Rusting bodywork

[v8hgt]

My car is an October 2016 build date, its always garaged, always clean, its done 15,000 miles in dry conditions and it has no spacers and stock wheels so hasn't been stone chipped by wide rubber. I recently noticed some bubbling of the aluminium on the front wing right at the front of the wheel arch.

I took my car to the local ford bodyshop today to have the rust examined. The upshot is, because my car is now over 3 yrs old, the rust on the front wing will not be done under warranty. They also pointed out that unless you pay £10 at every other service and specifically request the paintwork be inspected your bodywork warranty is voided. Dealers do not point this out but its in the small print in the service book. Ford dealers also don't make you aware via an upselling process.

The inspector almost smiled when he suggested "they all do that sir, it's an aluminium panel...." He also said they would simply sand it down and repaint it, not replace the panel as per the TSB advice.

I shall be complaining to ford tomorrow to see if they are prepared to make a good will gesture, however i'm not prepared to pay ford any money to sand and blow over the problem. It looks like we may have to simply accept that after a few yrs, our s550;s will look pretty grotty, or you will need to fit aftermarket carbon/fibreglass panels.

In the mean time I would suggest everyone keeps a really close eye on where the front wings meet the bumper and round the wheel arches for slight bubbling under the paint. If you are still within those 3 yrs take action with your dealer asap. I would also advise anyone interested in buying a Mustang not to touch a Ford with a barge pole. There are other manufacturers available who know how to build a car properly and how to keep customers.

Sponsored

 

[Kristian87]

Interested to see how you get on with Ford HQ. Sadly that seems to be a typical blase response from the dealership level.

I know @V8_MOTOR had a similar thing which was repaired at no cost, I believe he got that done just inside of warranty.

Absolute shocker to hear about the £10 every other service nonsense. If that's real it's a closely guarded secret, because I've never heard of that. If the person in question made that up, I'd be seriously kicking off at Ford about why their staff feel that can BS to customers of their flagship car.

keep us posted!

 

[v8hgt]

Interested to see how you get on with Ford HQ. Sadly that seems to be a typical blase response from the dealership level.

I know @V8_MOTOR had a similar thing which was repaired at no cost, I believe he got that done just inside of warranty.

Absolute shocker to hear about the £10 every other service nonsense. If that's real it's a closely guarded secret, because I've never heard of that. If the person in question made that up, I'd be seriously kicking off at Ford about why their staff feel that can BS to customers of their flagship car.

keep us posted!

check your service book. After the pages for general servicing there are pages titled "bodywork check". They require separate stamps apparently. I guess I have just got used to modern cars not rusting. If you buy a Ford you need to accept they are very cheaply made. Im now in two minds if I should pay to patch it up and sell the car for something built to European standards, or just go aftermarket gt350 look with the front end.

 

[jonny10buds]

In the USA Mustangs are cars kids drive to school, here they’re sold as a premium product but the fit and finish is nowhere near the best of Asia or Europe, also bar a few exceptions the dealers leave a lot to be desired, you have to decide whether you want the looks, grunt and just ‘being different’ or be a sheep and buy a BMW, Mercedes or Audi, for me I'll stick with the former.

 

[Supersolo]

Had my annual service in March.
Dealer charged me £20 for the body and paint inspection.
They explained the warranty duration was 12 years.

Obviously I don't expect to have issues, but I'm thankful the dealer explained it to me, without my having to ask, as I was not aware of the process even though I am the owner from new.

 

[V8_MOTOR]

Mine has started to rust again. Not in the same spot but on the same fender. I'm not bother g with the headache.

Will likely get a CF replacement. No more rust and painted white.

 

[Tim_]

Even if you have the body work inspected as per the schedule you're not out of the woods. Trying to get Ford to even authorise the claim takes some people several months, often Ford wriggle out of it by saying it was caused by stone chip damage which is a warranty item.

Paint repaired panels corrode again quite quickly (and it's back to the start of the painful process of getting Ford to even authorise the repair!), only new replacement panels genuinely fix the fault.

I suspect Ford are more difficult than usual over the warranty claims because they've been hit with a few big bills and global downturn in sales so it's us customers who help contribute towards the bottom line with poor customer service.

I'd be really interested to know the cost of buying the panels and getting them painted without going through the warranty, it might be less painful than having to battle with Ford over it.

 

[v8hgt]

I've been looking at gt350 replica front wings, but they are a bit wider than standard wings, especially on the back of the front arch. This necessitates wider wheels/spacers to fill them for starters, but also looks a bit rubbish with the standard bumper. Seems like you also need a way of widening the bumper with gt500 style aero bits so that when you look at the car front on, you don't see massive tyre poke. I suspect going the aftermarket route will end up costing far more than getting a new ford front wing, or patching up the old one and selling it.

 

[Bullitt66]

My wings seem ok but alloys are peeling nicely (which Ford rejected under warranty) and bonnet lip starting to go. Certainly disappointing compared to German or Jap stuff, hard to say if it’s on par with other US brands

 

[v8hgt]

Holy crap! I just got rid of my 18 yr old 150,000 mile Volvo used all yr round and never washed, and it looked in better condition than that on the body and alloys.

 

[Silver Dragon]

You say getting authorisation from Ford takes several months. How about 15 months and still waiting.Bonnet corrosion reported to dealer 03/01/20 and still waiting to hear despite me doing all the chasing.Quite frankly I am so disenchanted with the dealer how can I ever have any confidence they would paint and fit the new bonnet correctly.Got the paint falling off the alloys also.Love the car but with quality issues like this not impressed.

Acceptable when a GT cost new £35k but a Mach 1 at £57k much less so.[/QUOTE]

 

[Veteran]

As most of us aware, the mustang is a exceptionally cheap made car.
It’s is however a real fun car. In the USA the price makes Up for the quality.
Problem with the rest of the world is many of us pay exorbitant prices and expect same in quality. Dream on haha.
I say make peace or move on.
I made peace with it and thoroughly enjoy the car.However I am not convinced my next car will be from Dearborn, unless the export prices are set to realistically represent what we get.

 

[Bullitt66]

I say make peace or move on.

absolutely! Mines a daily hack and although it’s much loved, I don’t spend my weekends waxing it...

but I think it’s fair to highlight the issues on older cars as we get newbies contemplating purchase, and for those with the appetite to fight Uncle Henry, at least they are aware of them

 

[GT 550]

Correct me if I'm wrong but corrosion like this after such a short period is uncommon (and disgraceful) on relatively new cars in the EU/UK. Not sure what consumer law is like over there but it might be worth exploring that path.

 

[v8hgt]

I have been promised a call back from ford customer service today to discuss my rust. If things don’t go well would anyone be up for joining me on a Mach 1 tour of dealerships? I’m looking to get vinyl lettering made up for my car detailing age, mileage, garaged, rusty bits and fords response, then follow the Mach 1 round the local dealers and park as close to it as legally possible. If there were a few mustangs suitably covered in lettering that would be amazing. Shame we missed the Mach e launch as that would have had bigger impact in the press.

Sponsored