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It was a nice warm day on Sunday so I thought I'd give the car a nice hand-wash as it'd been a while since its last bath. By the time I was done I'd sworn out loud & cursed Ford about 10 times..

1. Holy f*ing stone chips.
Yes my car is black, but shouldn't they have used a black primer instead of a white one? Every little scratch, every little chip shows up like a stinking bird s**t. And 99.99% of the 'little' chips (I've owned other cars before and these wouldn't even be noticeable) are, on this car - BIG CHIPS. Next time I go to the Ford dealer I'll get them to update the info in their system - my car is no longer Midnight Black, it's 'speckled'.

2. Holy f*ing flaking paint, Batman! (Part 1)
So I'm wetting down the car with a hose & sponge. I get to the right-rear fender/quarter-panel (above the wheel) and my sponge is suddenly covered in large black specs. WFT? I examine them and realize.. it's PAINT. I swear out loud and continue working my way around.

3. Holy f*ing flaking paint, Batman! (Part 2)
I get to the rear-bumper cover (WingsWest, which was replaced/repainted under warranty by Ford people 2 or 3 years ago for a flaking issue) and notice the insides of the cutout (which are obviously 0-wear) have paint flaking off. Add that to the sideskirts (also repl/rep at the same time by Ford, and which the urathane has been visible in places for a while now) and the f*ers have now officially done another crap job that didn't last 2 years. WTF, does everyone else with WW kits have to get them repainted every 2 years?? Oh well, this wasn't the worst of my paint issues..

4. Holy f*ing flaking paint, Batman! (Part 3)
I was crouched down with a gentle stream of water on the bumper's left side (probably still swearing about the WW stuff) when I noticed something fluttering by in the breeze. It stopped on the ground beside my foot. Surely it's too soon for butterflies? I pick it up -- HOLY F**K - it's an INCH AND A HALF x 1/2" OF PAINT THAT FELL OFF ALL BY ITSELF. I looked to see where it was from and sure enough it's right above the wheel arch on the rear-left.

It's not from wheel rub as the paint underneath is still intact -- this is on the vertical side at the lower edge. Nice shiny metal exposed now.

If I don't do something about this, I doubt I'll have any paint left on the car by the end of the year. I had to be *extremely* light with my sponge and hose - I could feel the paint lifting up on both rear fenders - a little bit of pressure and the paint would have torn like a piece of cheap toilet paper.

So the big questions are:
1) how long was my car's paint warranty? Car is a 2000, car is 4 1/2 years old, only 45,000kms on it.
2) do I just have crazy bad luck or is this a common problem with these cars?
3) What is Ford's likely response when I either go in or call their 1-800# and give them hell? (or even if I'm polite and patient with them)

Must be a common problem with black 2000's bro because as I've been complaining since last year, I have the same problem. My most notable one was above the rear window on the passenger side, where I now have a fantasticly massive rust spot

My car is a 2000, and I took it into ford last year when it had 38,000km on it... they said the warranty was for rust... 3 years surface, 5 years perforation... I asked them about the flaking paint... they said they could fix it... at a discount of 10% but that's it...

Now I don't understand how that's fair, because my car was under 60,000 km (still is) but I'd still have to pay...

The car's going to a private shop this april for repaint, rust repair and dent pulling... but good luck with ford

Guys it's just not black foci, the blue ones have really shitty paint also. Ford quality is apparent yet again! My brother's 1990 Integra that has sat outside for the last 7 years has paint that's in better condition than mine!

My bro's 2000 is rusting now also.......

I have paint flaking off at the seams under my doors. I coated the spots with lithium grease so they don't spreadt.

I also have rust under the window trim on the driver's side door.

Ford paint is dam' s**t.

As for your warantee...... You're f**ked now man.

Thay will tell you to get lost if you call them about it.

p.s.

My car is green.

haha, the same thing happened to me on my Red zx3. there were toonie sized spots missing on my front bumper.

I know Darkpuppet had some serious paint flaws on his car too.

All of you mentioned running 2000 models?

S2,Mar 28 2005, 10:51 AM Wrote:All of you mentioned running 2000 models?
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2002....

Can you believe that? :lol:

my wings west stuff that was painted by ford was all s**t, i had then repianted at a body shop and never had a problem since...i got a 2001 also

I don;t abuse my paint either. I'm VERY careful with ice build up and scrapers and such. I was my car once a week too.

I dunno. I had rust popping up all over the place last summer.

I abuse the hell out of my paint, I brush snow off it with the arm of my grimey old work coat or my stiff as a brick snowbrush. I really don't pay much attention to salt on the roads and really don't care if people lean on my car. I do however go nutty with waxing, polishing and keeping my paint reflective.

I don't have any paint issues, and on my 3 year old car I have no swirlmarks or scratches. All I have is a busted ass front bumper, a ding in the a pillar, and the chrome hatch strip has been shaken loose by my stereo and is starting to rust underneath which I really don't care about since I want to shave the hatch anyways :)

I think Focus paint is like Taurus paint, every now and then you see a Taurus so rusty you'd swear it must have been done as a joke. Mom's 1992 Taurus however, at 13 years old, looks fantastic. After a quick wash it looks as good as it did a decade ago. Never waxed, hardly ever washed.

My Contour was the same, great paint, and my brother's Contour has great paint as well (not counting the orange peel ford loves to leave behind on any surface facing downwards...

That's Ford for you....

YOU JUST NEVER KNOW WHAT YOUR GOING TO GET!

Incosistancies in products you sell is not a good thing.