Who else is disappointed in the New 2022 1500 build quality?

[jimk hunt]

There was a big lawsuit in Alabama years ago where the practice of repairing body damage pre sale was exposed. I believe the original suit was against BMW. Plaintiff won IIR. Would probably be worth it to have a body shop have a quick look and see how bad it may have been. Also if the dealer did the work (likely) then there will be a record.

 

[AV8OR]

Putting doors on vehicles is relatively new.

Ford started the trend just a few years ago on their Gen I Model T.

It is going to take Ram a few years to catch up with their door alignment issues.

 

[BowDown]

I'll say on my 2021...and in the 13,000 miles ive put on it since new... yes, im disappointed. So many squeaks and creaks from what is a new vehicle. Driver door seals slightly poor that when its cold, it rattles (not the panel, the door). Brake pedal has squeaked since new..and upon inspection there is a cracked plastic sleeve on the pivot (why plastic was employed there...no idea). Armrest squeaks. Truck shifts hard when cold. Cab strip seals on top - one is misaligning. It is just not put together well IMHO. The minimal of component quality is used. Its a "recyclable" truck...and trucks need to be able to take a beating. The motor (5.7 Hemi) is the gem in the jewelbox for me...but yeah otherwise looking my truck over in detail for the components...could have been better. Anything for Stellantis to make a larger profit margin.

I dont think its anything to do with profit margins; I've said it before and I'll say it again, I believe covid has played a role in the quality of ALL vehicles being produced right now and reduced the quality of the vehicle through reduced availability of 1st choice components. I cannot prove it so don't ask, I'm simply looking at the comments from owners of 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 trucks.

The 2019 comments have been as expected with new model year rollouts of a redesign, 2020 seems to have settled out until late 2020 and the the complaints seem to increase on the 2021-2022. This is one of the reasons I opted to buy in July 2020 (Oct 2019 build truck) instead of waiting a month for newer 2021 with the "re-engineered" AC system.
My truck has been perfect, no noises, no problems, no issues aside from the CHMSL leaking and the driveshaft not having enough grease, both of which I fixed myself.

I've seen comments of wavy door panels, rough idling, electrical issues, vibrations ect but I've experienced none of those which has validated my covid theory to me. IMO, covid has caused the issues many are having both in the from of the quality of components available and the quality of the labor to assemble vehicles.

I hope you get your issues worked out because this is an awesome truck, I have (wifes car) a 2015 Jaguar XF Supercharged Sport and a 2003 Z06 with a built LSX engine in it and I prefer driving this truck over both. The XF is nice but not nearly as nice as the truck and doesn't ride as well either, the only similarities are the fuel mileage with both being 17/19 and 22/22 (RAM/XF).
I am the complete opposite of you in that IMO, my truck has wayyyy overdelivered in its overall performance.

 

[Cbty2050]

I have my 3rd DT on order, I think yours is an anomaly.

 

[wsutard1]

Took delivery of my black Limited 1500 the other week. Was so excited I didn’t comb it over with a fine tooth comb either. No big issues so far… OTHER than the horrible orange peel of the paint. Worst new vehicle orange peel I’ve ever had. But what am I going to do about it?

 

[SD Rebel]

Took delivery of my black Limited 1500 the other week. Was so excited I didn’t comb it over with a fine tooth comb either. No big issues so far… OTHER than the horrible orange peel of the paint. Worst new vehicle orange peel I’ve ever had. But what am I going to do about it?

Modern automotive paint is a flat base color coat and a glossy clear coat. Most orange peel is on the clear coat, if the clear is thick enough, you can have it wet sanded and polished. Take it to a good detail shop that does that level of work, they can measure the paint thickness and determine if your paint is thick enough to do that.

I had that done on one of my previous vehicles that had a really high level of orange peel, after it was done, it was absolutely amazing looking for what was essentially a factory paint job with post detail work.

