I have a 2015 F150 Lariat 2 tone with about 7k miles on it. I just got it back from being detailed and I noticed some chips (to be expected) from rocks in the bumper. What I did not expect was to see rust already starting to form in the chips.

Did they forget the clear coat????

Anyone else seeing this issue?

 

Do you have any pictures? Unprotected steel will rust. A harsh climate will accelerate this. If a rock chipped away your paint, there is no clear coat. Clear coat goes on top of the color paint, which goes on top of the primer.

However, you said bumper. So I'm guessing a piece of chrome chipped away leaving just the steel bumper.

 

My truck does not have chrome bumpers. The truck is two tone so the front bumpers are painted. I will get pics at some point. working on scheduling an appointment with dealer now.

 

A painted surface on the front of any vehicle will get rock chips. Always has, always will. When paint gets chipped, if you have exposed metal it will rust. Fact of life. Rust is not warrantied by Ford unless it is perforated through

 

My colored bumper is also showing rust.

 

Yeah I understand all that. I would just think the paint would be thick enough to not allow chips to get all the way down to metal....disappointing.

I have an appointment scheduled for next week to show the dealer, get seats documented, and have TSB's checked.

I will report back with any findings / suggestions from the dealer.

BTW- I have some touch up paint but should I use a tiny bit of sand paper to knock the little rust off first?

 

Clear coat is the top coat, not undercoat. If you get a chip that goes down to bare metal and do not touch it up it will rust.

 

I don't think I've ever seen a vehicle that this didn't happen to. Unless it has plastic bumpers.

 

ok so I do feel better after reading that it is normal. My last truck (Chevy) had chrome and plastic bumpers. so I never had this issue. I did get a chip in the hood that rusted but that wasn't till 80k miles or so.

So my question now is if I should use a little tiny sand paper to scratch off the rust then dab a small spot of touch up paint on the spots so they don't spread / get worse????

 

If you can get at the spot of rust without mucking up the good parts of your bumper, yes. I try to look for chips in the bumper when I wash the truck and I try to wash it weekly if it needs it. So far I've found one chip and I was able to put use touch up paint.

An option for you if you don't want to deal with this often is getting the bumper wrapped in some protective film. They have packages that have different amounts of coverage but a bumper itself should not cost a lot.