Poor Paint Quality

[Drop04GT Elwood]

Hey Folks,

I'm new around here. I bought a 2004 Screaming Yellow GT about a month ago. I was waxing it for the first time (Zymol) and noticed my car has many areas of thin paint and more orange peel than a Maaco spray job. It look as if Ray Charles took a job at Ford's paint department when mine was done. Has anybody had any similar problems with paint? I'm worried if I have Ford address this issue, the finish would be worse than now. I've seen some lousey body work in my day, and I don't want my 32,000 dollar car looking like it just rolled out of Earl Scheib's paint booth. What's a guy to do.
Anyway, other than out of balance tires and a broken swaybar link (both found on first day of ownership) it's been a fun car to ease my mid-life crisis. I've turned into the guy I used to laugh at. Older, loud mullet rock (80's) cranked through the MACH 460 sound, top down and trying to pick up hot chicks. Oh, well.

Thanks,

Elwood

04 GT DropTop
5 speed of course.
1.5k

 

[Reimann]

If it's an '04 then it should still be under warrenty, take it back to the dealership and they'll repaint it.

 

[98_stang_guy]

sometimes places dont know jack and can even make your paint worse...had first hand experience w/ that, they screwed up what they painted...and got overspray on what they didnt paint, took it back 5 times and it still looks like crap...and when i went there they said "if you arent satisfied, take it back", a guy can only take it back so many times...

 

[rjstaaf]

They won't repaint it for orange peel. You would be hard pressed to find a Mustang that doesn't have orange peel.

 

[O.D. Showtime]

Do yourself a favor and stay away from the dealership. They steal your money. Also, dealerships don't really have great body shops. I work at a dealer and our body guy works outside when he paints (which says alot about the quality of the work he's putting out). Go to a good body shop or a collision shop where they have a nice paint booth. I understand if it's under warranty they'll fix it for free maybe, but is it worth having a ****ty paint job?

 

[Drop04GT Elwood]

The dealer said that a re-paint is an option, but I'm scared of workmanship like you mentioned above. I don't know if they will de-trim the car of moldings, name plates and other items before refinishing the car. I really don't want to wet sand it beacause the clear coat can get damaged. It really sucks. I called Ford's customer hot line and all I got was a doofus that didn't speak English and couldn't understand what I meant by thin paint and orange peel. I wish they would give me an extended warranty or some sort of compensation... or at least let me choose a shop to have the work done at. I'd like a restoration shop to fix it. I had this thing dealer traded for me because I wanted yellow, so I was hung with it. Also, are the hood insides and firewall suppose to be painted? Mine has just a thin coat of paint and looks greenish, not yellow. If I ever go to resell this thing, someone's going to think it was hit harder than Rodney King.
Anyway, sorry to gripe.....

Elwood

 

[x2cstang]

Actually they will repaint for the "thin" areas. The problem is yellow is very transparent, so it doesn't cover as well. On the inside under the hood and such the paint will look greenish because there is even less coverage and the sealer underneath is throwing the color off. If you request the dealer to take of the mouldings and such they should do so, have them take a picture of the car with these items off. Make sure they will give you a lifetime guaranty on the paint. You can also meet with the paint supplier and the body shop manager at the same time to express your concerns so they know up front what you want done.
I would be more worried about color match on a yellow car than anything else. Since yellow is transparent and you've already seen the color difference under the hood the color is going to be difficult to match. If the coverage on the vehicle isn't good now, and the dealer doesn't use the same color sealer underneath it's gonna be a tough job.

And another FYI, I am a body shop manager at a dealership and yes there are good and bad. But there are also good and bad privately owned body shops out there. The one plus you have as a consumer by going back to the dealership you have some recoarse with Ford directly. If you are unhappy you can contact Ford and start a customer complaint claim, you can request it be followed up with your local Ford field tech rep. If you go to a private body shop you won't have the same kind of leverage.

Thats my 2 cents.

 

[super302]

Is there such thing as a stang w/o orange peel??
I would get it repainted if i were you.

 

[Drop04GT Elwood]

x2cstang-

Are you a Ford body shop manager? Do you want to do mine? I am worried about the color match. I once had a vehicle that was refinished and it looked like Joesph the amazing techincolor dream car when it was done. It was a poor match. "We blended through the door" the Estimator said. That was sure seen when the sun hit it. You could see a halo through the middle of the door. If you are a Ford manager, I'd really like to talk (or type) to you. Send me a PM.

Thanks,

Elwood

 

[10HoleLX]

Do yourself a favor and stay away from the dealership. They steal your money. Also, dealerships don't really have great body shops. I work at a dealer and our body guy works outside when he paints (which says alot about the quality of the work he's putting out). Go to a good body shop or a collision shop where they have a nice paint booth. I understand if it's under warranty they'll fix it for free maybe, but is it worth having a ****ty paint job?

I think its sad that your talking b.s. about your work place. Makes me wonder what type of quality work you put out.
I work at a Ford dealership as a mechanic and I've seen many of our Body Shop's paint jobs and they are of high quality, we even have "state of the art" paint booths.

 

[sharong]

Hi I also have paint problems...I have a 2004 black mustang (premiun with leather ,trac.control etc..$23000 after rebates and as I type my car is at the dealership with paint problems...The clear coat on the whole front right side bumper is peeling off...There are spots through out the entire car that looks to be under clear coat...Other than the bumper problem the dealer said that he think the spots are water spots well bull...t they are not...and if they were ( i dought it) they were ther when I paid cash for the car ..I purchased at night and did not notice untill I was giving good wax job couple weeks later......Anyway I will see what they did about it when I pick it up on Friday..IT BETTER BE FIXED.......................................Also the molding around the glass of back window was not sealed on..it was just stuck on...I told them about it before I brought it in for paint and they said dont worry about it..I said what if my back glass blows out on highway..He says your under warranty we will cover it(hahahahahah)...All this sh-- needs to be fixed when I pick it up Fri.------------By the way now you guys have me worried about the dealer doing the work,thanks sharon

 

[94Gtstock-newclutch]

got an 04 screaming yellow too. seems to have permanant waterspots on the roof. hardly noticible so that does not bother me. but the hood already has a nice chip along with the roof. the paint on my 94 was much much much better. my tires seem to be out of balance as well and my ac was not charged from the factory.

 

[spree]

My car has bad orange peel too. Not much you can do about it unless you feel like wetsanding it, which I wouldn't really recommend unless you know what you're doing.

 

[jasontio]

I my new orange gt got it 3 weeks ago aso has orange peel. But the clear coat is very good and looks good. You do think they could do a better job thought.

 

[mattkimsey]

They probably just run them through really quick, to save time.