New Taurus X Hood

[caprang]

I just thought I would share some info....you may want to check your hood. A basketball pole blew over on my wife's X and dented the hood. Took it to a body shop to see what could be done. He did a parts locater and did not find any used hoods and there are also no aftermarket hoods available. The only option was to fix this one or get a whole new one. So looking at the hood closely I found paint bubbling along the seam at the very front. Popped the hood to look underneath and it was even worse. Body shop tells me its an aluminum hood and where they weld the seam sometimes all the gas from the welder doesnt get wiped off and then the paint doesnt stick real well. I dont now how I never noticed this before!! Anyway, total cost for new hood, painted and installed came to $1,357 Im going to take a magnet to the hood to see if it is really aluminum or not because the estimate has a charge for corrosion protection. If its aluminum it cant rust so why would it need corrosion protection? Not that it matters, Im just curious now.

[juneau76]

Aluminum does corode/oxidize. One of our fire trucks would be a perfect example of that. The metal is corroding causing bubbles underneath the paint, etc. At any rate, that sucks. What year is your Taurus X?

[caprang]

It is a 2008 Limited that we bought September of 2007. I did the magnet test and sure enough it is an aluminum hood. Fenders are steel though.