Thin paint ( Comp orange ) ??

[John Rogers]

I have a 2004 competition orange ST. I have noticed that the paint is very thin. I have several chips along the sides.. Several are from other car doors , one I bumped with the garden hose , one is just from leaning into the bed with my belt buckle. I seems even a small bump will cause the paint to chip ( ie you can see the yellow primer )



Anyone else with a comp orange notice this ? Is this something I can bitch to ford about with any sucess ? I have never had a vehicle that has chipped so easy. I have some touch up paint but have not tried it yet.....



Thanks

 

[Heather inOC]

I think you'll find you will get responses from people with all colors- it is not just a comp. orange thing, rather it's a Ford thing. My ST is dark charcoal and I'm having the entire rear quarter panels repainted this week because the clear coat is missing in a few places.



-Heather in OC

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

John, My trac's paint is very good. In fact, I thought, for a factory paint job it's one of the best I've seen. I did notice that when I drilled the hood and the cab it was a "hard" paint that did chip a little when I used an auto center punch. For the most part it's very good.

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[Frank Marano]

my zinc yellow had thin paint but it doesnt chip easy......only an thrown egg at 90mph has chipped it deep........damn kids!

 

[EddieS'04]

I like Fords, but, thin paint has always been one of my gripes!

I never have pushed for repaint, but I have had a few friends do it with their fords...

 

[Travis Munday]

I'll agree with Eddie on this one, Ford's paint doesn't seem to be the best of quality and scratches and chips easily. I know on my truck, the lowest surfaces have absolutly HORRIBLE paint, very thick, runs, sags, and very uneven. When I repaint the truck, all this crappy paint will be sanded off and redone. Although it does sound like perhaps the paint in question is of an ever lesser quality. Maybe somethign was in the air the settled on the suraces between primer and paint steps to cause it to lift ans scratch so easily. A repaint may help, but if it's a paint bonding problem, the only rescue is to sand off all the factory paint and respray it.



Gary, the auto center punch is why the paint chipped, not the quality of the paint. Spring loaded punches shoudln't be used on painted surfaces, espically on soft/thin metals, because it chips them....they are just too powerful and put too much stress on the paint. A good ol' fashined hammer and punch is the way to go.

 

[Heather Rueckert]

I had a chipping issue with my Comp. Orange where the paint would meet the black bumper pads on the rear bumper, and right where the body rolled over to the rear pass. side fender well. I discovered it about two weeks after I had bought it and was out washing it one morning in the drive way. At first I thought it was tar, till I looked closer and rubbed it with my finger and it the paint just literally flaked off on the chips. I took it back to the dealer and they repainted the whole bumper. They couldn't really offer any explanation to me either, besides "bad prepping" before it was painted from the factory. No other problems since the repaint -Heather





BTW, I bought the touch up paint pen from autovisuals.com and it works awesome!

 

[Timmy-The-Ute]

Back bumber is a problem on my Comp. Orange. And chiping is a overall problem!!!!! But it is sure a nice color.

 

[2]

I have had two ST's. The harvest gold had no paint issues, it would only get a little chip from big rocks, but my white 03 seemed to have chunks flake off with the smallest rocks and bumps.

 

[FlipTrac_511]

Sorry to hear about you folks' paint woes. Fortunately I haven't experienced them on my ST. I've kept my eye on my custom exhaust tip which has a mere quarter of an inch of leeway from touching the lower bumper (I color-matched lower molding). The two surfaces striking and rubbing one another while the ST was underway plus the effects of heat had me worried, but hundreds of miles later I see no wear or damage.