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Paint flaws - warranty partial repaint - what is best course of action?

6K views 13 replies 6 participants last post by  wazoomann 
#1 ·
Did a search in this group as well as the Facebook RS group and noted a # of RS owners with paint issues. My car, '17 RS SB has major drip marks under the clear coat on the roof, hood and doors. Sorry for the long post, but like many warranty issues, the devil is in the details.

Background:

-Didn't notice at the purchase inspection - it was a typical March 2017 day in MI, cloudy, dark, etc. and car was sitting in their covered service area. The dealer claimed they were unaware of the paint issue.

-First sunny day a few weeks later (April 2017) I realized I had major paint flaws after washing and waxing and looking closely in direct sunlight. What I thought were water marks turned out to be paint flaws. It was obvious that something had gone wrong in the factory paint process. I have yet to get a straight answer on what could cause the large "drip marks" under the clear coat. In direct sunlight, you can see the drip marks on the roof (really bad), hood and doors. I took it to the selling dealership but they refused to look at it/document it because it was, "cloudy" the day I showed for my appointment (it's obvious when you direct light on the spots).

-The dealership wouldn't submit the claim until I brought the car back on a sunny day (to get photos of the flaws). I washed and waxed car again the following week (dealership is about 45 minutes from my home and biz) and the service advisor immediately said, "yeah, that's a big problem." They highlighted with magic marker all of the flaws, took photos and then washed / returned car to me, and submitted the claim to Ford customer service.

-A little while later (1-2 weeks as I recall and in May '17) Ford authorized a repaint of the areas in question (not a full repaint?) and wanted to take the car for a period of time (this would be latter part of May '17 or June '17). I told the service advisor it was my daily driver, I couldn't be without a car for a week at that point. I also wanted to talk to get a second opinion about the best way to handle paint because I was afraid the paint wouldn't match and the resulting impact on resale value (I own the car). He told me ok, get back to me and let me know what you'd like to do.

I spoke with a couple of paint experts (they handle Ford in house paint jobs) and they suggested that matching the paint could be a problem, even on the Shadow Black. I recontacted the dealer recently (end of September) to ask about how to get a full repaint and they informed me that they had deleted all records, photos etc. of the warranty submission and approval because, "it uses up too much memory" on their computers and that after 90 days, Ford deletes these warranty approvals (that doesn't make any sense to me, if the car has warranty issues, they don't go away by themselves). I'd asked that they forward me the photos and they claim they are all gone, not retrievable. And that I needed to come back and re do the entire process again. He said if I didn't like the process I could just take it to another dealership. Even more shocking, they have no record of the emails / submittals. Nothing. Other than my word and the service advisors memory. To add insult to injury, one of the service guys told me it will probably "never match." In this day and age, when google mail offers unlimited memory for $10/month, I don't understand dealerships deleting major approved warranty work of a brand new car. We're not talking a $29 oil change.

Spoke to Ford customer service about it after the dealer discussion (concerned that records were deleted, and that they weren't taking a warranty issue seriously) and they suggested going to a different dealer (my selling dealer won Presidents award for customer satisfaction excellence)

Who else has had paint issues and how did you handle given that poor repaint/non matching paint will hurt resale value and all I want is a proper factory paint job on a brand new car. Appreciate your thoughts because from what I've seen, this has happened to # of owners, I'm not clear how often this is happening. Perhaps I can learn something from those of you who have had to deal with this, and/or I can document this so others don't have to deal with this issue in the future.

Do yourself a big favor, before you take delivery, look at the paint very very carefully. I didn't notice it and until I looked at it closely a few times, I assumed they were just dried water marks. Had I done a more careful paint inspection, I would not have accepted the car because once you own it, it's your (my) problem.

