Cracking Paint?! - Montana Owners Club

sappito · 03-23-2021, 12:20 PM

Hey camper friends, has anybody experienced this? This cracking paint and cracked decals are on The front cap of my 2020 Montana 373RD, the thing is only about a year and a half old and the paint is cracking?! Camping World is useless and the extended warranty for the exterior paint, which was sold to me by Camping World and sponsored by Camping World through a third-party vendor, refuses to do anything but buff the area! I’m waiting for Montana to make a determination if this is a manufacturer defect. There was no damage to the front end, I wash and wax on a regular basis, this is absolutely ridiculous! Been camping my entire life and have never had this happen, much less on a virtually brand new rig!

DutchmenSport · 03-23-2021, 05:04 PM

I have heard in the past that wax on the graphics is not good for the graphics. Mine was treated with ResistAll at time of purchase, going on 2.5 years now and the camper is still shiny as new. I've only washed it, never put wax on it.

One of my previous campers was a Keystone Springdale Travel Trailer. I washed and waxed that thing all the time. After about 3 years, the graphics were literally falling off they were cracking so bad.

Don't know if the wax caused it or something else on yours though.

sappito · 03-23-2021, 05:08 PM

Well, it is not just the decals, the paint itself is cracking and that is causing the cracks on the decals, it’s crazy!!

richfaa · 03-23-2021, 06:53 PM

Never saw anything like that.

Mikendebbie · 03-23-2021, 07:56 PM

It looks like stress cracks in the Fiberglass to me.

sappito · 03-24-2021, 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikendebbie

It looks like stress cracks in the Fiberglass to me.

What would cause something like that?

Montana Man · 03-24-2021, 07:19 AM

You said this is on the front cap. Can you post a pic of where on the cap? Also, has the cap ever made contact with the cab of the truck? So far from the evidence presented it appears like damage from some kind of blunt force.

hemiallen · 03-24-2021, 08:48 AM

Stress cracks. In the lower, closeup photo the shorter , upper crack , looks to me like it might be indented? Hit a bird?

The paint package is supposed to, from the video I watched for 2021, have 3 or 4 coats of clear if I remember correctly. That paint job looks orange peeled and not glossy like I would expect.

Edit, I do see the right edge's dark paint is glossy like I would expect, not sure why the lighter blue and white is less shiny.
I also believe there are no stickers on a full body paint.

Good luck

Allen

sappito · 03-24-2021, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Montana Man

You said this is on the front cap. Can you post a pic of where on the cap? Also, has the cap ever made contact with the cab of the truck? So far from the evidence presented it appears like damage from some kind of blunt force.

So I cannot post another photo, I dropped her off at Camping World to try to get resolution through warranty or manufacturers defect, wish me luckl! The damage is on the front left of the cap, and no, it has never suffered damage or hit the truck. That was the first thing I thought as well, but nothing has ever hit her.

sappito · 03-24-2021, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hemiallen

The paint package is supposed to, from the video I watched for 2021, have 3 or 4 coats of clear if I remember correctly. That paint job looks orange peeled and not glossy like I would expect.

Edit, I do see the right edge's dark paint is glossy like I would expect, not sure why the lighter blue and white is less shiny.
I also believe there are no stickers on a full body paint.

It doesn't look glossy in the photo, but it certainly is. The rest of the cap and the RV look great, it is just the cracking that is messed up.

MsTeck883 · 03-28-2021, 02:00 PM

Decals will always do this. Stay away from decals and in the future make sure to get full body paint. Mine are doing the same. Sun and heat do this.

allenclme · 03-28-2021, 03:22 PM

Keystone has been pretty good to work with on post-warranty defects. I have not seen this on mine. If this is related to flex frame issues, should be taken care of. They took care of the repair on my 3820FK but I never experienced the cracks you've shown. BTW - I purchased that Camping World extended paint warranty and you don't get to read the fine print until they mail you the policy, but I paid $995 for it and it has a maximum payout limit of $2000 (that was in 2014). It didn't cover the claim for painting my front cap on my 325RL MHC which had chalking and fading after 1 year).

