Ford Worked Out the Paint Issue on Aluminum Body Panels?

[LoneRanger]

Looking at a new F150 in black. Has Ford resolved the paint problems that cropped up when they went to the aluminum body panels? Noticed GM has gone to aluminum panels for doors, hood, tailgate on the Silverado/Sierra as well.

 

[tmorris1]

Ford has had aluminum hoods on the F-150 for year without any problems that I have seen. My 1997 had an aluminum hood and the paint looks like new. Not sure about the new ones though, but why would it be different?

 

[Kira]

Maybe Ford decided to try a new (cheaper?) paint formula without regard to how it'd effect you.
As long as it gets through any warranty period is what you always hear.

 

[ragtoplvr]

Some newer paints are actually clear to UV light. That light breaks down some primers and the paint looses adhesion. At least that is a story I have been told.

Rod

 

[skyactiv]

Have you seen the F150 in in the color Blue Jeans? I saw this in person at the dealer I test drove a new Ranger at. It's sharp.

 

[PimTac]

I have always wondered how Ford and now GM handles the preparation of aluminum and steel panels. It may be different now but I recall that aluminum need a zinc chromate primer while steel took iron oxide. This was long ago though. Do they have primers now that can be used universally?

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Should have been to hard Boeing has been painting aluminum planes for years and you don't see the painted designs pealing off their jets at the Airport when I go to fly and lots of those jets fly for 20 years un much harsher conditions that cars will ever see.

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
Should have been to hard Boeing has been painting aluminum planes for years and you don't see the painted designs pealing off their jets at the Airport when I go to fly and lots of those jets fly for 20 years un much harsher conditions that cars will ever see.




This is true. There shouldn't be a need to reinvent the wheel here so to speak. That yellow and green primer on aircraft looks like the zinc chromate of back in my days on the ships and boats.

 

[thastinger]

Originally Posted by PimTac
I have always wondered how Ford and now GM handles the preparation of aluminum and steel panels. It may be different now but I recall that aluminum need a zinc chromate primer while steel took iron oxide. This was long ago though. Do they have primers now that can be used universally?


The panels get a clear phospherous coating before the paint goes on

 

[BobsArmory]

At my work place all panels & bodies go thru the same process aluminum or steel, makes no difference what they are made of.

 

[02SE]

Plenty of pictures of newer Fords on the 'net with aluminum body panels which corrode, and then the paint comes off. Lots of stories of people getting the run-around on getting it fixed. Of course Ford isn't the first company to have paint or corrosion issues.

 

[BobsArmory]

Cadillac has been using alum doors, hoods and deck lids for at least a decade with no issues at all. I guess it's all in the prep before primer and paint goes on.

 

[earlyre]

Originally Posted by skyactiv
Have you seen the F150 in in the color Blue Jeans? I saw this in person at the dealer I test drove a new Ranger at. It's sharp.


My Uncle's Continental is that color.. it is mighty purdy.

 

[heynow]

Aluminum body panels have been in use on cars for over 25 years, without any major issue that I'm aware of.

 

[Kawiguy454]

All it takes is a stone to chip thru the protective coating. Especially If you live where they salt roads the metals then begin the cancerous oxidation process under the paint. Next time you're on the highway look at the bed of a new F150 and watch as it oscillates in the wind. ...no thanks.

 

[Fawteen]

Originally Posted by heynow
Aluminum body panels have been in use on cars for over 25 years, without any major issue that I'm aware of.


You mean like the the issue covered in Ford's TSB 06-25-15 for all the aluminum body panels that were iron contaminated and bubbling the paint? Or TSB 19-2026 that covers Ford models as new as 2018?

Ford has issued multiple TSBs for similar issues with aluminium body panels and paint problems going back to somewhere around the year 2000. There is even a "bubbling paint" lawsuit making its way through the courts because of Ford's unwillingness to make the correct repairs because warranty coverage is limited to "perforation" of the aluminum panels (and the aluminum doesn't perforate).

I'd consider multiple TSBs and a lawsuit a "major" issue, especially when it's been happening for 2 decades.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted by LoneRanger
Looking at a new F150 in black. Has Ford resolved the paint problems that cropped up when they went to the aluminum body panels? Noticed GM has gone to aluminum panels for doors, hood, tailgate on the Silverado/Sierra as well.


Are you talking about the aluminum panel corrosion due to the build combination of aluminum and steel, like on the Mustang hoods (bottom half steel and top half aluminum), which still have corrosion issues. If aluminum panel corrosion is what you're talking about, it's not caused by the painting ... it's caused by galvanic corrosion (aka. bimetallic corrosion) due to improper manufacturing of dissimilar metals.

 

[Silverado12]

Originally Posted by ZeeOSix
Originally Posted by LoneRanger
Looking at a new F150 in black. Has Ford resolved the paint problems that cropped up when they went to the aluminum body panels? Noticed GM has gone to aluminum panels for doors, hood, tailgate on the Silverado/Sierra as well.


Are you talking about the aluminum panel corrosion due to then combining aluminum and steel, like on the Mustang hoods (bottom half steel and top half aluminum), which still have corrosion issues. If aluminum panel corrosion is what you're talking about, it's not caused by the painting ... it's caused by galvanic corrosion (aka. bimetallic corrosion) due to dissimilar metals.

I have a couple small bubbles on my hood but they're from rock chips. I imagine in the salt belt it's a lot worse. I've seen northern Expeditions with hood and liftgate bubbles that were really bad.

 

[heynow]

Originally Posted by Fawteen
Originally Posted by heynow
Aluminum body panels have been in use on cars for over 25 years, without any major issue that I'm aware of.


You mean like the the issue covered in Ford's TSB 06-25-15 for all the aluminum body panels that were iron contaminated and bubbling the paint? Or TSB 19-2026 that covers Ford models as new as 2018?

Ford has issued multiple TSBs for similar issues with aluminium body panels and paint problems going back to somewhere around the year 2000. There is even a "bubbling paint" lawsuit making its way through the courts because of Ford's unwillingness to make the correct repairs because warranty coverage is limited to "perforation" of the aluminum panels (and the aluminum doesn't perforate).

I'd consider multiple TSBs and a lawsuit a "major" issue, especially when it's been happening for 2 decades.


Sounds like less of an aluminum issue and more of a Ford incompetence issue.

 

[tig1]

My 1996 Merc GM had alum hood and trunk lid with no paint issues.