This one is for the paint experts. I had my truck inspected yesterday for a BOW suit, and he discovered that the paint is .5 mil in most areas, and just touching 1 mil in others. Could this be why rock salt chipped the paint so badly? Shouldn't it be between 1.5 and 2.0 mil thick?

 

Seems like most factory paint is .4 - .7 mil thick.

 

I have a 2017 and it has rock chips all over it. Used to drive me crazy but now I ignore it.

 

My 17 has gotten about 5 chips to the metal on the hood in ~10,500 miles. (along with a finger tipped size blemish in the paint that seems like it has no metallic flake)

One was from a big rock someone didn't clear from their vehicle and it flew across two lanes when it hit me, it also put a small chip in the windshield. Thanks rando, the dodge driver. The rest were from tiny pebbles that have gotten kicked or dropped off trucks in front of me.

 

I have two chips just above my line of sight from a direct hit that I saw coming. The rest of the hundreds of chips on my hood, fenders, doors and bed are from rock salt. All of them and I know exactly when and where they happened. I was just wondering if the really thin paint is why it is chipping so easily vs paint like on the 14 I had and my wife's 15 Focus that has a total of 3 chips.

 

I would think the chipping would have more to do with adhesion or flexibility of the paint rather than thickness. I wouldn't expect rock salt to cause impact damage normal paint. Are you sure it was rock salt? I only ask as when I lived in Colorado they used pea gravel instead of sand and when the winds would come off the mountains in the winter kicked it up it really did a number on the hood and windshield of my Toyota.

 

The front and sides of my '16 Focus looks like I drove through a swirling storm of buckshot. I even went so far as to take it to a local shop my dad used to work for to have it repainted. The adjuster, whom I knew personally, told me he wouldn't even give me an estimate. He said it's not the factory paint, but the roads I drive. He said he could have painted it and I'd be back in a week, angry with another chip.

 

Factory paint is typically 4-5 mils thick. Who did this inspection?

 

Ford switched to cheap soft paint years ago and puts it on as thin as possible to make a buck.

 

I had to get it inspected by an ASE certified licensed inspector for the BOW case against Ford. He showed me the areas where the paint was very thin, and then compared it to another car he had nearby which was about what you said, 4 mil or so. The leading edge of the fenders near the lights showed a 0.5, the rest of the panels were 1 - 1.5. He showed me a car he painted, he is restoring I think a Pontiac GTO maybe, and he had 10+ mil on it. His main goal is to confirm or deny my complaints, and he 100% confirmed them, nearly crapped his pants when he let go of the wheel and nearly ran off the road. The paint isn't one of them though, but he did say, that the clear should not have separated from the base like it did, even from a chip.