frdwrnch
02-25-2007, 09:37 AM
I just wanted to put my name in the hat as another victim of the inferior Black paint and clearcoat that seems to be more prevalent on the early 300A's.
After about 16 months my paint showed millions of tiny pits in the surface of the clearcoat. I polish my car every 3-4 months with a high quality polish and kept it under a carport during this time. At the time I worked at a Lincoln Mercury dealership and would do this in the shop. One owner even mentioned I was going to wax the paint off the car I did it so frequently!
The only thing that I could remotely attribute this pitting to was a Car show that I attended during a drag racing event where the show cars were adjacent to the track. I'm thinking maybe fuel residue settled on the car and possibly etched the clearcoat. I didn't notice the problem until about a month after that.
I only put 4000 miles on the car the first year I owned it. About 6000 miles the second year. I drive it more now and have about 30k on it. Last fall I was polishing the car and noticed etching on the roof from an "airborn contaminate" such as bird droppings or tree sap. Looking at an angle you can see where it had depth where it had etched the clear. After sanding very carefully with 1500 grit and polishing I could mask it but that was about it. Still the car stays waxed but these places keep popping up as if the clear had no resistance or hardness to it.
Anyway, Ford only warrantys paint for 12 months 12k miles. In some instances (some shared here) Ford extended paint coverage to some customers beyond this using what they call an "After Warranty Adjustment or AWA". Dealership employees are not eligible for AWA's so I was out of luck in getting assistance for my problem.
As The Lord works in mysterious ways, I am no longer working in the dealer and I have requested assistance for my paint. It has been approved and I will be scheduling my repaint with the body shop soon.
It was helpful to cite the instances of other paint issues posted on this site when I was discussing my case with the Ford Representative.
This assistance is purely elective on the part of the dealer and Ford Motor Company. They look at how many times you've visited the dealer for service, how much you've spent, and whether or not you're likely to purchase a Ford product again. So it's a good idea to build a relationship with the dealer and throw them a bone by getting oil changes and even state inspections done there once in a while to establish some regularity as a customer.
I wanted to post this so maybe it would help other understand the issue, the process and my personal experience.
I'll let y'all know how the paint turns out in a couple of weeks.
After about 16 months my paint showed millions of tiny pits in the surface of the clearcoat. I polish my car every 3-4 months with a high quality polish and kept it under a carport during this time. At the time I worked at a Lincoln Mercury dealership and would do this in the shop. One owner even mentioned I was going to wax the paint off the car I did it so frequently!
The only thing that I could remotely attribute this pitting to was a Car show that I attended during a drag racing event where the show cars were adjacent to the track. I'm thinking maybe fuel residue settled on the car and possibly etched the clearcoat. I didn't notice the problem until about a month after that.
I only put 4000 miles on the car the first year I owned it. About 6000 miles the second year. I drive it more now and have about 30k on it. Last fall I was polishing the car and noticed etching on the roof from an "airborn contaminate" such as bird droppings or tree sap. Looking at an angle you can see where it had depth where it had etched the clear. After sanding very carefully with 1500 grit and polishing I could mask it but that was about it. Still the car stays waxed but these places keep popping up as if the clear had no resistance or hardness to it.
Anyway, Ford only warrantys paint for 12 months 12k miles. In some instances (some shared here) Ford extended paint coverage to some customers beyond this using what they call an "After Warranty Adjustment or AWA". Dealership employees are not eligible for AWA's so I was out of luck in getting assistance for my problem.
As The Lord works in mysterious ways, I am no longer working in the dealer and I have requested assistance for my paint. It has been approved and I will be scheduling my repaint with the body shop soon.
It was helpful to cite the instances of other paint issues posted on this site when I was discussing my case with the Ford Representative.
This assistance is purely elective on the part of the dealer and Ford Motor Company. They look at how many times you've visited the dealer for service, how much you've spent, and whether or not you're likely to purchase a Ford product again. So it's a good idea to build a relationship with the dealer and throw them a bone by getting oil changes and even state inspections done there once in a while to establish some regularity as a customer.
I wanted to post this so maybe it would help other understand the issue, the process and my personal experience.
I'll let y'all know how the paint turns out in a couple of weeks.