2008 Keystone Montana decal issues

[Halfkilo]

I contacted Keystone this morning regarding the peeling decals on our 2008 Keystone Montana. I am not surprised but I am disappointed at their reply. As I suspected they would have nothing to do with the problem. The rep I spoke with said (after I provided my VIN#) that these things are reviewed on a "case by case basis" and they had no record of any problems with that particular unit and therefore this was an isolated problem and they would not get involved. I was told the decals are available and to contact a dealer. We have used our unit very little and it is like new on the inside and it is so disappointing to have it look so horrible on the outside. After joining this forum and reading about all the decal issues out there it is difficult for me to believe that we are an "isolated" case. A set of decals and some good will would go long way with a customer.....I will never by a Keystone product again. :(

[Jim W]

I disagree with you totally a 2008 model is far out of warranty and the manufacture has no responsibility to warrant this item.

I have a 2010 that the front decade is peeling a little mainly from where the wax touch the decals has I waxed the front of the 5er. I would in no way expect Keystone or any other manufacture to pay or provide warranty on this item. Sure it does not look good but the unit is three years out of warranty. So if I want it fix this is on my dime.

Just my humble opinion.

Jim W.

[SAABDOCTOR]

X2 ON THE DECALS. The warranty is long over. when I WAS a service manager for a new car dealer. a customer had about 150 on a four year old car and he thought a head gasket should covered by the company. My answer to that and to you is at what point do you think you own the car truck camper? Sorry to hear about the decals. but how is the rest of the camper?

[howard]

We had the same problem with the decals on our Montana, in particular those that were constantly exposed to the sun and not in the shade. Ours was out of warranty by at least a year so I never expected Keystone to pay for them, although I would have expected them to last longer than two (2) years. The good news is that the fix, assuming you do it yourself, is not very expensive, nor was it as time consuming as I thought it would be. I only replaced some of the decals, but as I recall the large five (5) foot wide decal on the nose of the trailer that reads "MONTANA" was only about $40 from the dealer. You also need to buy decal remover and decal positioner from an auto BODY supply shop both for around $50.00 total. These products worked very well and I would never have been able to get the decal straight and level without the positioning spray and I did all of the work alone in a couple of hours. A second person would make the go even faster and would be much easier. The new decals really made the trailer look new again!

[JRTJH]

halfkilo,

welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about your decals. Otherwise, how is your Montana? Nearly all of us who frequent this forum are well satisfied with our Keystone products and are very happy with the service we get from our dealership and the factory.

Why not just change those 4 year old decals yourself, accept the fact that the warranty was for one year and it's long past and get out to enjoy your RV. Otherwise, the best alternative is probably to sell it to someone who will enjoy it (bad decals or not) and get yourself something you'd be happier to own.

By and large, if you think about it, if decals are your only issue, you've got one heck of a great RV parked at your house !!!!!

Good Luck with whatever you choose to do. Our "for sale/trade" section may be a great place to start trying to sell your Montana if that's what you choose to do.

[Halfkilo]

Thank you for the feed back. I am obviously new to this (first camper I have owned) and was just very disappointed in the fact that the decals went bad so fast. Didn' t expect that but i am beginning to understand that this is the norm with decals. I like the camper and regardless of the decal issue we will use it and enjoy it! It is good to know it is possible to do the work on our own.

[Ozarkcamper]

I certainly don't remember anyone in the dealership mentioning anything about the decals beng inferior. I mean the simple engineering that the OEM did for them was amatureistic at most. And, why would a company that supposedly builds a good RV want to put the cheapest decal they could find on it? If it is obvious that the OEM sold a bad product then they should back it up no matter what the time frame.

[JRTJH]

I certainly don't remember anyone in the dealership mentioning anything about the decals beng inferior. I mean the simple engineering that the OEM did for them was amatureistic at most. And, why would a company that supposedly builds a good RV want to put the cheapest decal they could find on it? If it is obvious that the OEM sold a bad product then they should back it up no matter what the time frame.

Ozarkcamper,

It ain't a perfect world and Keystone, like any company has to remain competetive with their competetion and still make a profit. There are many components that they buy from the lowest bidder so they can remain in business. Ask yourself this: "Would I pay another $50,000 to have an RV with a 10 year warranty and with components made by the "best manufacturer?"

If you, like most of us, prefer to keep our money in our own pocket and buy a "reasonable quality" RV for a "reasonable price" then accepting the fact that Keystone has to "cheapen the price" somewhere is a part of that reality.

And, as a former Airstream owner, I can assure you that the 2 year warranty on Airstreams ends at the day of purchase two years out. They are tougher to deal with than Keystone when it comes to "helping a customer" after the warranty expires.... And, they are "supposed to be the gold standard" for the RV industry.

Oh, just for the record, the FX4 decals on my 2010 F150 were cracked... I noticed the cracks about my 37th month of ownership. The service manager at Ford kindly told me that my warranty had expired and if I wanted, they would be happy to order new decals and install them at the standard shop rate if I wanted. It ain't just Keystone that doesn't extend "lifetime replacements" to unhappy customers.

[theeyres]

Unfortunately this is not just a Keystone problem. I see faded decals on almost all the brands. Decals simply to not hold up well. I think all the companies use the same kind of decals. Unless you go the the top of the line of any company, where they do custom paint jobs, you will find the same problem. Too bad they all go for the glitz. I would be happier if they just put their logo on, like autos do, and forget all the fancy decals.

[golfpro]

my first TT had the decals come off before I was ready for them to, so I just pealed the loose ones off and threw them away. no big deal as far as I was concerned. I just bought a 09 mountaineer made by montana and the decals are coming off when I bought it. I just took a razor blade and trimmed them back. I guess it's just me and I don't get excited by these things any more. I know it's a lot of money out of your pocket and you want the TT to look real nice but unless you are real lucky, it not going to happen. things happen and this is one of them, I think tires should last longer than 5 years or even more than one camping trip. I went through ten tires before I got mad and got over kill tires, no more blow outs so far.