[monkeydad]

Have a 2004 Taurus in Medium True Blue Metllic with an apparent factory defect with the paint, as diagnosed by my favorite local body shop. The car has always been washed and waxed and taken care of...very glossy finish still, but, it's peeling badly.

The rear of the trunk lid was about 40% peeled off and I had it repainted. Now the left rear quarter is flaking off in large pieces, quickly. The body shop that did my trunk lid said it's a factory defect and did a great job painting the trunk but could not guarantee or warranty it.

I am preparing to go to Ford for some hopeful resolution...anyone have any experience with this.

 

[Jeff K]

Good luck with Ford...... face it, you have a 13 year old car that has lived its live in the rust belt (assuming "northeast" is correct in your profile). Ford isnt going to care in the slightest.

 

[chartmaker]

Good luck with Ford...... face it, you have a 13 year old car that has lived its live in the rust belt (assuming "northeast" is correct in your profile). Ford isnt going to care in the slightest.

Of course Ford does not care. Most paints last well. I have 3, '03, '03,'02. All paint very good. However, I had '90 Taurus LX and gave it to my daughter in '01. She and hubby lived in a small town. Paint failed in months. Having been there, it is common in the town. I am making a "obvious" guess the cement plant in town, and one more to the west have something to do with paint. Point is, where you live and where the car has lived matter in paint survival.

Where I live, we used to have problems with dark streaks on light color cars. (silver frost and white). When the coal fired power plant closed to our west, that issue ended. No permanent damage but it was ugly.

-chart-

 

[Tom S]

Very common on those years of Taurus and Crown Vic for them to peel. I have seen it often at work even on white cars that do not get so hot.

 

[jag1959]

It sucks but it is what it is. Even if it wasn't all that it should have been from the factory, peeling 12+ year old paint in the land of salt and sand probably isn't going to generate much of a response from any manufacturer. I am fanatical about the paint care on our vehicles, multicoat wax and sealant no less than every 6 months and I have been watching the well protected clear coat shedding itself from the roof of our Explorer for the past 3 years

 

[ice445]

The body shop isn't wrong. Medium True Blue Metallic was a defective color. I have a suspicion Ford knew about it early on, which is why it was replaced with Windveil Blue a year later. But, the damage has been done. If you get 10 years out of that color, you did well. I think it had something to do with the base coat's adherence to the primer. Some bad chemistry with the ingredients of that color caused it to not set correctly and it flakes off.

Performance white had a similar problem if I recall, but not as severe.

Sorry about your luck :/

 

[whatevah99]

Just joined here, so m seeing this post in 6/2019. I have same car/year/color with same problem. It's 15 years old now, so I'm not going to Ford with the problem. However, I'd like to give the car a cheap-but-adequate paint job. The paint is peeling on every panel, and is wearing off on the roof and hood.

In a case like this - where the paint peels off to the gray primer - I imagine a paint shop has to remove all the blue paint with a solvent spray or sandblasting. Does the process of removing all the old paint - not just painting over it - jack the price up to a ridiculous amount?

 

[MERCrunner]

If the problem lies with the factory paint not bonding with the primer, then it will need to be stripped off in it's entirety; including the primer. As you can guess, the time and materials to do this will be excessive and cost prohibitive. I have a similar problem with a 1975 Chevy Laguna S-3 in which the previous owner did a horse-s**t job of painting it himself. The paint and/or clear coat is bubbling off in blisters on the hood, top and trunk. I now am faced with the tedious task of stripping it down to bare metal myself before having it re-painted.

 

[holden]

OLD OP POST - but I will comment in case someone is interested.

DISCLAIMER: - This is a $500.00 car to me - be lucky to get $1000.00 even if I tried to sell

I have a 2003 Taurus Silver and took down the peeling paint to primer -
1. reshot new primer with a rattle can primer
2. 400 wet sand with soft sandblock and fixed any imperfections with glaze patch
3. shot base coat x4
4. used 2 stage clear and it's working beautifully

It can be done with rattle cans and I completed both bumpers. Starting the top of car next week. See pictures...

For what its worth this car has about 5 different repairs to it due to it was my hurricane car. I was a first responder for a major electric company during 2003 / 2004 / 2005 to 2019 hurricane seasons. This car has had all 4 sides damaged during hurricanes and/or a guy ran into the back bumper one day. So it has been through the war. All major mechanical service was completed by Ford and it's still going strong with 106k. It's a 500 dollar car to me but mechanically it runs perfectly. I put a cheap set of Douglas tires on today and it runs as good as my Q45. Very smooth ride. It does have the issue with the transmission that all these cars suffer from but I don't use the passing gear very much and usually drive using the cruise control. Tranny was rebuilt @ 60k when it gave out and still going strong at 106k.

I use a Festool DA sander with different sandpaper ratings. This sander works great...