Entire Car Repaint Under Warranty - Questions/Help please!

[geep81]

I recently noticed my car had a strange paint issue. After taking it to the dealer, Ford Motor Co. authorized a complete re-paint of my car as it is missing paint in parts on pretty much every edge of the car. Has anyone dealt with this before?

The dealer advised every piece will need to be taken off and the car sanded/resprayed entirely. It will take weeks they said.

I requested a swap/buyback from FMC, but my claim was denied.

I ordered this car specifically so I could keep the paint as clean as possible. I also can't stand rattles, so I am thrilled they are going to disassemble my car and put it back together.

Can anyone share a similar experience and how it turned out for you? Would I have any sort of claim for loss of value due to my brand new car being taken apart and re-painted? I called some lawyers but am having trouble finding one that deals with cases before the work/lemon law has come into effect. Still looking into this, but I have initiated the process to get my car into the paint shop as it looks like that is my only choice.

When buying your 44k dream car goes horribly wrong.

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[Bluemustang]

Look on the bright side - it's possible it may come out looking better than the factory would've done!

 

[PoppinJ]

Holy cow that sucks. Good luck man. That's a ton of work to do so I'm not supprised it will take that long, but I am supprised that wont do a swap or something. Are they letting you have a Loaner?

 

[paul_g]

I have experience. You are correct, paint usually isn’t justification for a buy back.

In my case (non Ford) the brand new car was damaged during snow removal on the dealers lot. They took it to a hack shop which did a hack repair. I didn’t notice because way back then (before I was an IDA Certified Detailer) I made several mistakes inspecting the car, to include buying a vehicle while it was raining.

After several meetings with the dealer manager, they agreed to take it to a paint shop of my choosing, which I chose a custom paint shop, since they were firing their employees due to the bad work they did.

The car was disabled, sanded down, re sprayed with multiple coats of base and clear, wet sanded and polished to perfection and all the trim was perfect.

I was in a gas station one day and a guy with the same car/color pulled up and asked why my car looked so much better than his. He asked if it was a custom paint job, and I said yes!

Here is some things I would recommend:

- Find out who is doing the work, let them know how OCD you are and it needs to be perfect.

- Ensure some cave-man from the dealership DOES NOT detail the vehicle when it’s done. No waxes, sealants or coatings should be applied for 30-90 days. Asks the body shop for their recommendations. Meguiars makes a hybrid wax/polish that can be used in fresh paint on their “Glaze” line up but I forget the product number at this time.

New paint needs to off-gas the hardeners (solvents). Waxing or sealing the paint will cause (solvent pop), little bubbles in the paint.

After the recommended waiting period see if they will pay for Paint Film Protection. New aftermarket paint is soft. You have to understand the differences between how factory paint is applied and instantly baked vs body shop.

When I was inspecting my new 2019 GT/CS, I’ve been noticing blems all through the paint. The quality just isn’t there. I’m not going to make a big deal because I know the answer will be sand and repaint. My blems are so minute, I’ll live with them over the alternative.

As others have said, if they do it RIGHT you will actually end up better off.

My paint measurements show factory is between 3 - 6 mils of paint. That’s not a lot!!!! You will more than likely end up with double that, which is good for future paint correction and polishing.

Lastly, inspect the crap out of it. Bring a high intensity LED light during your walk around. Make sure you are happy with the job before you sign off on it.

Good luck and please post good before and after pics!!!

 

[usgiorgi]

Paul_g covered every point perfectly. Make sure that you're the one picking up the car from the body shop too. Don't have some dealer schmuck "detail" the car before you get it.

Here's how my car was given back to me multiple times by the dealer after a repaint. Not trying to scare you, just posting these so that you know what to look out for. The "hidden" panels will be the ones with runs and blobs of crap paint.

 

[geep81]

useful stuff

Well thank you VERY MUCH for that write up, that is exactly the type of info I was hoping for as a rookie to all this.

 

[Nanashii]

I recently noticed my car had a strange paint issue. After taking it to the dealer, Ford Motor Co. authorized a complete re-paint of my car as it is missing paint in parts on pretty much every edge of the car. Has anyone dealt with this before?

The dealer advised every piece will need to be taken off and the car sanded/resprayed entirely. It will take weeks they said.

I requested a swap/buyback from FMC, but my claim was denied.

I ordered this car specifically so I could keep the paint as clean as possible. I also can't stand rattles, so I am thrilled they are going to disassemble my car and put it back together.