Some additional lessons (that I didn't think I needed to learn)
- I should have demanded copies of all photos. I asked him, but I didn't receive them, I suspect because of file size...but it would have been quite easy to share them via google, apple, etc. (he took them with his personal phone and in addition to deleting them from the dealership computers, he also wiped them from his personal phone)
- I should have acted sooner? I assumed a warranty item is a warranty item. I waited over 3 months until end of summer to follow up because I was busy, didn't have time to deal with rental vehicle / losing car for a week or two. When I did follow up, they didn't return my phone calls and I didn't reach the service manager in question until my 3rd attempt a few weeks later.
- I should have called Ford customer service first...I relied on the dealer to document this. at least Ford claims to have a record of this now.
- I shouldn't have bought a car from Ford - I've only leased new cars and/or bought used, but felt comfortable buying the RS new because I thought this car would have decent resale...I won't buy another Ford...lease yes, buy, no way unless it's used. Not after this experience. Had I leased, I wouldn't care about the paint flaw...not my problem. And my confidence in Ford warranty support is not there. I saw what another OEM did for a friend who had similar paint match concerns and Ford's response is not acceptable.

TL/DR

The paint on my '17 SB Focus RS has flaws, what do you recommend to get a full repaint? Dealership has not been supportive on pursuing full repaint. Who else has had this issue and how did you remedy / get an acceptable full repaint?
 
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#2 ·
I have a ton of experience with having cars painted, that shadow black is no problem to paint match. Any shop worth their salt should be able to respray it to where you should not be able to tell.

I highly doubt you are going to force Ford to do a full repaint, and honestly it's probably not in your best interest to have it painted as such. Ford should be providing you with a rental for every day you do not have the car.

Buying expensive performance cars is always a depreciating proposal, but if I purchased one of these new with serious paint flaws Ford would be making it right.
 
#6 ·
We might be related, the evidence is strong :

Both in Michigan
Both bought '17 SB RS
Both bought cars on a cloudy day
Both have white streaks under the clearcoat on the hood
Both were blind to it until cleaning the car on a sunny day few days after

Jokes apart, the paint flaws on the hood were widespread enough for me to not ignore it.
Also, without knowing the cause, I had concerns of corrosion or paint deteriorating later on in the ownership cycle, where I am sure the claim would be harder to process.

The standard " It will buff right out" line didn't go too far either.

The dealership I worked with were great in getting the warranty claim processed, and was approved fairly quickly too. It was for hood repaint too. I was told that if the case wasn't closed in 30 days, the approval would expire and would need to be re processed.

I did receive a loaner for the 3 days or so they had the car in the shop. I thought the standard RS warranty included rentals for warranty work?

I think they did a good job , the paint shop manager didn't seem too concerned about being able to match the black paint, and to my eyes it looks fine. As long as they get the right paint code, located on the sticker on the sill.

For me it was simple, if it is manufacturing defect, the manufacturer must pay to fix it.
 
#7 ·
I noticed some infuriating paint flaws on my 2016 NB when I picked it up. The most apparent one covered the entire driver side of the rear spoiler. The selling dealership said that it was common, especially on Nitrous Blue, and that it wouldn't be difficult to get a warranty repaint. By the time I got it home and washed, I noticed that the marks had begun to fade. Now, 14 months later, I can't find any of them even though I know where they were. It doesn't really seem to be related to your issue because my flaws appeared as swirls (although they could be described as 'drip marks') of darker blue and had faded to be imperceptible after only two or three months. If you're still pursuing a repaint after six months of ownership, I'd guess that your issues and mine are completely different. For the record, mine were on the rear spoiler, rear bumper, and driver side roof area right above the doors. The selling dealer had PPI'd around 25 RSs by the time that I had picked up mine and had seen quite a few with paint issues.
 
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#14 ·
One update - forgot to mention when discussing the paint issue. I also noticed, after looking at the paint flaws, that my RS badge was missing (front) - initially the dealership suggested it might have fallen off but I had taken a photo of the car when I picked it up and the photo showed that it was missing then (I didn't notice at the time).
 
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