 

[Cbty2050]

Modern automotive paint is a flat base color coat and a glossy clear coat. Most orange peel is on the clear coat, if the clear is thick enough, you can have it wet sanded and polished. Take it to a good detail shop that does that level of work, they can measure the paint thickness and determine if your paint is thick enough to do that.

I had that done on one of my previous vehicles that had a really high level of orange peel, after it was done, it was absolutely amazing looking for what was essentially a factory paint job with post detail work.

Paint correction will make it better than new

 

[SD Rebel]

Paint correction will make it better than new

Absolutely. Though kinda sad you need to pay for something that should have been good enough for you not to go to that extent.

But assuming his clear is thick enough and the cost is reasonable, he will likely have one of the best looking finishes on a RAM 1500 around.

 

[wvinson]

My '22 is my 4th since 2014 MY and I've had very few quality issues with any of them. Loved all three of them - tough, durable, ride like a dream, and zero rattles and squeaks!

 

[MontFla]

Yes look at everything!!!! I saw a bed on a new power wagon that was 3 inches off!!!! I pointed it out to the salesman who said I don’t see what you mean??!!!!?!? Had him look down each side and then he saw the difference. It was a brand new truck

 

[BowDown]

Absolutely. Though kinda sad you need to pay for something that should have been good enough for you not to go to that extent.

But assuming his clear is thick enough and the cost is reasonable, he will likely have one of the best looking finishes on a RAM 1500 around.

Not really, you're not paying for a show quality paint job or even a high end paint job. As pointed out earlier, the the same paint job/process on the "28K" truck.
Could it be better? Absolutely but how much more money is the average customer going to want to pay for a better or slicked (what we called it when I painted cars) paint job?
Secondly, are the majority of Ram buyers going to even notice or care? My guess is that we enthusiast represent less than 1% of Ram buyers

 

[SD Rebel]

Not really, you're not paying for a show quality paint job or even a high end paint job. As pointed out earlier, the the same paint job/process on the "28K" truck.
Could it be better? Absolutely but how much more money is the average customer going to want to pay for a better or slicked (what we called it when I painted cars) paint job?
Secondly, are the majority of Ram buyers going to even notice or care? My guess is that we enthusiast represent less than 1% of Ram buyers

I agree on that, but he was talking about an unusually high level of orange peel, not just normal stuff to expect at that price point.

But I guess that could be rather subjective as well, I am a Ford guy, so I am very familiar with a lot of orange peel. The vehicle I had wet sanded was a Ford Expedition that was well beyond anyone's definition of expectable orange peel, it was like a golf ball. Looked like a show car after a day of sanding and polishing.

 

[BowDown]

I agree on that, but he was talking about an unusually high level of orange peel, not just normal stuff to expect at that price point.

But I guess that could be rather subjective as well, I am a Ford guy, so I am very familiar with a lot of orange peel. The vehicle I had wet sanded was a Ford Expedition that was well beyond anyone's definition of expectable orange peel, it was like a golf ball. Looked like a show car after a day of sanding and polishing.

Dealt with many a golfball paint jobs, mainly in winter, break out the DA, water hose and the 1500 & 2000

Mine has my expected level of orange peel, I'll knock it down 3 to 5 years from now... maybe.

 

[SD Rebel]

Dealt with many a golfball paint jobs, mainly in winter, break out the DA, water hose and the 1500 & 2000

Mine has my expected level of orange peel, I'll knock it down 3 to 5 years from now... maybe.

View attachment 119297

Nice! My truck is old enough now where I'm thinking about paint correction, but I'm waiting to do some overlanding with my buddies and get it a bit roughed up and do a proper full paint correction after a season of that. Though after seeing your finish, a wet sand maybe in order as well.

What level of paint thickness are comfortable with doing that?

 

[BowDown]

Nice! My truck is old enough now where I'm thinking about paint correction, but I'm waiting to do some overlanding with my buddies and get it a bit roughed up and do a proper full paint correction after a season of that. Though after seeing your finish, a wet sand maybe in order as well.

