List of Useful Threads Hood Paint bubble issue only

[Britta-S]

I should have listened to you guys. It all went so well until my customer service rep told me yesterday that she will talk to my Service Manager before deciding if it is warranty or not. Right... told her right away that I don't understand why, since he is the problem to begin with who doesn't know the difference between aluminum and sheet metal.
Anyways, she said she 'thinks it will be covered under warranty' but wants to wait for that talk.

Today, as you can imagine, I got below email:
'Ok so I finally spoke to [service manager] and It is not covered by warranty we looked in to it together the rust has to be from the inside out . The bubbling that its doing is not covered unfortunately .'

I answered that I'm not agreeing to their conclusion, again quoted the warranty, again told them that aluminum never perforates and thus this should be covered by warranty. I asked to get the case escalated if need be.

She offered to pay $1000 of the warranty work price (I got an estimate of $1600 totally, but that's customer price, not sure how much warranty pricing is), but I just don't want to settle for that.
Never a Ford again, ever.

 

[peterk9]

I would still try another dealer. One who is aware that this is covered and who knows that aluminum doesn't rust. In any case, I would never go back to the current dealer.
Unfortunately, now you have a record on file of it being denied. If it comes down to the 'last straw', tell them you will have it fixed and that you will file a claim in Small Claims Court.

Peter

 

[Britta-S]

I would still try another dealer. One who is aware that this is covered and who knows that aluminum doesn't rust. In any case, I would never go back to the current dealer.
Unfortunately, now you have a record on file of it being denied. If it comes down to the 'last straw', tell them you will have it fixed and that you will file a claim in Small Claims Court.

Peter

As said, I asked for escalation and also gave a some of the examples from the forum, plus a neat pdf presentation by Ford Motor Company (at least that's what it says: https://www.f150forum.com/attachmen...nt-defects-damage-general-service-bulleti.pdf) that aluminum parts don't need perforation to be covered.
So I hope she reconsiders or at least escalates, so I can make my case to someone else.

 

[blwnsmoke]

As said, I asked for escalation and also gave a some of the examples from the forum, plus a neat pdf presentation by Ford Motor Company (at least that's what it says: https://www.f150forum.com/attachmen...nt-defects-damage-general-service-bulleti.pdf) that aluminum parts don't need perforation to be covered.
So I hope she reconsiders or at least escalates, so I can make my case to someone else.

Small claims court will take care of it if they refuse again. The warranty guide plus a copy of this thread will be all you need along with pics of your hood.

 

[Jeo]

Hood Paint bubble issue only

Update...

Dealership took responsibility for the poor paint job. Instead of respraying the hood, they ordered a new one. I'm happy with the new hood paint job. Unfortunately the metal flake is not perfect, but not bad either. Interesting that it only took 2 weeks to get the new hood compared to 5 months for the first hood.

Ford Canada did inform me that the emblem is not covered under this warranty. I'm disappointed that with the hassle I went through, the dealership choose not to installed the emblem on their dime.

 

[peterk9]

Hi Jeo. FYI, the Aviator is back.

Peter

 

[clm65]

Add me to the list of 2017 Explorers with bubbling paint on the hood. I'll be taking it to the dealership next week. Hopefully I will have a better experience than some of you have posted about.

 

[BerndM]

I found the same thing on my '17 just the other day. 3 or 4 tiny spots but they're there.
23K miles and all of them here in sunny and mostly dry Southern California.
Inexcusable to say the least.
What the heck happened to "Quality Is Job One"????????????????

 

[RedXLTlove]

Been watching this for a while, anyhow our Ex has some bubbling on the hood, but it is on the backside of the lip near the weather stripping. I have been monitoring it and has not gotten worse, so if it stays where it is, I am not going to bother with it. Can't see unless you open the hood.

I too live CA and our Ex has never seen salt or really that much rain, but this issue has nothing to do with the elements, material defect of sorts.

 

[BettyFord58]

I've been researching the aluminum corrosion issue and have found examples but only after the vehicle has been on the road for 15-50k miles. I have the paint bubbling which crack under pressure. I filled them with touch-up to keep it from spreading but they look different from what I'm finding online. I'm trying to decide if it is in fact corrosion or just defects. Its a 2018 with 600 miles on it.

Ford accepted a warranty replacement on the hood but I'm hesitant to have an auto body shop paint it and it come out not looking as good as factory.

Do any of you have the same bubbling? Did you have it replaced & did it come out ok? Has it gotten worse or no progression?

