i solved this by adding a transparent imageView on top of my map, i guess it forced a different kind of redraw to the screen, this idea wasn't mine, i got it from a different google maps related problem, this is how my xml looks now (part of it)
<fragment
android:layout_marginLeft="-40dp"
android:layout_marginRight="-40dp"
android:id="@+id/map_fragment"
android:name="com.google.android.gms.maps.SupportMapFragment"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
class="com.google.android.gms.maps.SupportMapFragment" />
<ImageView
android:id="@+id/map_overlay"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:background="@android:color/transparent"
/>
hope this helps! :)