Paint Defects

6-11-03, 16:59

I had just visited an interesting site which claims, (with the support of many mx-6/probe owners,) that the paint on our cars is, indeed, defective. I have, of course, always known that my paint was deteriorating, with huge faded patches and flaking clear coat, but never realized the scope of the problem. I figured it might just be MY car... not quite! There is a list of people who have reported their cases here: http://www.netspace.net.au/~nephilim...defectlist.htm Just thought i'd bring this to your attention in case, like me, you were not aware. I know some ppl have had success in getting their vehicles repainted by Ford, paying only a fraction of the cost. Good luck to those who try!

dep56 · 6-17-03, 18:41

Clear coat? You have clear coat?
My car had little or no clear coat to speak of when I bought it. Got dull very quickly. It looks better now after my taking care of it (buffing, assorted waxes and polymer-type coatings)than it did when it was a year old.

Paint in general was lousy too. Big paint drop on back bumper. Paint was so thin on fender, hood and sun roof edges that primer was visible. Surface rust appeared around sunroof edges which I had to touch up.

While I'm on a rant, that's not the extent of poor workmanship on my 6: the driver's side scuff plate(or whatever it's called) was not inserted properly. Looks like the someone couldn't get it to snap in properly so he tried to smash it into place bending the clips. It remains loose to this day.

Probably think of a couple more things after this is posted too.

Thanks AutoAlliance workers.

**janz99** · 6-17-03, 19:04

The clear coat on my car is flaking off arount the front panels, the hood and trunk also have what looks like the clear coat is "cracking" Car has 135,000 KM on it.

**CRiZO** · 6-17-03, 19:28

hrm... my paint is great... except where my front was attacked with pebbles at 140 mph..... kinda the same effect as the cars had on mischief 3000

wheeliechicken · 7-1-03, 8:58

I too have this problem. The clear coat has worn away in about a half a dozen or so spots. When the car is wet it looks fine.

I know a lot of other people have this problem, but what I really want to know is, is there any way to improve/repair it without repainting the entire car??? I don't mind doing the work myself even if it involves buying some tools/equip.

drunk munkey · 8-8-03, 14:00

I have the same exact problem that he just said. My car looks completely fine when it is wet , and only on some spots such as the side mirrors and the roof of my car are faded. The side mirrors look really bad and i was wondering if there was anything i could do for it without repainting. I'd do anything or even pay for something not to expensive to have them done without repainting everything
somebody respond!

**JKM** · 8-8-03, 15:08

my base coat was cracking and it was driving me up the wall....I decided to paint the car about two years ago. You can't just sand and paint over the old stuff since it will continue to crack. I sanded off all the old paint and primer and started over. A little more work, but it needed to be done.

J

**nitro balla** · 8-8-03, 17:52

ya my clear coat on my roof is gone and im getting rust by the sunroof egdes

gorrillaballs · 9-17-03, 11:43

I've had the same problems as the rest of you. 93 LS, paint faded on roof, sunroof, trunk, spoiler, and spreading. Paint dings in hood leading to rust. It looks terrible, but I'm really low on cash. Looks better when it rains, but still not good. I repainted the spoiler with touch-up paint but having problems with cracking and orange-peel look.

wheeliechicken · 9-17-03, 14:16

I have absolutely NO experience with body shop work/paint so this might be a dumb question, but here goes...

I keep hearing/reading that to get rid of the "spots" of faded clearcoat, I would have to repaint the whole car. Now my question is, if I got a ding or dent on my door lets say, would I also have to paint the whole car? I don't think so. Also, I've been told when a part of the car is painted, they "blend" in the paint (and I assume clear coat) with the other parts of the car. Can't I do such "blending" with new clear coat on the spots with the remaining clearcoat on the car?

I'm just looking for a low-cost, diy solution that makes it look half-way decent.

Thanks

**Radar** · 9-17-03, 17:16

it depends on how bad its faded. If it is cracking (like mine was) it should be stripped down to the metal and then primed/paint/clear. If it just in isolated areas and it isn't terrible then yes it can be fixed, but if it is large patches, you will be better off painting the whole car.