Paint bubble on trunk lid, Ford denying warranty claims. Do I have any options?

[GooberDH]

Tl;dr Ghosted by Ford twice for warranty repair. Is there anything I can do?

It's on the outside near the lower corner. Noticed it shortly after buying last summer. I was able to make an indent with my thumb nail which disappeared the next day so that leads me to believe there's a void under the paint vs a drip when it was applied.

I had a warranty request submitted with the dealership I purchased the car from. Allegedly one of the top "Ford Special Vehicles" dealers in the country. About 5 weeks later after no update I stopped by to see if there was any news. Body shop manager said my case was closed by whomever she submitted it to. She took more photos and said she'd resubmit my claim and promised she'd call me as soon as she heard any news.

That was 5 months ago, no call. I still have an open case with my PPF guy for about 6 months now because I told him to skip the trunk, anticipating a strip and respray like the bodyshop manager told me would be the fix.

My concern is this bubble looks just like the beginning of the classic Mustang engine cover rot my S550 had. Even worse because unlike the aluminum hood, the trunk lid is steel, which will corrode way worse once that bubble eventually ruptures from seasonal heat cycling or from thermal shock every time I wash the car after it's been in the Sun during the hot months.

Fun fact: Try going to your Ford account and make a service note like documenting you changed your oil. Include something like "Pending warranty repair", "Warranty request submitted", "Paint defect", etc. I bet it'll tell you, "Oopsie whoopsie something went wrong! Vewwy sorry we can't submit this record right now ". Then immediately try again like, "Oil changed" and wow a miracle it submits to your service records just fine.

After driving nothing but Mustangs my whole life, I knew paying full MSRP for one was playing with fire in terms of build quality, but I naively thought, "At least warranty will take care of it".

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[BimmerDriver]

Escalate the warranty claim with Ford's customer service department.

I can't help but wonder why the dealer didn't just go ahead and fix it. Perhaps it isn't what you think it is? A picture would help.

 

[GooberDH]

Escalate the warranty claim with Ford's customer service department.

I can't help but wonder why the dealer didn't just go ahead and fix it. Perhaps it isn't what you think it is? A picture would help.

I didn't think I had a picture on hand but I do. 3/4 of my Mustangs had paint issues. The first IDK because it was beat when I got it but it was my first car so it didn't matter. My hood has portions where in the Sun it's clearly teal and not a behavior of Blue Ember Metallic like the coating was uneven, it straight up looks like overspray but I can live with it since you only see it in the right light and up close, at the end of the day it's not compromised and a corrosion risk. This on the other hand stinks like a corrosion nightmare that'll take enough time to manifest long enough for the warranty to expire first.

 

[Skye]

General Service Bulletin 23-7003 is the supporting GSB to have this repaired. FWIW, I think you're covered.

https://www.fordedgeforum.com/topic...s-vehicles-paint-and-bumper-concern-analysis/

Regarding inputting information at the Ford site, I'd been seeing the same. Then, I figured it out: while there is plenty of space to input information, the system accepts only so much text. Once I input a line about the width of a cell phone screen, like you did, it accepted it. Ford should allow at least a simple paragraph.

 

[GooberDH]

Regarding inputting information at the Ford site, I'd been seeing the same. Then, I figured it out: while there is plenty of space to input information, the system accepts only so much text. Once I input a line about the width of a cell phone screen, like you did, it accepted it. Ford should allow at least a simple paragraph.

I thought so too, so I just changed it to, "Warranty claim pending approval for paint bubble".

'Sorry, there was a problem :(((('


Ok.

"Paint prepped and Full body XPel Fusion PPF applied at Such and Such Shop located at Place. PPF given specific time to cure and vehicle was retrieved"

'Thank you for your submission'

Ok.

 

[OldCoastie]

I didn't think I had a picture on hand but I do. 3/4 of my Mustangs had paint issues. The first IDK because it was beat when I got it but it was my first car so it didn't matter. My hood has portions where in the Sun it's clearly teal and not a behavior of Blue Ember Metallic like the coating was uneven, it straight up looks like overspray but I can live with it since you only see it in the right light and up close, at the end of the day it's not compromised and a corrosion risk. This on the other hand stinks like a corrosion nightmare that'll take enough time to manifest long enough for the warranty to expire first.

That is a very common paint blister that is caused by impurities on the body area before it was sprayed., Problems of repairing this type of issue are: First the trunk itself would need to be stripped down to metal, cleaned, reprimed, urethane base, clear coated and everything that happens in between. That is straight forward, next issue is matching th color exact. Could be a bigger issue. This really cost Ford nothing, but that does look like a factory sourced defect. Simply because it is a blister. Once exposed to the sun, which heats the paint, the impurities underneath forms a gas that lifts the paint and the blister is formed. (I use to restore Corvettes and very familiar with this issue. Vettes are glass or urathane Iplastics) that needs to be perfectly cleaned.)

 

[OldCoastie]

One more point; Ford is probably rejecting your claim as your photo shows water spots and dirt, so Ford would assume that you are not maintaining the paint, feeble but that is how they look at ti, I think that is wrong. Appears you must be in snow area, as the bumper appears to have salted dirt spots, again any excuse they will use. This is on the lower right trunk lid, or on the bumper. On trunk lid, metal, on bumper urethane, two different ways to prep for paint. Just saying.

