Q: Bad bubbling and chipping with paint
I love driving my 2006 Ford Mustang but I do not like how it looks at the moment. The paint on the hood started bubbling up and peeling away at around 15,000 miles and now, at 37,000 miles, all the paint on the fenders is also starting to fade away. How on earth can clear coat that thin make it through any kind of inspection at the factory? Are there any options as to how to fix this, or am I stuck getting it repainted?
You and many mustang lovers have experienced this condition unnecessarily and Ford should step up to take care of this since they knew about it happening to vehicles dating back to 2000 (like the 2000-2003 Ford Ranger). The bubbling and corrosion is happening because Ford started using aluminum hoods in 2000 to lower vehicle weight. Their own laboratory testing found that the corrosion was caused by iron particles working their way into the aluminum body part prior to it being painted at the factory.
Ford issued a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) 04-25-1, now updated to TSB 06-25-15, with specific processes for repair that cannot be completed by a mechanical repair company like YourMechanic, it must be performed by an auto body repair facility that specializes in Aluminum body parts. The part has to be completely sand blasted and repainted.
At this time, Ford is not covering any vehicles out of the 3 years/36,000 miles original warranty period.
So to answer your questions, there are three options available: have the hood completely repainted as per the specific instructions on TSB 06-25-15, replace the hood or wait for the verdict on a class action lawsuit Mickens v. Ford in N.J.
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