What level of paint thickness are comfortable with doing that?

I did paint correction the 1st week I had the truck because I was taking it in for PPF and didn't want to apply film over uncorrected paint. That's also the reason I'll wait 3-5 years to knock down the remaining orange peel as I suspect that PPF will be beat up enough by then that it will be time to replace it.

I did not wet sand the finish in that pic, that was just a 3 pass paint correction; cut with medium light cut pad then polish with a medium polish pad and then polish with a soft polish pad all using 3D 0ne.

One Step Compound and Polish | 3D ONE | 3D Car Care

ONE is a hybrid cutting compound and finishing polish and is the best 1 stage paint correction and one step compound on the market.

3dproducts.com

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HFF4XJ2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

As to your paint thickness question, In the past I have test sanded a panel in an inconspicuous spot or got a junkyard panel and gauge how aggressive I can get. I will not bother with that on this truck and just go straight to 1500 grit paper 3M Trizact pads in 3000 then 5000 with lots of water

 

[Hasti17]

Thanks, I did send the salesman a email with pic of the missing rubber piece. He never replied. I’m going there next week to have my rear wheel liners installed ( they were left out of my original order ) and I will be showing them what i found on this truck.

Guy word to the wise get RamCares on this When you bring it in, Dealers tend to be more.... Productive... when ramcares has been notified and you make the dealer aware of it

 

[Hasti17]

Also, you mentioned the UC5 acting up... You dont have an android do you? i had issues with mine. glitching buffering and such. i tried my wife's iPhone. perfect, fast and accurate. so i got myself a new phone and its been flawless since

 

[SD Rebel]

I did paint correction the 1st week I had the truck because I was taking it in for PPF and didn't want to apply film over uncorrected paint. That's also the reason I'll wait 3-5 years to knock down the remaining orange peel as I suspect that PPF will be beat up enough by then that it will be time to replace it.

I did not wet sand the finish in that pic, that was just a 3 pass paint correction; cut with medium light cut pad then polish with a medium polish pad and then polish with a soft polish pad all using 3D 0ne.

One Step Compound and Polish | 3D ONE | 3D Car Care

ONE is a hybrid cutting compound and finishing polish and is the best 1 stage paint correction and one step compound on the market.

3dproducts.com

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HFF4XJ2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

As to your paint thickness question, In the past I have test sanded a panel in an inconspicuous spot or got a junkyard panel and gauge how aggressive I can get. I will not bother with that on this truck and just go straight to 1500 grit paper 3M Trizact pads in 3000 then 5000 with lots of water

Nice! I was thinking about getting the PPF done when I got the truck, but was told by a lot of the folks I drive with that PPF will usually get damaged off-road, such as branches scratching it and marring the finish. Whereas the paint can be buffed off. That it's great for impacts from small stones and prevention of chipping paint, but not so much for trail pinstripes.

 

[BowDown]

Nice! I was thinking about getting the PPF done when I got the truck, but was told by a lot of the folks I drive with that PPF will usually get damaged off-road, such as branches scratching it and marring the finish. Whereas the paint can be buffed off. That it's great for impacts from small stones and prevention of chipping paint, but not so much for trail pinstripes.

I think it would work there too, just replace it when it get beat up. Some of those trail stripes are too deep for buffing out

 

[SkittleRam]

So I looked over my truck again last night as I needed to wash it and really the paint quality is very good and consistent. My truck is a June 2020 Build. As far panel alignment, my hood was off a bit(easy fix myself) and the driver door is a tad off, otherwise pretty darn good.

I did own a 2014 and the paint job was horrible, there were parts of the truck where you could see the primer, junk the paint, miss-aligned panels, even the bed was not aligned with the cab....

So comparing my 2014 and 2020, the 2020 is soooo much better.