Mikendebbie · 03-28-2021, 05:23 PM

Which "left" side is the crack on? Roadside or Curbside?
Either way - when I look at your floor plan view - I think something happened to your cap either during or before installation...look at my sketch. I can't imagine any other way to achieve vertical stress cracks like that. Also - when you look at the pics of caps in the factory waiting to be installed, I suppose it would be possible for a cap to be "over-flexed" during a quick misstep during installation...pure speculation on my part. If it was an impact crack - seems like the cracks would radiate out from the point of impact.

sappito · 03-29-2021, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MsTeck883

Decals will always do this. Stay away from decals and in the future make sure to get full body paint. Mine are doing the same. Sun and heat do this.

This is not originating on the decals, it is underneath, the paint or the fiberglass, and the decals are cracking from the pressure

sappito · 03-29-2021, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikendebbie

Which "left" side is the crack on? Roadside or Curbside?
Either way - when I look at your floor plan view - I think something happened to your cap either during or before installation...look at my sketch. I can't imagine any other way to achieve vertical stress cracks like that. Also - when you look at the pics of caps in the factory waiting to be installed, I suppose it would be possible for a cap to be "over-flexed" during a quick misstep during installation...pure speculation on my part. If it was an impact crack - seems like the cracks would radiate out from the point of impact.

So it is on the curbside right about where your arrow is pointing. No point of impact, that was my first thought, but nothing has hit it. Very frustrating!!

sappito · 03-29-2021, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allenclme

Keystone has been pretty good to work with on post-warranty defects. I have not seen this on mine. If this is related to flex frame issues, should be taken care of. They took care of the repair on my 3820FK but I never experienced the cracks you've shown. BTW - I purchased that Camping World extended paint warranty and you don't get to read the fine print until they mail you the policy, but I paid $995 for it and it has a maximum payout limit of $2000 (that was in 2014). It didn't cover the claim for painting my front cap on my 325RL MHC which had chalking and fading after 1 year).

How did you go about getting them to do a manufacturers defect repair? Camping World is going back to them to request repair, but I'm not real confident they are fighting for me.

I indeed purchased a warranty specifically for the exterior including paint and decals, and the warranty company is saying they will only buff it out!! And Camping World is simply saying that is between me and the warranty company. My response was that Camping World sponsored that warranty when they sold me the RV, and now they are not going to fight for me?!

Montana Man · 03-29-2021, 05:18 PM

My previous Montana had a small bit of what you are experiencing. I did make contact with the truck and the cracking eventually appeared. Contact can be made without you not even realizing it. It possibly could be from the transporter who moved it from the factory to your dealer. Or, if stored where others use whatever to move it from point A to B. From my experience it looks like an excessive force that fractured the fiberglass. If not an extended warranty issue, perhaps an insurance issue. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

sappito · 05-25-2021, 01:36 PM

So for those of you following our dilemma, we fought and fought with Camping World and finally got them to go back to Keystone and get the cracking covered as a manufacturer’s defect. It is a shame that Camping World can sell you a $75k trailer in two hours but refuses to stand up for you as the customer! They repaired it and had their guy put on the decals, which were so horribly done that it looks like a four-year-old did them in craft time in kindergarten! We of course refused to accept the repair and demanded that they redo the decals, which by the way were installed by their lead technician! So sad! Before we ever talked to the service department, we grabbed the GM of the store and I asked him to get involved. It is ridiculous that you spend so much money on these RVs and then they fight you on the littlest things and perform substandard work, Camping World has become a joke as far as their service department is concerned!

**AZ Traveler** · 05-25-2021, 01:46 PM

Shane,

The rigs they don't use decals on sure look better. They should just go back to white trailers which will do better with the sun.

richfaa · 05-25-2021, 06:26 PM

Our 2013 3402 Big Sky does not have many decals. It is recommended that you do not wax the decals and we never have. The decals are in perfect condition.

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