranty contact to get in touch with instead of going thru a dealer.
Good luck!!

[Walking thunder]

It's way beyond a touch up. There are areas where the paint has flaked off on the are far from the trim.

[mtnlvr]

I have that on my Solera on the seams. Particularly bad is the curve that wraps around overhead cab. Even the trim pieces here shrank and moved the full body paint pattern on it. The RV repair shop replaced the trim with a solid black trim piece. They claimed; difficult to paint( or else lazy.) I wasn't sure why this happened. I was guessing that the factory has a more humid climate and where I live in mtns at 7,000 ft. Elev. it is very dry here. This is very frustrating to purchase an expensive new RV and see the full body trim crack snd pull apart immediately.

[valandsheri]

Hi. Yes, we had the same problem with our 2015 Cardinal 3450RL. Long story, I will try to summarize. We noticed the same paint damage (cracking, chipping, etc. all around the rig) after we purchased the RV (April 2015). While it was at the paint shop (May 2015) getting repaired for other damages done prior to our purchase I called Terry Milarcyk at FR (he is no longer in the Cardinal Dept) directly, explained the situation, sent photos via email. He said to get an estimate and he would approve it (because he didn't like what he saw in the pictures that I emailed him). I did all of the above. Our bid for repairs from the local body shop was a little over $11,000.00 That did not make Terry happy. He denied the claim, but said I could get another estimate. We took her over 200 miles away to another shop and the estimate was a little over $5,000.00. In the meantime Terry left the Cardinal Dept. and was replaced by a gentleman called Cel Lopez. I do not know if he is still there. It took me a month of wrangling with Cel just to get him to acknowledge that I had a claim in with Terry. All the while, the Warranty Guy at Camping World in Avondale, Arizona was trying to help us get this approved. He basically gave up and I ended up spending the latter part of my summer going round and round with Cel. He did tell me that Forest River would back up their product and this was a defect in manufacturing (as you are aware, they did it wrong at the factory) he just didn't know how they were going to go about fixing it. Cel said that his superiors didn't like the 2nd bid either and were thinking about picking up our fifth wheel and taking it back to Indiana, because they could have it done for $1,600.00 less. Really? Wear and tear on our newly purchased fifth wheel, brand new self- purchased Goodyear tires, etc. etc. so they can save $1,600.00? Not happening and I told him that. I am not sure what exactly happened, I think he just got tired of my daily calls, but one day in September I received and email from Cel that said he was approving my claim. I never heard from him again. Called Camping World in Avondale, as they initiated the claim, they did the paperwork on their end, we brought her down to the body shop and picked her up at the end of October. Done. I understand that this is an ongoing problem due to stress areas, anyway, and I don't have a problem touching up small areas, but it was done incorrectly to begin with, and was cracked on most of the rig. FR needs to correct the problem. It will only get worse. We pay ALOT of money for these rigs. Also, there is a Cardinal RV Club that you can join and the people on that Forum work very closely with FR Cardinal Division. I didn't know about them at the time, unfortunately. Give it a try - they might have current contact for you. One bit of advise they give on that Forum is to be nice and calm when dealing with FR and it goes a long way. I only lashed out once in frustration but Cel seemed to take it in stride. Good luck! Don't give up and document everything in writing!!!

[Walking thunder]

Thanks for the input. I worked with Cel last summer on an issue and found him to be quite amiable. Got two issues delt with by a mobile tech. He has since moved onto the motorized div.
I have been pretty low key until my last email. Over 50 photos sent by myself and the dealership over 4months. Gone are the days of people like Bob Tiffin who had actually done entire re paints on coaches because he didn't want his name on bad work.
I'm ready to attempt a paint shop on my own but my warranty is up in a couple months. I'm going to the Owners Ralley in Aug I suppose by the time I add a couple thousand more miles it will be worse. It seems to be more each time I take her out.

[selkirk awards]

Before you go the Lemon Law call Dan Dobecki @ Forest River Cardinal he's the man that can handle your problem. Talk nice real nice guy. Elkhart

[Wolverine 1945]

You may also want to check roof,,, I see the paint has cracked on the end seams on our Sunseeker !!! As has been stated before,,, They probably did not use a caulk that will accept paint !!!

