Hi, I have a 03 Escape charcoal grey, washing it last week found crack clear coat and actualy paint flaking off to the primer catching the wash mitt. Brought to the dealer, sent me to their body guy. He said bird droppings! Well, I have never seen stuff that can flake paint off a car like that. Not to mention, I had some sap on the car for about 8 hours, went home and found clear coat cracking underneath. Is this normal? I have had droppings on my CRV and no cloudy spots or marking! Is this a defect? I can't believe they put paint on that can crack and flake off this easily, worse than my paint job I did at home. Please advise...

 

All manufacturers have problems with paint occasionally. Sometimes it runs throughout an entire model year. Your truck is still new and under warranty. You should press the issue of a factory defective paint job NOW. Do not stop with the dealer, even if it says they will now fix it. Demand to have an inspection/evaluation by the regional customer rep. Bird droppings or no, your paint should not be doing this. The manufacturers will usually chalk it up to "acid rain effect". But they should warrant it. If your truck is new enough, you could even push for a complete new paint job, or a new truck (minus depreciation for the use you have had of yours). At a minimum, you should be able to get a first-rate repair, plus a record that shows the paint is substandard on your vehicle, so if it peels or flakes some more, you have something to go on.

Also, it is illegal but still done - perhaps the truck was damaged in transit to the dealer and repairs were made. If so, you should have been made aware of them when you bought it. So look carefully for evidence the damaged paint represents a previous repair.

 

I also have an 2001 Escape with the paint cracking,peeling problem. I took it to the dealer and was told to see the body shop.

When the service mgr. first looked at it, he gave me the ol "it's been repainted.That's why it's cracking now".

He opened the hood and pulled off the fiberglass only to find that there had been no body work done whatsoever at any time.

Anyway, he got their 'special paint guy' out with a machine that measures what the depth of paint is on the car on any portion ,anywhere on the car.

It clearly showed that the entire car had a defective paint job.
However, it's just now becoming visible for the defect to appear(as I was told by the sevice manager) because it's actually coming from the bottom up.
This gives me a good way to approach the ford specialist coming out,as the 'defect' would have never been evident during the first 2-3 yrs as it's taken that long for the defect to just start being visible now.
The Lowdown

Well,( in looking for another opinion ) I took my Escape to a one of the larger Ford dealers in my area.
(I bought the car used from a Lincoln Mercury Dealer)
I was directed to the collision/body shop and was greeted by a young man who I asked to take a look at the paint job.

Before I mentioned another word he knew exactly why I had brought it there

I didn't even notice he had taken a look at the car before he went and got a Paint thickness gauge and said "it's about the paint cracking, right?"

It was like he was reading my mind. Actually, it was because they've come across this problem so often.

He took his paint thickness gauge and measured the thickness of the paint at 12 various spots throughout the vehicle,noting the thickness at each point.

He was a nice guy and was more than happy to give me all the information he could(since the vehicle wasn't bought from their dealership)

He told me that Fords "allowable thickness" of paint on a new car is between 3.5 - 5 mills.(or 3.6-5 thousands of an inch)

(***From a NY times article - Keep in mind, the average new clear-coat finish on a vehicle (primer, base, color, and clear coat) is only 4 mills(.004 or 4 thosands of an inch) thick - that's the same thickness of two sheets of The New York Times Sunday sports section***

The thickness of the paint on my car at the different points he measured varied between 11.1 and 12.8 mills., or 3 - 4 times the thickness that Ford allows for new vehicles.( 3-4 coats of paint)

When I asked why the paint was so thick , he told me the following: After a car's painted and for whatever reason( a scratch or scrape on a fender, hatch, door or hood,etc.) rather than repair that particular item that has the defect, it's actually cheaper for Ford to repaint the entire car !!

So, if after the original paint job, they find a scratch or defect on the hood, they repaint the entire car. Then, if it gets scrape on a fender or door,etc., they repaint the entire car a 3rd time!!!

He told me that his dealership repaints at least 1-2 cars every month for this exact reason.(not necessarily Escapes but all Fords)

He also told me that Ford quit using the paint (a Melamine Acrylic paint) which was also a part of the problem.

At least now I've got some background ammo when the "Ford Guy' comes to have a look at my car.

Hope this helps in your case