Can anyone share a similar experience and how it turned out for you? Would I have any sort of claim for loss of value due to my brand new car being taken apart and re-painted? I called some lawyers but am having trouble finding one that deals with cases before the work/lemon law has come into effect. Still looking into this, but I have initiated the process to get my car into the paint shop as it looks like that is my only choice.

When buying your 44k dream car goes horribly wrong.

I had to have the bumper on my 2015 GT replaced under warranty due to warping. The main issue with warranty claims like this is you won't have a say in which body shop will complete the work. The dealers usually have an agreement with a local body shop for warranty repairs and that's who will do the body work. If you are lucky, the dealer will have a relationship with a good body shop. In my case, the quality of the paining of the new bumper was atrocious (they painted it twice and there was no improvement the second time). Not only that, but the body shop damaged the front splitter during the process and had to fight with them and the dealer for weeks to get a new one.

About a year later the new bumped sustained some damage and I had another local body shop which I have used for years prior repaint it. The quality of the work was excellent which is to be expected since they had the contract for body work from the local Ferrari/Lambo/Maserati dealerships. I had a prior car of mine keyed and this same body shop repainted both sides. Carmax's appraisers couldn't even tell the sides of the car had been repainted when I went there to get some trade-in numbers for comparison. I wouldn't have a problem with having this body shop repaint the entire car. As someone else said, it's very likely it'll come out looking better than it did from the factory.

Regarding a swap/buyback, read your state's lemon law. If you were in Virginia for example, and the repair process causes your car to be out of service for more than 30 days (don't have to be consecutive), submit a buyback request to Ford after the 30 days have passed and you should get the approval.

 

[geep81]

Here's how my car was given back to me multiple times by the dealer after a repaint. Not trying to scare you, just posting these so that you know what to look out for. The "hidden" panels will be the ones with runs and blobs of crap paint.

Thanks a lot! This really helps!

 

[geep81]

I had to have the bumper on my 2015 GT replaced under warranty due to warping.]

I am so sorry for your mismatched panels. :( I guess I am fortunate that they are going to repaint the entire car here. I am very curious what all that entails though - including the engine bay/undersides?

 

[usgiorgi]

The main issue with warranty claims like this is you won't have a say in which body shop will complete the work. The dealers usually have an agreement with a local body shop for warranty repairs and that's who will do the body work.

Please tell me the initial body shop was not caliber collision? That's who messed up my car twice.

Obviously the 2nd time you went to D&V auto. They're amazing.

 

[paul_g]

That spoiler shows what’s called dust nibs and looks like bad globs of paint from a cave-man painter.

You have to absolutely tell them that this needs to be perfect or they will be redoing it multiple times.

Take very good before / after photos.

Remember, it’s not the quality of the guy who’s laying down the paint as much as it is the guy who is going to wetsand, compound & polish.

Tell them you expect a show car finish. Bring photos or examples of your expectations. Think of how cars come out at Chip Foose’s shop. (See me with Chip in my Avatar).

The example of above is someone who takes no pride in their work. That is unacceptable.

 

[NYDP77]

How many weeks will it take. Not sure of Ohio, but in NY if the new car is in the shop for more than 30 days it could qualify under the Lemon Law. Just a thought. I had another car covered by this because of the airbag recalls.

 

[usgiorgi]

That spoiler shows what’s called dust nibs and looks like bad globs of paint from a cave-man painter.

You have to absolutely tell them that this needs to be perfect or they will be redoing it multiple times.

Take very good before / after photos.

Remember, it’s not the quality of the guy who’s laying down the paint as much as it is the guy who is going to wetsand, compound & polish.

Tell them you expect a show car finish. Bring photos or examples of your expectations. Think of how cars come out at Chip Foose’s shop. (See me with Chip in my Avatar).

The example of above is someone who takes no pride in their work. That is unacceptable.

Oh it had solvent pop on every square inch if you saw it in person. It took them 4 attempts and after the 4th one the car was so effed from all the sanding and repainting that I traded it in.

 

[geep81]

Oh it had solvent pop on every square inch if you saw it in person. It took them 4 attempts and after the 4th one the car was so effed from all the sanding and repainting that I traded it in.

Were you not covered under the lemon law?

 

[usgiorgi]

Were you not covered under the lemon law?

Nope, took them 28 days I believe. It's 3 attempts to fix something significant or 30 calendar days at the dealer in a given year. Paint on the rear quarter of the car isn't considered significant sadly.

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