LakeSands,

I'm not sure what you mean by the soft compound in the grooves. Aren't the grooves just stamped into the sheet metal and then painted at the factory?

 

The supercrew has grooves all the way across the roof for added strength. The outer most groove on each side is actually a rain gutter that is on all F150's as well as most Ford products. I believe there is a weld in this channel. Ford may be adding the compound in the outer grooves because this is a 'planned' water route.

 

Take your finger and push down in the groove and you will feel that there is compound in the groove. I don't mean real soft, but it definitely has something covering the metal besides just paint. My salesman verified that because I asked why it looked different than the rest of the grooves on top.

 

I just had my 98 in for the door cracks, hem flange rust fix and I got them to do the roof grooves as well. Mine looked like the paint was cracking in the grooves but not on the rest of the roof. When I went and picked it up the first time I could see where they re-applied the "sealer" in the grooves and the paint did not cover all of it. There was bare sealer at the front of the grooves just under the top windshield moulding. Needless to say it wen't back in to fix what they had "repaired". I pick it up tonight and will see if it is any better.

 

My 1994 F-150 has the groves right over the door that have a diffrent type of paint or something in them. The paint or whatever it is, is cracked but no signs of rust. I think that they just have extra paint or something in there as it acts as a gutter maybe even in the painting process. Also it may be like that due to standing water when parked???

 

I had a 99 F150 that was in the shop 5 times in 18 months for the paint cracking/splitting. The drip rail sealant was soft and flexed in the heat causing the cracks usually in 6 weeks after repair. I went through several people at Ford and threatened to use Texas's lemon law on them. Ford offered me $2,000 on trade in for a new truck, after I negotiated my deal(a whole other story). The service manager at the dealership finally admitted they had repaired many that they had sold for the same issue, and it was a known defect at Ford.

Other Story: I negotiated for a 2001 SCREW and when I balked at the price they told me that included the 2K Check from Ford. Called the dealership in the next town, they beat the price before we discussed the check from Ford. Called the Sales manager at the first dealership and verified the check was transferable to any Ford dealership and when he asked why he got the whole story about his salesman. Needless to say the sales manager took over and got me the deal I was after. Now they treat me well when I walk in for service.

 

The grooves are there for an extra rinse after it quits raining and you hit your brakes .

 

Showertime!!!!!