Hello. I am a new member and a first time F-150 owner. My family and I recently decided to purchase a travel trailer and needed a better tow vehicle. We picked up this used max tow/max payload FX4 model that is in exceptional condition. When cleaning it up after getting home I was checking the aluminum panels for any signs of paint bubbles. We looked at a bunch of Expeditions before buying the truck and almost all of them had the peeling paint issue or the starts of it. What I have on my truck does not look the same as those, but I wanted to get some opinions on here. It almost looks like paint drips that off-gassed and then were cleared over...or it is the start of paint bubbles, you tell me. Also, they don't seem soft like the other bubbles I have seen. It's hard to photograph but I thing these give a pretty good idea of what I am talking about. I have about a year left on the warranty and will get this taken care of before it runs out if that is what it turns about to be. Thanks for the help and I am looking forward to being a part of this forum.

 

If you need to see any different views to get a better idea, let me know and I can take some other pictures.

 

If this is your hood lip it is most likely "poorly prepped aluminum" per FORD. We had to get my wife's 2013 explorer hood repainted due to the exact issue except more bubble were present. My 2005 Mustang has those bubbles under hood near lip. Ford has had this issue with aluminum since the early 2000's with all vehicles using aluminum parts such as hoods. I just noticed by buddies 2010 F150 has hood bubbles near top of grill trim. Curious to see how the paint is going to hold up on these "ALL ALUMINUM F150's" since they obviously still haven't corrected the issue. Google FORD paint bubbles and you will see this issue from early 2000's till now on all of their vehicles with aluminum hoods and hatch doors (expeditions). Should be covered under paint corrosion warranty. Good luck.

 

Looks like excess sealer/glue from where the outer and inner shell are glued together. It could also be a drip in the Basecoat and then cleared over. Hard to tell. The early aluminium trucks took awhile to fully refine the build process. I would not worry unless it starts to grow. I don't think it will.

 

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I have seen it first hand on some of the Expeditions. One we looked at had 6-12"s of flaking paint on the tailgate and this was on a $35K certified preowned. I was hoping that it was just a few paint drips, there are four, and not the aluminum issue.

 

I believe the paint will look as good as new for years to come. Diffidently rust will not be a factor from under the paint. But only time will tell.

 

Thanks, I will definitely keep an eye on it and show it to the dealer next time I go in for something.

Is it weird that the spots seem solid? I would think that they would be soft if it is the paint bubbling.

 

The paint and sealer are baked at 200-350 degs. so it gets hard.

 

Hard to tell. But looks like a clear drip. Or we call them "shark teeth"

 

I think one of these might be more of what is going on. Since it is not soft and still has solid clear on it, it just doesn't seem like the other corrosion/flaking I have seen on other Fords. It's really hard to photograph as the spots are pretty small, but I got one more today that shows it a little better (this is the biggest of the spots). Thanks for all of the replies, I really appreciate the feedback!