Just bought my first F150 (life long want). I live in Key West and drove 200 miles to pick it up. When I got to the Ford dealer the vehicle had been keyed from bumper to bumper while in the lot (black gelcoat). Spent hours trying to locate another F150 with the same options, at the same and surrounding dealers. No luck. The dealer had a bodyshop and we settled on repainting the whole side (they said they took off the door and quarter panels on the affected side). Took a few days but when I finally picked it up it looked great. Here's my question: The dealer says that the repainted side actually has a longer warranty and there will be no difference in quality opposed to the factory paint. Is this true? I know the factory uses a electrostatic process, whereas the dealer does not. Do I need to worry about long term fading differences? Should I do anything different when cleaning and waxing the different finishes? I’m thinking I made a mistake by accepting this. Any advice?

 

Sounds like you've already committed to the repaint. I would have asked for a new truck. I had a navy blue car that eventually faded at the repair locations. That was years ago, so paints and techniques have probably improved. I'm no body guy, but I would hope that they used quality paint. Black is not forgiving, so if it looks good now, you should be ok. You'd have to think that things like this happen frequently at a dealer lot. They repair it and sell it as 100% factory without the buyer ever knowing. At least you know what to watch for. Good luck and enjoy first F150 !!

 

What follows is purely my opinion, but I used to run a painting operation for a major manufacturing company. Although body shop repair techniques have come a long way in the past few years, from a process control standpoint, nothing comes close to a factory applied paint job. The factory paint job uses an electrodeposition primer which includes an extensive pre-paint cleaning and preparation process. This is then followed by controlled baking / curing before heading to an electrostatic base coat / clear coat application and yet another controlled bake. By the way, the electrostatic part of the finish coats just gets more paint on the vehicle than out into the air (called transfer efficiency) than conventional spraying. It doesn't look or perform much differently.

So what's the big difference? It's all in the prep and process control. Nothing a body shop can apply works as well as the electrodeposition primer for corrosion resistance. As for the following coats, that sort of comes down to the expertise of the person spraying it. (That varies all over the place.)

My recommendation? You now own the truck. Make sure the dealer gives you a written warranty on the repair work and hold them to every word of it. As long as you're happy, who cares?

 

Thanks for the advice. Whoever did the work did an awesome job. Absolutely no difference in the finish. I'll definately get that in writing though.
I'm active duty Navy and hopefully my last duty station won't take me up north where I have to worry about salt on the roads for a whole winter. The salt air is bad enough down here.

 

All is not as well as I thought. I waxed the truck over the weekend and noticed a bunch (thousands?) of micro swirls throughout the side that was repainted. Very noticable. This is only noticable when the sun is close to setting and shines directly on the side. You really don't see it when the sun is overhead or it's cloudy, unless you get right up to the paint.
During the wash/wax process, I used nothing but microfiber towels. I applied Meguiar's Gold liquid wax withy the applicator it came with and buffed afterwards by hand with the prementioned towels. Again, looked great till the sun was setting. This is only on the side that was redone
I called the dealer and we agreed to meet on Monday (200 mile trip). I told him I want to see a service ticket stating all the panels were removed and repainted as agreed to. I have a feeling that they sanded the scratch down, applied a coat of black, then buffed the hell out of it (causing the burned in swirls).
I've had this truck for just over 30 days and am very pleased with everything but the above. What should I expect the dealer to do about this? Do I have a leg to stand on? I feel like they're playing me for an idiot. Maybe I am for taking the truck in the first place.

 

Chances are, that yes they sanded it down and then repainted it. I'd say that is a definate. The quality of the job depends on the experience of the people who did it. Most dealer body shops have excellent quality standards. If you were going to see swirl marks, you'd have seen them before you waxed it, and less thereafter. Swirl marks are removeable, its a long slow process, but I have done it several times over the years, and always on black. And once it was on a $160,000 benz. (man I was nervous)

 

Navi, when you say that it's a long slow process to remove the swirls, do you mean a one time deal, or something that is done over multiple applications/processes? Are the dealers capable of doing this or should I demand a repaint?

 

It comes right down to what you feel you'll be happy with. Anytime you use a wool pad and a high speed buffer, you're gonna swirl it. Lighter colors don't show it as much and take less time. Darker colors, such as black, show every little swirl line and take a long time to finish. The way I do it, it usually takes a day to do a full high speed and repair. When I finish, there are no swirls and it looks as good as new. However, this method heats the clear coat from the friction, and if not taken care of excellently forever thereafter, it will look like chit later on down the road. The dealers probably gonna tell you no to a repaint. They'll feed you line that they'll fix it or they'll blow you off. What it comes right down to, is that they have your money already, they don't give a chit. (I worked for Ford a few years back) Even if they do it for you, they'll probably half azz it. Its a one time fix, but they'll find a way to hide it that'll last a few months and get you out of their hair. effing dealers

 

Dam Dragan, what I put above in your post in bold is the key. At that time, right before you bought it, the ball was in your hand. You didn't have to accept it. However, putting myself in your place, I would have done the same exact thing you did!!! From your description, we got the same exact truck, with dam near the same exact options and color. That truck looks good. Looking at it, kinda hard to turn it down, then add its super smooth and flawless ride, you would have to have had strong will power to turn this truck down or even to wait for another one just like it.

So, now lets deal with what is at hand. Just like me, you are COMPLETLY satisfied, even overjoyed with this truck, all except for the repaint job. Somebody already mentioned IMO, the right thing to do, keep in contact with the dealer as far as warranty on the paint job, and if neccessary, get in touch with the Ford rep, and let them know what is going on. Other than that, don't worry about it. You gotta look real close to see it.. And look, I am a picky-body just like you, so I can really understand what you are thinking..The positives in this truck FAR outwiegh the one negative. Keep a ton of wax on it (as a truck nut should), and forget about it. Start thinking about some mods.

BTW, post a pick your truck, I am 100% sure it is the twin of my truck..

 

I think a lot of the problems you are having are directly related to the fact that your truck is black. Black is a "love-hate" story for most vehicle owners (love it when it is clean and nicely polished -- hate it the rest of the time) and you will probably find yourself cursing your color decision on more than one occassion as you go through your experience with the truck.

FWIW, I have a buddy with a new Dodge Magnum in black, and he is going through a similar problem. He got a scratch on the rear bumper cover, and has simply not been able to get the thing repainted without a ton of swirl marks in the paint! And I mean his looks really bad, and the dealer (after the second repaint) is starting to tell him they've done everything they can think of and still cannot get the paint to what I would call "factory" standards.

Good luck in getting your situation straightened out satisfactorily!