riverdog

I have a 2010 XLT with the paint blistering down to bare metal on both sides of the truck. (pictures attached) I am seeing this on many of the trucks of this vintage in my town and they all look very similar. Ford won't do anything about this unless there is a perforation right through. This is clearly related to the paint not being prepped properly. I also had to have the bonnet on this truck painted after 6 months after buying it new because it was blistering behind the edge of the grill. I had a 1998 xlt with 300K on it and I drove it until 2010, the driving conditions were exactly the same and the paint had no issues. I had a guy at ford tell me on the QT that some people are drilling holes in the problem area and letting it rust to get around Ford's policy and fix it. I didn't want to do this so I talked to the dealer, contacted national reps from the US and Canada on this forum....big fat nothing.

So... after 24 straight years of driving nothing but ford trucks my new Ram will be here on Friday.

IMO Fords quality has gone down and their policy on paint sucks.

Sour grapes, You bet!!! Please reply if you have paint problems I think this is a widespread problem Ford should be dealing with. Get out your drills boys if you want this fixed.

tanked_darren

Make sure you check the spare comes down on your new Ram. My buddies 2014 there wasn't all the parts with the truck to lower the spare. Of course this happened 40km up a logging road.

gregsf150stx

Grass is not always greener on the other side. Owned a ram . . . I'm back in a ford...

Wiggum

I'm not gonna say it should or should not be a recall, as your situation may be one of only a handful of similar instances. Of course, a recall is generally only when it is proven that a part, assembly or manufacturing process is flawed and causing issues across the board (or potential issues, mostly regarding safety).

Anyway, your situation does suck, especially if the paint really is faulty. I don't live in an area or normally drive in conditions that would "assist" in catalyzing that type of flaw ... but you noted that your older Ford truck was put through the same conditions and never failed... so I don't know what to say there.

All that said - and I know you don't wanna hear this - everything man-made is going to have some problems with some of the products. You may have unfortunately got one of the few that have an issue. Or, I could be completely wrong, and there may be TONS of trucks with this issue ... again, I don't know.

From what I see in your pics, maybe it was a bad batch of paint ... who knows. I have NO idea how one would analyze the situation to find out for sure if the paint is faulty, or if you just happened to run through some unknown conditions that were way harder on the paint than should be expected. But either way, it looks like you've just got a little surface rust that could be cleaned up easily, and the rocker panels repainted ... and that probably wouldn't cost TOO much to have done.

I'm not trying to convince you to stay with Ford, or to leave for another brand. I'm just saying what the two posters above me said, which is the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence, and you may be better off in the long run just fixing the issue with your current truck and moving forward.

Me? I'd probably have it repainted, as well as trying to sweet-talk my dealer some more and explain to them how this is something that is obviously a flaw in the painted finish. They may take care of you, or part of the cost, or throw something your way for the trouble ... who knows? If you haven't already done that, it may be worth a shot before you dump that truck and try another brand.

Alcoloco

They all have their issues with paint, Ford, Ram and Chevy. Seems some batches show up with problems where others don't, just mass manufacturing.

Ram just recently updated their paint booths in 2013-14 and are much better than years ago. Still occasional problems pop up, just as in any other brand.

21RRF150

iTrader: (1)

No, it's not widespread. No they shouldn't recall it. Maybe a warranty issue for low mil build delamination but that's it. Good luck with the Ram. My bro in law hasn't had good luck with the flaking paint on his Ram either.

riverdog

Thanks for the replies guys. I too was a die hard Ford F150 believer like yourselves, two of my friends are driving F150s because of the way my 1998 lasted and how much I liked it. I'm aware vehicles have problems but when you pay big bucks for these things the companies should step up and say yes this is a problem and fix it. The paint is just another problem among others. I suspect the list is gonna get longer....She Gone ! I'll take my chances.

ABMach

Can you post where you live and how many miles are on your truck? Plus with RAM buying back 500k trucks and numerous recalls and fines by the federal government it might not be the best time to go to Fiat.

21RRF150

iTrader: (1)

I understand your situation. And it does suck. I'm no die hard. I'm far from brand loyal. I've worked in the auto body industry for almost 16 years painting. 6 of those years were at Ford, in 2 separate areas of the US. I'm assuming you're from Canada. (only going off of you calling the hood a bonnet) I've painted hundreds of these trucks either under warranty, or for standard collision repair. Never seen your issue on Ford vehicles. Not saying it shouldn't be warrantied, or that it never happens, just saying commonality means a lot by warranty standards.

tanked_darren

Who said they were die hard lmao