Hello Everyone,

I have a 1998 F150 X-Cab and the paint on the outside of my bed is just falling off It wasn't caused by any damage it just began to bubble up and fall off. I have to seperate spots and each one is about the size of a quarter. Has anyone else out there have this problem? If so did Ford take care of it or did they tell you it's your problem, you fix it.

Thanx for the info

 

The first question I might ask is whether the paint in question is original (factory) paint or something else. Ford did have some trouble with bad paint in the late 80's, but other than that, things have been pretty good. Generally speaking, factory applied paint is much better than that applied in a body shop because the overall process is much more tightly controlled.

 

Yep, It has the factory paint job. I bought it new in 98 so I know nothing has happened to it . I wash and wax it on a regular basis.

 

Time to visit your friendly, local Ford dealer then. Everybody does a bad paint job every once in a while. (It's very rare.) Although you're out of warranty, it's worth a try. A visit to a local paint and body shop you trust for their opinion might not be a bad idea either since none of us can diagnose your problem over the web.

 

It's possible that the truck was damaged in transit or on the dealer's lot before you got it. A good body man can tell.

 

I have a '99 F-150 Sport, Black. Original paint, well cared for.

There was a rather lengthy discussion on here a while back as to the paint on 97 to 03 F-150's and Expeditions of dark color having defective paint jobs (bad primer was suspected). Several people reported getting action out of Ford to re-paint their trucks. I was not so lucky.

I have similar issues to those that you describe, except they are most prevalent on the roof and hood as well as the sides of the bed. Things started out with small 1cm "slits" in the paint. At first they looked like a whole bunch of mini-scratches, then they widened and began to bubble out after the truck was wet. The primer underneath was apparently intact, and I have seen no rusting since.

These slits, clearly visible to the naked eye were seen by the three Ford dealers in my area, and acknowledged by their body shop managers, HOWEVER, the official Ford position given to me directly by the Factory Rep. is that this is normal aging for the paint and not covered by warranty.

Fast forward to 6 months later after my warranty expired... The same guy tells me when I take the truck around again, that the paint obviously has issues, but is no longer covered by warranty as it was 2 months out of said warranty. When pressed, their response was "Nothing we can do for you unless you want to pay to have it fixed."

I love my truck, but GEEZ! What a bunch of smacktards.

The Short of this story: Harrass your dealer, carefully, but harrass them into fixing it. Several people reported success in this. I am in the DC area, full of customers and no pressure for a dealership to "make good" on bad situations. You may have better luck where you are.

There IS a documented problem with the paint for these years, and Ford is WELL aware of it at the corporate level as well as in the body shops. If you dig, you can get enough documentation to stick in front of them and make your case.

Good Luck!!!

 

There is just about no paint left on my hood. Dont know why, but almost all gone. That'll get repainted this summer.

 

Hey guys I know this is a day late and a dollar short...

Contact the area ford rep... My sisters 2000 f-150 top of cab pealed just after warrenty, she pressed the dealer nada, then she pressed the Ford area rep... making a long story short. Ford painted that truck at no cost to sis.


Hope i am not to late

Jim

 

Just to tell all that I too, have had the same problem with my truck.

Short story: Bought it two years old, paint was fine. 6 months later "slits" started to appear on hood. Went back to dealer body shop to look it over. Discovered that "slits" also starting to appear on roof, drivers door, pass door. Box was fine. Ford Body shop checked the truck over, checked paint thickness with digital thickness gauge. Found that roof, hood, both doors paint were way out. Something like 2.5 thousands or something. Anyway, they concluded truck was repainted and could not tell if it was in some sort of accident. Could also not tell if factory repainted truck as well. They said that some problems were noticed on dark colors (mine is Maroon). Anyway, told them it was used, they said its out of warranty and if they were me to take it back to the Used Car Manager to see what they can do (but to NOT tell them they told me to do that). Spoke with the Manager. Told them that it was checked by a body shop and that it was painted twice and the paint is too thick. Same answer. Nothing that they can do.

Hood and doors and roof now look like Spiderweb. I am starting to tell everyone that " its a new paint scheme")

It was clear to me that Ford doesn't give a rip about fixing the obvious. I haven't been back to that dealership since.

Oh yeah, Coolant was in the oil at 58,000. Ford replaced head gaskets, timing cover and Intakes. THAT was under extended warranty when I bought the truck. Wish the paint was!

 

I can understand the frustration...

I would suggest you contact and make an appointment with the ford area rep. and jingle his chain nicly but firmly...

Let be honest (and I would mention this) a crappy paint job where the paint is pealing off Won't help sell fords. Especally when you tell folks ford said tough luck...

I know with sis she had to fight pretty hard with the factory rep to get it done.

She also explained our family has purchased 20 some odd new ford cars and trucks in the past 25 years and she asked if he would perfer we purchased Chevy's.....

Jim

 

The paint (Dark Blue)was going bad on my 1988 150 ford after 3 years...I complained to ford and got nowhere...But 2 more years went by and someone hit the front light and bent a bit of the fender...So they were paying to fix that so I figured to paint the whole truck and pay the difference...Well the Body shop boss knew me and told me to call Ford again about the bad paint then he called them...Ford made a deal with him to paint the truck and it did not cost me a cent...

The things that happen in life... I was pleased...Sold that truck while it still looked so good...

The paint on the truck I have now seems to be very good but for the bottom edge of the drivers door...2001 Lariat...I plan to touch that up myself...