Paint chips on a '16

[interceptor19]

So, I'm in the market for a Mustang after having a couple Fox bodies and an SN95.

I found a '16 GT premium with 25k miles at a dealer, negotiated a great price, and was told the car was a garage queen. I went to the dealer to look at it after it had been washed up and found some pretty severe paint chips on the hood and roof. Big white spots in the magnetic paint. I started looking harder and found severe paint chips on the rocker behind the front wheel and area in front of the rear wheel.

Not the greatest photos, but if you zoom in you can see that every white spot is a paint chip. There are hundreds of them around these areas and the surface is really rough as you can imagine.

Is this normal for these cars? I'm not able to talk to the owner to find out if he lived on a gravel road or just drove in terrible road conditions.

I've got a great price negotiated on the car, but walked away after seeing this. I have not looked at enough used Mustangs to find out if this is what I'm going to find on every used car. I really want a '15-'17.

I'm going to contact a couple body shops and inquire about the cost to repair this. But if anybody has any input or if this is not normal on these cars I'd love some opinions.

Thank you.

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[Drewbo]

Yes - these are known locations for rock chips on these cars. The paint is quite soft and these areas are exposed - it obviously shows up more on the darker colours.

I had Suntek PPF installed on the entire front end of my car plus on the front of the rear wheel arches immediately after delivery. Mudflaps can also help. As a result, I have only suffered one rock chip (high on the front of a rear wheel arch) which I effectively dealt with by way of Dr. Colorchip.

 

[VinnAY]

Normal, doesn't make it right but you can't fix that without a re-paint and then immediate PPF it with mudflaps on the front. Will happen again the moment you start driving it without film and/or mudflaps.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I'd say that is much worse than typical. In 3 years, I've had maybe a dozen small chips on the front and none on the sides of the car. Where and how a car is driven varies a lot as you can see from those photos. I probably have some of the best conditions. Plus, being retired I don't need to drive in freeway rush hour and generally leave enough space to the car in front for stones they throw up to fall back to earth. Following distance/time is a big factor for front chips where there are lots of stones on the road. Stones don't just spontaneously jump up in front of a car and ones that get thrown up by cars in front don't just hover. Side chips, different story. Those are probably from your own tires.

 

[Coyote Red]

I have 1 paint chip high on the drivers side rear fender area, These ponies have a Butt!

 

[interceptor19]

Thanks for the responses so far.

A few varying opinions. I agree that the previous owner must not have been very careful to get the chips on the hood and roof. The windshield had even suffered a quite a few pits as well. Coyote Red, you only have one paint chip? This car had hundreds in the areas I took photos of. Again, I've never seen a car's paint blasted like this before. I have to believe this is a pretty severe example, and the previous owner must have driven in some rocky conditions, but I could be completely wrong here. I haven't looked at many used '15-'17s before, especially with a fine tooth comb after a fresh wash.

As far as repair, I also have to believe a repaint would be necessary based on the extent of the damage. I've looked at the Dr. Colorchip and other touch up systems, but those look like temporary fixes. Has anybody used these?

I will get a hold of a couple body shops and get their opinions and ball park estimates to repair.

 

[Cobra Jet]

Did you ask the selling Desler if they would remedy it for you, since they were seemingly working on the purchase price?

 

[interceptor19]

Did you ask the selling Desler if they would remedy it for you, since they were seemingly working on the purchase price?

Yes, still working on negotiations with them.

I contacted three body shops. They ranged anywhere from $3k to $5k to repair the car.

Again, I was just hoping some owners would chime in on whether their cars look like this. Sounds like the car is definitely prone to this, but maybe not to this extent.

 

[Blue Horse]

Normal, doesn't make it right but you can't fix that without a re-paint and then immediate PPF it with mudflaps on the front. Will happen again the moment you start driving it without film and/or mudflaps.

Peterbuilt and Freightliner make some great mud flaps that look great on these cars, and with there size do a great job at protecting the bad Ford paint job,get the ones with the chrome girls on them, just adds more bling to your Mustang.

 

[Bartly]

So I had ppf put on my car right when I bought it am am glad I did. I have the pieces in front of the rear wheels as well. But have been wondering about the quarter panels behind the rear wheels. Seems like those areas don’t get peppered, but am not sure if I haven’t looked close enough. Also curious if rock guards are mostly needed on the front wheels or are they just as important on the rear? Anyone have experience front vs. rear rock guards??

 

[tom_sprecher]

I'd say that is much worse than typical. In 3 years, I've had maybe a dozen small chips on the front and none on the sides of the car. Where and how a car is driven varies a lot as you can see from those photos.

^^^ This. I have some small chips on the front from highway driving, but none on the sides. This car must have lived in an area with a lot of gravel roads.

 

[RacinJason]

Not sure if this is normal or not. Maybe they did a burnout on a road with some loose rocks. Believe it or not I have a major chip on my windshield caused by my tires throwing a rock somehow that hit it. I know it was the tires, because no one was around me at the time. The Pirelli's seem to be sticky enough to pick up rocks and throw them all the time. I do drive on some city streets that I can hear rocks hitting under the car. It's not much, but it always makes me drive a bit more cautious and to the center. Not sure how these city roads keep rocks on them.

 

[Burgo]

$3-5k to fix sounds like a lot to me. I got a complete hood respray on one of my other cars for stone chips and it was $700 AU, the good thing about the Mustangs is they are easy to mask off and paint a panel section without having to blend in.
To me stone chips are a part of life, if it's a big one or too many then I just get it resprayed. But you do have heaps, looks like it spent a far bit of time on back country gravel roads.

 

[ChromaticGrey]

He was rally racing that beast. JK, but it surely has a lot in the "tire kick up area".

I have some in those areas for sure, but that one surely has a good bit. At the end of the day if everything else is good, may be worth a re spray.

 

[Festivus]

I can’t imagine what kind of roads the previous owner drove on to get chips like that on the sides. The hood chips are most likely from tailgating. My 16 is a DD with 25k non highway miles. I have had maybe a dozen chips on the front. I’ve had zero on the sides and I have 25mm spacers and no mud flaps. The paint is super soft, if hit it will chip for sure

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