Ok guys. I went with my buddy to look at a 2001 f150 he's interested in. The paint seems like it has little cracks in the paint around most of the truck, just alot of little lines all over it?... I've never seen something like it before, has anyone on here? If so is it something to be worried about? Thanks

 

Mixture to thick and wasn't dry enough when clear coat was put on?
I remember back in the day (70s) alot of our local mustangs had the cracks, but most of them had the large flakes in the paint.

edit: The trend was to have large multi-color shiney flakes of silver/gold/rainbow.

 

My 99 black ranger did the same thing. It never flaked though I had it till 2008 when some idiot cut acros four lanes hit it and totaled it out with his tahoe. The paint was like that and never flake up. As long as owned it.

 

Sorry for the missunderstanding< I edited my post, the flakes were actually in the paint or added to it, its what makes the paint job sparkle. They just went with larger than normal flakes and it tended to crack up.

 

Ahh ok I understand now.

 

Well I am not a body man or paint guy... please feel free to correct me if I am wrong but I think what you are describing is the clear coat cracking (around here they call crows feet)... as I have been told its from neglect (no wax) for many years, usually more visible on darker or deeper paint colors, (mine is black and the same way) and no easy fix except a total repaint ...

 

Highroller85 that's exactly what it seems like

 

Thats what mine looked like when I got mine, IT IS paint neglect, where the clear coat dries out to the point of cracking, (similar to dry skin on hands and feet) once the paint cracks, it splits apart and is known as "lacquer checking". The "checking" comes from the visual aspect of the surface looking like check marks everywhere, and "lacquer" is the paint back in the 60's that was notorious for drying out. There is NO repair for it other than sanding down the areas that are affected to the point of no more cracks and re-paint it. In my case it was the entire truck. It has 83,000 miles on it and its a 2001. It was hardly driven and it sat there and pretty much baked in the sun at Havasu, AZ. Ford's and GM's factory paint did that in '99 through 2003.... Unless the original owner took really good care of the paint and put wax on it.

I used to paint a lot of cars and trucks.