[Jerry01]

We had the same issue on our 2013 as well. Very frustrating to say the least. We had it fixed under warranty at camping world and I must say they did a good job. This is how ours looked after only a few months. Dan Dobeki is the warranty manager for cardinal, and even though they fixed the problems, getting any information out of him is like pulling teeth. Rod Batts @ FR is who I would recommend talking to. He is amazing!!! Good luck. Jerry.

[Walking thunder]

So here is an update. Took the unit back to the factory during the FROG rally last year. Had several corp folk look at it and agreed to fix it. I also spoke with one of the contract shops that FR uses and was told the proper fix and they looked at an estimate that I had from another shop and agreed that was a proper repair.
FR agreed to fix all the affected areas as well as the areas that were going to crack, but wouldn't pay the amount to the shop that wrote the "proper" estimate. The issue was that the unit had been siliconed then painted. Which every shop I had look at tell me the same thing. I was even told during the factory tour I took that they had an issue and everyone that was involved was fired.
So three weeks later I got it back. They only did half of what they said they would do and what they did do looks like crap. Color not correct, lines don't match, dirt embedded in the silicone. Some one had wiped over spray off with solvent and never rinsed it off and now has permanent wipe marks, you can see all the tape lines with over spray.
I finally got an atty we HAD an agreement then when they saw the price they are trying to back out of the agreement.
They want to do another half assed repair again.

[Wolverine 1945]

I thought everyone knew you could not paint over Silicone !!!
They sure do things different in Indiana !!!

[djousma]

I think they knew, but somehow the factory build process got messed up, and they had guys doing the caulking before the painting was done. My early 2017, that was built May of 2016 was painted first, then caulked.


Sadly, FR didn't step up, and take care of Walking Thunder correctly. That would fry my @$$ too.

[Biily]

I have a 2015 3825FL w Full Body paint. Bought in Dec 2015, I noticed this during the first trip. It has never been resolved to date although they did make one attempt but that was painting right over the silicone. Ten miles later and was cracked again.

I also went back to the dealer and looked at another new unit on the lot and it has the same problems.

Strength in numbers, we should all get together.

[WolfWhistle]

When they caulked first and painted over (I don't think it is actually Silicone - some sealants claim to be "paintable") they screwed up and knew it, or the paint shop doesn't have a clue. Do there are movement / flex at joints? Of course removing sealant would have been a lot of work, but, that would have been the only way to do it right. Now, the only way to fix it right is to completely strip paint and sealant, do a repaint and then seal... to state the bloody obvious.
WW

[Jerry01]

Billy, did you ever contact Forest River directly? I only ask because when ours was back at the factory getting another issue resolved, part of the resolution was repainting the RV. I specifically asked about the cracking issue. Their response was that they changed the process because the process was incorrect. They now apply the sealant over the paint. Good luck. Jerry

[Biily]

Yes I have talked to several people at the factory at least 10 times. At first denial, then they act like they are interested, made one attempt to correct. More denial, more acts of concern and a lot more silence. They are never the one to initiate contact. I'm out of sight and out of mind.

[Jerry01]

Originally Posted by Biily

Yes I have talked to several people at the factory at least 10 times. At first denial, then they act like they are interested, made one attempt to correct. More denial, more acts of concern and a lot more silence. They are never the one to initiate contact. I'm out of sight and out of mind.

When we first had our issue I contacted Dan Dobeki. Unfortunately he was not the most helpful (Putting it nicely). Then I started to work with Rod Batts. He was amazing to say the least. If you would like to discuss this more, PM me. Jerry

[Biily]

Correction, My 2015 Cardinal 3825FL was purchased in Dec 2014.

[djousma]

Originally Posted by Jerry01

When we first had our issue I contacted Dan Dobeki. Unfortunately he was not the most helpful (Putting it nicely). Then I started to work with Rod Batts. He was amazing to say the least. If you would like to discuss this more, PM me. Jerry

I too have had good luck with Rod. It's taken me a year to get some of my issues resolved. He is the guy that can make it happen.