Micro-marring on vinyl stripes

[Rated R]

I won't be surprised if mine has a few issues when it comes in. Our Explorer Sport had a rock chip above the windshield on the roof, a raised paint daub on the leading edge of the hood, an imbedded ostrich feather in the paint on the C pillar and an imbedded paint smudge under the clear coat on the hatch. Door panel alignment is not good either. The dealer offered to fix it all but I chose not to do so as I didn't want to open a can of worms. I'll trade it in two years. All but the rock chip is Ford QC. The union employees either do not care, or are directed to overlook issues like these.

All of this would have been detected if I hadn't elected to wash the car myself, after taking delivery. This time around I may wash the car myself, at the dealership before taking delivery. The dealership I'm buying my car from shouldn't have a problem with this.

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[whysoblu]

That's a good idea. I will take the day off of work and ask to at least be present when car is washed. Man what a PITA this all is. Stressful really.


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[DrumReaper]

Honestly, idk why Ford didn't ship these cars wrapped like the anniversary cars did... Smh.

 

[redline727]

Yeah I didn't let them do anything to my GT. Only let them take it off the truck and park it till I got there. If I wasn't 3 hours away I would have been there for that too. I didn't even let them take it out of transport mode till I got there. I went and took it to fuel it up myself as I only wanted 93 from Shell or Sunoco. They paid of course. I looked the car over well. Found some panel alignment issues but I knew I would be hard pressed to get one without them. And they were better then some I seen on the lots. I took it home without a PDI or clean for delivery. When I finally washed it I noticed a dimple on the A pillar that looked like it was there prior to paint. It was very small and only noticed in the right angle of light. The door trim that the driver door seal that the glass slides into and the headliner tucks behind was messed up and the headliner was not tucked properly. It still doesn't fit as nice as the passenger side. The driver door striker needs to be adjusted. I had to adjust the hood and latch. The driver side fender gaps are worse then I initially thought when I picked it up, and I will just learn to leave with it.

 

[TxOilMoney]

I didn't. Owned it for about 18 hours.

After seeing the pics, I have to agree with your decision to return it. It will never look right. No brainer.

 

[Face76]

That's a good idea. I will take the day off of work and ask to at least be present when car is washed. Man what a PITA this all is. Stressful really.


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Here's what I do. I have the dealership remove everything from the windows and interior which isn't much and clean the windows. Finish PPI and then leave it alone. I then clean myself or have it detailed on the outside depending on condition.

New car delivery wash bays ---- uggghhhhh!

 

[mcgraw]

Here's what I do. I have the dealership remove everything from the windows and interior which isn't much and clean the windows. Finish PPI and then leave it alone. I then clean myself or have it detailed on the outside depending on condition.

New car delivery wash bays ---- uggghhhhh!

I keep going back & forth on this. I tend to lean on the trust ('Oh, they'll do a good job') too often. I'm sure they would, but who knows. I ended up ordering cleaning gear a few days ago and plan on knocking that part out myself.

 

[ohtobbad]

I know the guy in the wash bay, nice guy, but old buckets, with god only knows what for rags or sponges, I will rinse of the shipping grim enough to have a good look and detail it myself.
I actually enjoy cleaning my car. Being a car guy I spend hours cleaning my cars, trucks even my garage. Twice this summer I washed the bottom of my car. I took the rims off 4 times to wash the back side... SO detailing the 350 will be pure pleasure. Seeing I can't drive it until spring anyway, I have all winter to detail it.

 

[Mustang33]

Mine is the same way

 

[drabon74]

That was absolutely done after delivery by the "detail" crew at the dealership(unless ford had someone doing a half ass detail job before delivery which is unheard of). It was not done by a squeegee, that was done by a rotary polisher. Orbitals don't leave a circular pattern like that. Also, that's not micro marring, that's a frigging paint swirl. In either case, you did the right thing by walking away from the deal. This is why I also made it very clear for my dealership not to touch my car once it was delivered.

 

[drabon74]

I know the guy in the wash bay, nice guy, but old buckets, with god only knows what for rags or sponges, I will rinse of the shipping grim enough to have a good look and detail it myself.
I actually enjoy cleaning my car. Being a car guy I spend hours cleaning my cars, trucks even my garage. Twice this summer I washed the bottom of my car. I took the rims off 4 times to wash the back side... SO detailing the 350 will be pure pleasure. Seeing I can't drive it until spring anyway, I have all winter to detail it.

You have the detailing bug too, lol get this, last night as I was leaving my crossfit gym, I noticed someone had vomited on the side of my car! Who pukes on another persons car?

 

[mcgraw]

You have the detailing bug too, lol get this, last night as I was leaving my crossfit gym, I noticed someone had vomited on the side of my car! Who pukes on another persons car?

What the...

:barf:

 

[ohtobbad]

You have the detailing bug too, lol get this, last night as I was leaving my crossfit gym, I noticed someone had vomited on the side of my car! Who pukes on another persons car?

Likely better you didn't catch them doing it, then you would have blood to clean off it as well;)

 

[Rogue]

All the issues I enumerated above, except the stripes and paint defect, were discovered by the dealership during their initial inspection and they quickly disclosed them to me when I arrived.

I have no issues with the deslership I worked with. They've been fair and honest with me from the time I made first contact with me. If I choose to buy Ford products in the future I would not hesitate to call them again.

I took delivery of the vehicle about 7PM last night. I noticed some of the marring in the light of the service area but it wasn't until I got it out in the daylight today that the full extent of the issue was noticeable. I drove down their this morning with "unwind" pretty much set in my mind but before I could even ask the GM offered to "fix it or unwind". I chose the latter largely because I just don't have the time to deal with taking the car back and forth to San Diego for the fixes and pray that they're done correctly.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the dealership to friends and family. I don't know at what point the bad things happened to this car and I'm not going to speculate on that. To be honest, my frustration mainly lies with the fact that Ford seems to have a serious issue manufacturing, assembling, transporting and delivering a product that is defect free. I understand that it's Ford and not Mercedes Benz, and that yes, even those European manufacturers deliver a lemon now and again. But on a $58k car, truck or SUV, Ford needs to improve in that area IMO.

Terrible to hear. Sounds like you got a real defect. It happens to every brand, there's a story like yours on every forum i've heard it from Porsche on down.

I can tell you that my experience with quality has been outstanding with Ford. Purchasing both a 2008 Shelby GT500 and a 2013 Boss 302 Laguna Seca the cars arrived in perfect condition.

 

[Steve68]

My experience with Ford has been much different than yours apparently. My '14 F-150 Platinum has had the tailgate applique replaced 3 times already because it keeps separating from the tailgate. The 4th one is coming off, too. Several other trim pieces look like they're starting to come off as well. Don't event get me started on panel gaps.

My '08 Bullitt (loved the car anyway) was no masterpiece there either.

I've been very pleased with my Fords' mechanical performance. I love the V6 ecoboost in my truck but Ford has to improve on the body IMO.

Also, I agree with those that think the dealership wash bay was responsible for the stripes f'up. I've thought about it a lot over the past few days and I'm convinced that's where it happened as well.

Anyway, I keep lookin'!

I stopped by North County Ford the other day. They have a beautiful (stripeless) black GT350 with Track Pack. They clear bra'd the whole front clip of the car. Unfortunately, they're one of the dealerships that's out to ream someone on the car. $30k ADM.

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