While driving the Silverado into the office this morning, I noticed some wear and tear on the steering wheel's silverish plastic trim. The black plastic beneath the silverish paint is showing through on the left side (in closer detail below) from obvious wear caused by drivers' left hands. There's also a spec chipped off on the right. Our big Chevy now has 30,737 miles on it, so if this is typical, it could be important to note given this same steering wheel appears in most of GM's trucks and SUVs. Over more miles, this could start to look bad and be detrimental when it comes time to sell. It's certainly not consistent with the rest of the interior's wear and tear.
Our Enclave has the same wheel design, although it has a different type of painted plastic trim in that area (lower-level Acadias seem to share the Silverado's). Given that there's a good chance the Enclave will also hit 30K (we do love it so), I'll make note if it shows similar wear.
James Riswick, Automotive Editor @ 30,737 miles
m_thrizzle says:
10:26 AM, 06/ 5/08
Painted plastics on interiors are a bad idea as evidenced here. Can't they impregnate the color into the plastic instead?
At least nowadays they are making the base plastic black. I recall seeing lots of Fords from the 80s and 90s with the yellow material of their bumpers showing through where paint was scraped off. It really looked terrible.
06scooby says:
10:58 AM, 06/ 5/08
Wow the Silverado has 30k miles? I expected to maybe break the 15k mark. So that leads to a few questions...
1. Whatever happened to that hard 1-2 shift? I thought it had never been fixed and what few blogs there are point out how disrupting it is (one of our fleet GM sierras has this problem by the way and it sucks)
2. Why don't we hear about the silverado more often since it's apparently being driven so much?
dougtheeng says:
11:00 AM, 06/ 5/08
I've noticed this problem on the centre stack of Chevy Cobalt's before. I don't know how the paint wears off there, because no one should be rubbing it really...just turning the dials.
SubyTrojan says:
11:06 AM, 06/ 5/08
It isn't anything a little silver permanent marker application can't fix! j/k
firstwagon says:
12:05 PM, 06/ 5/08
I forgot you even had that truck still.
Is it so reliable, this is the only thing you've had to comment on in a while?
stephen987 says:
12:41 PM, 06/ 5/08
I seem to recall a lot of recent Mazdas showing the same kind of wear. I'd rather not have the accents than to have accents that look like crap in two or three years.
billt9 says:
03:14 PM, 06/ 5/08
Painted plastics in any place is not a bad idea.
What is a bad idea is painting any surface WITHOUT PRIMING.
As evident in the photo, that steering wheel plastic has no primer on it, which means it _will_ rub off.
It is extremely difficult to rub paint off surfaces that are primed. Priming makes all the difference.
Cheapskates. And dumb.
jriz says:
03:36 PM, 06/ 5/08
"1. Whatever happened to that hard 1-2 shift?"
Stay tuned for an update about that.
prndlol says:
07:26 PM, 06/ 5/08
Hey GM! Smarten up and stop making these grade school mistakes once and for all. I don't even consider myself a GM basher, but putting painted plastic surfaces where a driver keep their hands 90% of the time is just stupid and lazy.
zoomzoom22 says:
08:42 PM, 06/ 5/08
My friend has a Cobalt with 15,000 miles on it and the center radio buttons have been completely stripped of their black paint. It looks like someone scratched it off, but it's just normal wear and tear. The buttons aren't readable anymore...you have to just guess which one is FM/AM, CD, 1, 2, 3, etc. The Cobalt's interior is horrendous.
Seriously, painted surfaces aren't acceptable anywhere the hands go.
joefrompa says:
08:48 AM, 06/ 6/08
Not that it's the same, but two odd things I've noticed on my 06 Civic SI that started around 30k miles:
1. The "H" in the center of the steering wheel (never touched, I'm not a horn user except maybe once a month) delaminated a little bit.
2. Some of the dark gray plastic on the dash next to the "info" button has become discolored, almost as if it's delaminated as well but there is no evidence of peel...could just be discolored from something I got on there.
But something that has really impressed me is that after 45k miles, the white lettering on the steering wheel buttons and dashboard all look brand new. None of them has a single chip or wear mark on it. Impressive for such lettering, especially on the steering wheel considering the constant usage.
I'd actually agree with one of the above comments that was made in sarcasm: Use a small silver sharpie to color it in, or some sort of paint pen if appropriate. What's the big deal?
Joe
jriz says:
09:42 AM, 06/ 6/08
I shudder at that suggestion. I can't believe it would look any better than holding your mirror on with duct tape or putting beaded seat covers on.
stingray454 says:
11:54 AM, 06/ 6/08
I was never a fan of painted plastic. If the material is in constant contact or receives a lot of wear, it should be made from somthing durable and colored the same throughout. GM should have known better - this is something Hyundai typically cuts corners with.
jdub53084 says:
07:05 PM, 06/ 6/08
I've been wondering where/what/how much the Edmunds staff uses this vehicle. Its weird that it shows up broken and worn out in the posts (seat cover torn,trans broken,etc..). Does this vehicle break while sitting still or is it being used constantly? Just curious.
bimmerjay says:
11:48 AM, 06/ 7/08
"I've been wondering where/what/how much the Edmunds staff uses this vehicle. Its weird that it shows up broken and worn out in the posts (seat cover torn,trans broken,etc..). Does this vehicle break while sitting still or is it being used constantly? Just curious."
It has 30k miles on it since they got it in ~Oct '06... I'd say that's some pretty constant/heavy use!
carmizvi says:
08:41 PM, 06/ 8/08
Well, the fact that GM is closing four factories that make this very truck is kinda telling.
OK, so spiralling fuel prices are fundamentally changing the dynamics of the industry and accelerating the shift toward more fuel efficient vehicles. But interiors that look old before their time can't help the cause. And Toyota isn't shuttering its big truck plants just yet.