I haven't seen a ton of good close up pictures so I did my best to capture them, hopefully they can help someone down the road.

Thank you in advance for your input!

 

[JAPeterson]

That looks like the corrosion bubbling to me.

Also Ford doesn't do the repairs but most dealers send the vehicle out to a auto body shop to have them take care of it. That is if the dealer doesn't have a body shop at the dealership.

 

[Britta-S]

Yes, I'd also say that's the corrosion issue.

Also, it's not the mileage that counts since the corrosion is happening from the inside out,so no outside 'influencers' like rain, temperature, etc. a 2018 Explorer might well be 2 years old by now, so the corrosion 'breaks' out.
At the Auto Show in Chicago last February I searched for this issue on a couple of the Explorer hoods and did find it as well and those hoods were from 2018/2019 models.

 

[Adrian Gitch]

I would take advantage of them offering to replace it under warranty. I’d personally would rather have a body shop do it.

 

[RedXLTlove]

I've been researching the aluminum corrosion issue and have found examples but only after the vehicle has been on the road for 15-50k miles. I have the paint bubbling which crack under pressure. I filled them with touch-up to keep it from spreading but they look different from what I'm finding online. I'm trying to decide if it is in fact corrosion or just defects. Its a 2018 with 600 miles on it.

Ford accepted a warranty replacement on the hood but I'm hesitant to have an auto body shop paint it and it come out not looking as good as factory.

Do any of you have the same bubbling? Did you have it replaced & did it come out ok? Has it gotten worse or no progression?

I haven't seen a ton of good close up pictures so I did my best to capture them, hopefully they can help someone down the road.

Thank you in advance for your input!
View attachment 176543 View attachment 176544 View attachment 176545 View attachment 176546 View attachment 176547 View attachment 176548 View attachment 176549 View attachment 176550 View attachment 176551 View attachment 176552 View attachment 176553

Mine looks just like this, all the bubbling is on the underside of the hood.

 

[Britta-S]

Mine looks just like this, all the bubbling is on the underside of the hood.

Mine is far worse on the underside as well, but they crept up after some time and now I have around 8 popped bubbles on the front lip. Looks horrible.

 

[peterk9]

I've been researching the aluminum corrosion issue and have found examples but only after the vehicle has been on the road for 15-50k miles. I have the paint bubbling which crack under pressure. I filled them with touch-up to keep it from spreading but they look different from what I'm finding online. I'm trying to decide if it is in fact corrosion or just defects. Its a 2018 with 600 miles on it.

Ford accepted a warranty replacement on the hood but I'm hesitant to have an auto body shop paint it and it come out not looking as good as factory.

Do any of you have the same bubbling? Did you have it replaced & did it come out ok? Has it gotten worse or no progression?

I haven't seen a ton of good close up pictures so I did my best to capture them, hopefully they can help someone down the road.

Thank you in advance for your input!

Welcome to the Forum Betty.
I don't think I've seen pictures of the bubbling like those in your photos. The bubbling will get worse over time.

Peter

 

[clm65]

The wife took the explorer to the dealer today for the hood and some other issues. Good news is that they agreed to fix it under the warranty. But they said they were going to send it to a local repair shop to fix the bubbled area. I had armed my wife with the TSB (19-2026) that recommends replacing the whole hood, so she told them that we would only accept full hood replacement. We are waiting to hear back on that. Am I correct that repairing the affected area is usually only a temporary repair, as the iron or whatever contaminant still remains in the aluminum? I think I read that....

 

[blwnsmoke]

The wife took the explorer to the dealer today for the hood and some other issues. Good news is that they agreed to fix it under the warranty. But they said they were going to send it to a local repair shop to fix the bubbled area. I had armed my wife with the TSB (19-2026) that recommends replacing the whole hood, so she told them that we would only accept full hood replacement. We are waiting to hear back on that. Am I correct that repairing the affected area is usually only a temporary repair, as the iron or whatever contaminant still remains in the aluminum? I think I read that....

Ford's own process now is hood replacement,not a repaint. The hood is contaminated so a repaint wont solve the problem and Ford knows it.

 

[clm65]

Ford's own process now is hood replacement,not a repaint. The hood is contaminated so a repaint wont solve the problem and Ford knows it.

Thanks, that is what I thought.

 

[ncsuengineer256]

Ford's own process now is hood replacement,not a repaint. The hood is contaminated so a repaint wont solve the problem and Ford knows it.

And the rest of us who had the repaint done (who are now out of warranty) are now left with an unresolved issue that won't be fixed on Ford's dime. smh