My MM experience so far.....

[muslhed]

Well, this has been an interesting experience! When I bought my '03 MM in mid to late December last year, I took delivery of it at night right before closing time, and they didn't have time to do a make-ready/delivery inspection. They actually didn't even have one on the lot, and had to "dealer trade" it from another local L/M dealer. It arrived after dark (after I had already bought it), so I couldn't see everything that I saw the next day. The idea was to bring it back before Christmas so they could clean it up and everything. Well as you can imagine, that didn't happen! The dealer said "No rush & bring it back after the holidays"! During the 3 weeks I had it, I found numerous things that were wrong with the car. First off, it apparently been sitting on the lot for some time, because the tires only had about 18 lbs of air in them, and some of the tires had cracks and chunks of rubber missing out of the sidewalls. The tires also feel like they had flat spots in all of them. The front left wheel had serious scratches and gouges in the aluminum, all around the perimeter of the wheel. The headlights fog up, shifter linkage is out of adjustment, rear bumper cover was hanging down between the exhaust pipes, no valve stem caps, motor hard to start and sounds rattly on initial startup, and last but not least....the paint looked absolutely terrible in the daylight! The black paint looked similar to the paint quality on my black 1992 GMC Sonoma that has 162K miles on it! I finally took it back to the dealer, and after seeing everything I pointed out, they took a deep breath and said.... "We'll gladly take care of it, but don't expect it back next week!" They committed to replacing all the tires, headlights, front left wheel, checking out the motor, and having a local custom body shop repaint the entire vehicle and fix the rear bumper cover. I called the body shop yesterday, and they told me everything they were doing to take extra special care of my extra special car! This particular body shop specializes in custom body and paint work on people's prized street rods and various toys, and sound like the perfectionists I wanted them to be. First off, they have a $70K paint booth that they use. They told me that they had spent the entire last week sanding down my car and prepping it before the paint. They told me they were going to be using a black acrylic urethane paint. Is this good? Also, the body shop filled in the holes left from the Mercury emblem I had removed off of the rear deck lid. I am supposed to be getting it back the end of next week. From what I've told ya'll about this body shop and their methods of prep and paint, what do ya'll think the outcome will be? This is the first time I have ever done this, so I have no clue as to what to expect.

[Bigdogjim]

Well if the dealer said""We'll gladly take care of it, but don't expect it back next week!"

Then half the war is over?

The right dealer makes all the differance:)

Hope they follow though for you:)

Keep us posted.

[muslhed]

What do you think about the acrylic urethane paint they will be using? Is that normal, or even a good thing? I would really like to hear what you guys think about this paint & body shops methods for painting my car. $70K paint booth.....is this sub-par or a really good sign? And sanding down my entire car for a week? The paint is obviously the area that I am most worried about.

[jgc61sr2002]

Sounds like the dealer was quite receptive to the problems you detected. A body shop that does classic car work is the best IMO. Classic car fanatics will only accept the best. They are very fussy which is good. This type of shop turns out high quality work. :up:

[CRUZTAKER]

..... numerous things that were wrong with the car. First off, ..... rear bumper cover was hanging down between the exhaust pipes
Woa, wait a minute...I can totally relate to ALL of your problems, but I thought all the MM's had a rear bumper that kinda sagged in the middle down below????

[TAF]

I thought all the MM's had a rear bumper that kinda sagged in the middle down below????
Only after they reach 50 years or 50,000 miles :lol:

[muslhed]

Well, mine would literally flap in the wind while driving! Don't think that was quite normal! Upon further inspection, there are 2 plastic brackets that "support" the lower portion of the rear bumper cover, that were ripped completely loose! Don't know what could have happened to cause that, but that's why it was hanging down. This car had about 200 miles on it when I got it, so who knows how many test drives it had been taken on, or how many times the owners kids had their way with it!

[NOMARQUIS]

Where did you buy your car? That way I might get a dealer that provides good service after the sale instead of a bunch of non- returned phone calls and a ton of arguments with Mercury customer service.

Eric

[muslhed]

Excel Ford in Carthage, TX.

[2003 MIB]

Excel Ford in Carthage, TX.
J-
You left out the alligator story but I'm not talkin' :) ... If you get her back by the 21st will we see y'all at Hallsville?
Dan

[muslhed]

J-
You left out the alligator story but I'm not talkin' :) ... If you get her back by the 21st will we see y'all at Hallsville?
Dan

So is it official for the 21st? I've been asking, but haven't heard! You bet, we'll certainly be there! Even if I have to beat on Connie's turbo VW Rabbit instead of the "Rodder", we'll be there! As far as the alligators go..........they're not ready for that yet!

[2003 MIB]

So is it official for the 21st? I've been asking, but haven't heard! You bet, we'll certainly be there! Even if I have to beat on Connie's turbo VW Rabbit instead of the "Rodder", we'll be there! As far as the alligators go..........they're not ready for that yet!

It's official even if I'm the only one who shows up. I'd kinda like to see the Rabbit run. Looking forward to it.

[muslhed]

Sounds good to me! I'll make it official on that thread! We've done a few upgrades on the rabbit since we last ran it, so I'm sure we'll spool her up too!

Jeremy