 

[GooberDH]

That is a very common paint blister that is caused by impurities on the body area before it was sprayed., Problems of repairing this type of issue are: First the trunk itself would need to be stripped down to metal, cleaned, reprimed, urethane base, clear coated and everything that happens in between. That is straight forward, next issue is matching th color exact. Could be a bigger issue. This really cost Ford nothing, but that does look like a factory sourced defect. Simply because it is a blister. Once exposed to the sun, which heats the paint, the impurities underneath forms a gas that lifts the paint and the blister is formed. (I use to restore Corvettes and very familiar with this issue. Vettes are glass or urathane Iplastics) that needs to be perfectly cleaned.)

Thanks for the input, it'll help me be a bit more coherent when arguing my case. Your solution is pretty much spot on with what the manager said to me. She told me all they need is for Ford to approve the warranty job so they get reimbursed, which is apparently the problem.

 

[GooberDH]

One more point; Ford is probably rejecting your claim as your photo shows water spots and dirt, so Ford would assume that you are not maintaining the paint, feeble but that is how they look at ti, I think that is wrong. Appears you must be in snow area, as the bumper appears to have salted dirt spots, again any excuse they will use. This is on the lower right trunk lid, or on the bumper. On trunk lid, metal, on bumper urethane, two different ways to prep for paint. Just saying.

These are just my pictures. The manager took her own. The last time I saw her I came straight from the detail shop for a one week checkup on their PPF work, at their request I washed the car earlier that day so they could see any potential problems with lifting etc. The car was spotless and it was like 70F mid September clear skies, I bought the car new 3 months prior. This booger is on the steel trunk lid.

I'm not conviced there's any care or cleaning product I could use or neglect that would result in paint blistering. I'd love to see Ford argue in court in an easy W for me Maguson-Moss Act lawsuit, "But he let dust and rain get on his car!", ok Ford go ahead and prove that caused the problem.

 

[OldCoastie]

These are just my pictures. The manager took her own. The last time I saw her I came straight from the detail shop for a one week checkup on their PPF work, at their request I washed the car earlier that day so they could see any potential problems with lifting etc. The car was spotless and it was like 70F mid September clear skies, I bought the car new 3 months prior. This booger is on the steel trunk lid.

I'm not conviced there's any care or cleaning product I could use or neglect that would result in paint blistering. I'd love to see Ford argue in court in an easy W for me Maguson-Moss Act lawsuit, "But he let dust and rain get on his car!", ok Ford go ahead and prove that caused the problem.

Very Good, Its so hard to tell when photos are that close. I have been restoring Corvettes for many years and I purchase a 63 Split that had a large bubble on the spine just below the window, I thought I could fix it, but I found the entire care was not prepped properly resulting in a complete stripping to the glass, regelled, and reshot entire car. All this because the prep was rushed as you have to wait at least two weeks and wash the car almost every day once stripped (Corvettes), because of the chemicals used to strip. I wish you the best and think you got a very strong case, as the spraying of these cars are not perfect by far. Urethane and Clear are very hard when waterbased to shoot without peel or small bubbles. Again I will check back and have them do the WHOLE trunk not a Dr Chip solution.

 

[OldCoastie]

I bet your car was one of the first shot that day, but usually trunks, doors, hoods are shot in batches not on the car but by themselves and installed on the car painted. I have seen sometimes when installed on the line the installer chipped the paint during installation and during QC it was detected and did a spot fix using a Dr. Chip type product. This could be another way of looking at it. Oh here is the paint job on my old 63.

 

[smurfslayer]

I have to get about ...22(?) rock chips repaired on my Raptor and the local guy quoted me $6-7 hundred.

How much aggravation and time are you willing to put into this to have the defect repaired free of cost, but not free in the amount of time and effort? Prep is the foundation of a good spray, and you want it done right, not cheap, not fast, not necessarily by warranty, right.

@BimmerDriver nailed it. if Ford C/S doesn't help, just be done with it and get a pro to redo it.
If you can afford a MDH at MSRP, you can afford a few bills to correct a paint defect. Life is too short to deal with cr@p like this.

Yeah, I know they SHOULD fix it, I hope the warranty will cover it and you get it fixed right, the first time. But, if it continues to be a problem, just pay a pro to fix it and get on with life in your 5.0 !

 

[hal26]

If it was out of warranty I would get touch up paint and fill that hole with small strokes of the brush over a few days allowing each to harden. Then when the level is high enough wet sand with 1000 grit then 2000 grit and rub out by hand with fine compound then hand polish to perfection. 13 years restoring VW's experience. Couple of hours work and maybe $25....

 

[GrabberB]

Warranty claim success is greatly influenced by the Dealership and their handling of the claim. Your dealerships tenacity score on a scale of 1 -10 with 10 being the highest level of tenacity is a 0 (ZERO). If your dealership was an alligator they would die of starvation.

Your dealer didn't care and Ford can tell this by zero follow-up on your claim. Your claim died in the hands of your Dealership.

Follow the advice of @smurfslayer and move on. Life's to short.

 

[GooberDH]

@BimmerDriver nailed it. if Ford C/S doesn't help, just be done with it and get a pro to redo it.
If you can afford a MDH at MSRP, you can afford a few bills to correct a paint defect. Life is too short to deal with cr@p like this

Whether I can afford it or not isn't a factor. It's a factory defect on a new car with a warranty that could progress to the whole trunk lid rotting. I shouldn't have to pay a dime. The whole, "just leave it or fix it yourself" attitude and lack of holding manufacturers accountable is why everything is sloppily-made garbage now a days. "Special car special car no discounts no rebates no special financing", ok Ford, give me the special treatment then of doing the bare minimum by honoring your warranty.

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