Paint Bubble

[Transplant]

I work in Engineering and I spend a lot of time dealing with paint (on aircraft), and as such I have avoided jumping on the “Maverick paint is awful” bandwagon because all automotive paint is awful. But I’m quite willing to jump on the “Maverick paint prep process is awful” bandwagon as of today. Of note, my Maverick has been claybared, waxed multiple times with hybrid ceramic wax, and washed frequently because I love having a clean truck. I take very good care of the paint, and pay far too much attention to the condition of the paint on my truck. I mention this because paint chips and damage would not get missed for an extended period of time. Yesterday I found 2 defects on the back drivers side door. One is a very obvious paint chip. I have nothing to complain about here, it needs to be cleaned and touched up and nothing more needs to be said. This paint chip has not corroded at all (yet). The other defect is a bubble of paint that is indicative of corrosion under the paint surface. There is a slight break in the paint on the backside of the bubble but this is more likely to have occurred as a result of the corrosion pushing up on the paint as opposed to being the cause of moisture under the surface, based on it being a small crack in the paint and not a chip of missing paint like you’d see from mechanical damage of the coating. It is extremely, extremely rare for a coating failure to occur on a panel away from a seam, hole, or other change in the metal surface which is the most concerning part, this just should not be happening here. Now I have to decide if I’m going to take the truck to the dealer to have them tell me it was a rock chip that I didn’t see, or if I’m just going to fix it myself and hope it’s an isolated issue. Winter is coming and we have road salt down pretty much permanently from December to April. This is not going to be pretty.

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[matmondro]

That's very unfortunate. If I'm not mistaken, doesn't the Maverick have a paint/corrosion warranty (I believe all Fords do)? Maybe you can get it fixed under warranty?

 

[projectvortex]

I work in Engineering and I spend a lot of time dealing with paint (on aircraft), and as such I have avoided jumping on the “Maverick paint is awful” bandwagon because all automotive paint is awful. But I’m quite willing to jump on the “Maverick paint prep process is awful” bandwagon as of today. Of note, my Maverick has been claybared, waxed multiple times with hybrid ceramic wax, and washed frequently because I love having a clean truck. I take very good care of the paint, and pay far too much attention to the condition of the paint on my truck. I mention this because paint chips and damage would not get missed for an extended period of time. Yesterday I found 2 defects on the back drivers side door. One is a very obvious paint chip. I have nothing to complain about here, it needs to be cleaned and touched up and nothing more needs to be said. This paint chip has not corroded at all (yet). The other defect is a bubble of paint that is indicative of corrosion under the paint surface. There is a slight break in the paint on the backside of the bubble but this is more likely to have occurred as a result of the corrosion pushing up on the paint as opposed to being the cause of moisture under the surface, based on it being a small crack in the paint and not a chip of missing paint like you’d see from mechanical damage of the coating. It is extremely, extremely rare for a coating failure to occur on a panel away from a seam, hole, or other change in the metal surface which is the most concerning part, this just should not be happening here. Now I have to decide if I’m going to take the truck to the dealer to have them tell me it was a rock chip that I didn’t see, or if I’m just going to fix it myself and hope it’s an isolated issue. Winter is coming and we have road salt down pretty much permanently from December to April. This is not going to be pretty.

Is there actual corrosion under that cracked bubble? As good as the pics are, I still cannot tell.

 

[Transplant]

Is there actual corrosion under that cracked bubble? As good as the pics are, I still cannot tell.

I’m calling it rust based on the paint bubble itself, I don’t want to touch it and remove evidence that there wasn’t a paint chip there. I can’t think of anything other than rust that would cause an intact layer of paint to lift off the surface like that.

 

[Transplant]

That's very unfortunate. If I'm not mistaken, doesn't the Maverick have a paint/corrosion warranty (I believe all Fords do)? Maybe you can get it fixed under warranty?

I should have had enough sense to review the warranty so I appreciate you pointing this out to me. I thought the corrosion warranty only covered perforations but digging through the Ford.ca site I found the below warranty on surface corrosion. I have good photos but I’m going to stop at the local dealer tonight to show that the pictures I took are representative of the truck and get a file started. Hopefully I don’t get any grief over the cause of this but at least I have a warranty option to progress with.

 

[matmondro]

Good! Always best to be well documented before heading to the dealer LOL. I'm interested to hear updates, let us know!

 

[Probablynotadieselwagon]

I'm in aviation finishing too. The only thing I think of when I see this. Improper cleaning/ fod intrusion. I'd get fixed under warranty, no paint should fail that early without a manufacturing error.

 

[Edge Haley]

Hard to tell from the pictures, but bubbling strongly indicated a paint prep issue. My biggest complaint on Maverick paint is thin sheet metal on the doors. Some areas of the body can get by with thin sheet metal, but doors are prone to getting hit in parking lots...Both of my rear doors have significant dents....one rear door is dented in roughly in a 6 inches area around the dent...very noticeable. Was able to pull it back out with a GPS suction cup. For doors, I installed the "Dawn Side Molding" this weekend and highly recommend...wish I'd done it earlier.

 

[Flight Test]

I will throw in my $.02:
There is moisture or debris on the painting surface before the paint is applied.
The surface is too hot when the paint is applied.
The paint endures too much humidity or rain.
Moisture gets under the paint because the paint is scratched.
The paint is so old that it starts deteriorating.

Just some more thoughts.

 

[Kelli]

This is why I want to look into a wrap. Hesitating as I'm concerned if the wrap is taken off what the original paint will be like.

 

[Transplant]

I will throw in my $.02:
There is moisture or debris on the painting surface before the paint is applied.
The surface is too hot when the paint is applied.
The paint endures too much humidity or rain.
Moisture gets under the paint because the paint is scratched.
The paint is so old that it starts deteriorating.

Just some more thoughts.

I’ve seen a number of different paint failures in my career, and they almost all have to do with some sort of surface prep issue. I’m not going to guess what it was until Ford has a look at it, but corrosion can’t s start unless moisture gets to the surface of the panel, and there’s no indication that the paint was damaged prior to the bubble forming.

 

[Transplant]

As an update to my previous post, I stopped in at my local dealer the other day and they were closed already, it looks like they’ve gone to reduced hours since there’s no cars to sell and no technicians to do service. I work days but I’ll find time next week to run in on lunch or something. However, since finding the first paint bubble on Sunday I have since found a second paint bubble and corrosion weeping from a third spot, all on the drivers side rear door about 1/2” in from the back of the door. My minor concern about corrosion happening under the paint has become a very significant concern. And we still haven’t hit winter yet when the salt will begin to fly.

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