I'm with you on that one, Tim. I love my car and I have no plans of parting with it but I'm done with Ford too.

 

Reviving one of my old posts from July. What a sad week this has been.

 

bigger problems guys... suggest everyone think about pulling your hood insulation down

was hoping tonight to pull the hoods off the wifes 07 (20,000 miles) and my 09 (still undriven- 4 miles), to tip them nose-down, slosh some paint inside between the front layers to seal it up... her car first, had to pop the liner for access to the holes- the freaking liner is abrasive, has rubbed thru the paint all over the place, and quite a few big paint blisters UNDERNEATH the insulation... couldnt see any of them till it was removed. used one of those bent/fork christmastree plug pulling things for door panels, gotta be really careful with the insulation, made a couple dents in it they seem to not show, dont think anyone would ever notice them...

think the liner edges need a 'cushion' of some sort, might spray the underside of the fiberglass looking insulation with some plastidip spray- the rubber should soak in ok, and be soft enough it dont keep wearing thru the paint... will tear a couple little bits off somewhere to compare how easy it might burn compared to plastidipped... dont think it will be a issue though.

anyways, scraped all those blisters too, acid etched with ospho, coated with rustoleum... will recoat tomorrow and hopefully pour some inside to seal that, then a couple days to dry, and repaint the vistablue over it to hide the ugly... then on to the 09- if its blistered under the insulation i will be shocked as never had any vibration/never been wet... but the lip on that virgin 4 mile car bubbled up too, so who knows.

man ford did a ****ty job on these hoods. such a shame as they are otherwise such well built cars.

anyone into their mustang for the long haul probably should at least pop the liner to take a look before it bubbles up there too. I'll edit some pics in here in a bit. the light blue is just rustoleum- will overcoat it in basecoat/clear before its done, so it shouldnt be quite as ugly.

 

My 2013 Mustang has paint bubbling and peeling off the hood's front underside edge, too. I brought it to my dealer, who contacted Ford and was told that it would not be covered and I'd have to pay for the repair out of pocket. I've reached out to Ford directly twice, but it seems to be going nowhere. I find this simply unacceptable, especially with the launch of an aluminum F150. Based on this experience and response, how could anyone be confident purchasing an aluminum bodied car from Ford? I can accept an manufacturing error, but I expect Ford to make this right. Anybody had any luck with this?

 

Hello BrianDay,

I recommend bringing it in to your dealer and speaking to your service manager about this concern. He is in the best position to ensure a proper diagnosis, and will be able to provide available options and/or coverage for any work needed.

Also, remember most paid repairs done at a Ford Dealer come with a 24 months/unlimited miles warranty. You can schedule an appointment online here. Let me know the outcome.

Deysha

 

Deysha, he did:

Now, either the dealer is lying about having it run up the flagpole with Ford because they don't want to be responsible for the painting, or Ford indeed did deny the claim. I'm bettin' that Ford denied it, seeing as he's said he's contacted y'all twice.

Deysha, I know you're here to help and all... but certainly, there's enough of us here and elsewhere to get Ford to recognize they are doing a bad job of painting these aluminum panels, even after 10 years of it.

(possible rehashing of previous soapboxing, but here I go

I find it absolutely ludicrous that Ford thinks the all aluminum bodied F150 is going to be a good move and good business after the Mustang hood fiasco, and while I'm not a vindictive person, nor am I attacking Ford or you, I simply cannot *wait* to see the giant class action that's going to happen on those F150s.. and maybe us Mustang owners will get roped in, seeing as there's already one in New Jersey that's still about (last I checked.)

Ford needs to get it's act together. There is no excuse for for this to have continued past 2008 or so. None. That it's still happening to new cars off the lot in 2014 is simply corporate mismanagement and/or engineering, metalurgical, and/or chemical incompetence on Ford's part, and is entirely appalling.

I've heard Bill Ford Jr. really likes Mustangs. And that a lot of the board members of Ford, as well as many in high up positions, like them a lot as well.

I say they prove it. Fix our hood paint problems. Or reimburse us for one paint job on it at least. FIX THE PAINTING PROBLEMS period might be a better idea because F150.

Of course, THEY don't care... they can just get the dang things repainted whenever. Unlike us filthy masses.

Ok. I'm done I guess. Again.

/I will say this... when I get my hood repainted (soon, for I have a plan(tm) to carry out), it will carry a *lifetime of ownership* warranty on that paint, because of where I'm taking it. Which will suck for them, but hey... I'm paying for it. They said. It will be done.

 

Folks, The front hood lip bubbling on the Ford Mustang is from contamination (by iron filaments) of the aluminum hood during manufacture. The bubbling is not rust but corrosion, a reaction between iron and aluminum that causes perforations and bubbling of the paint and hood. Use the TSB: "ALUMINUM BODY PANELS—CORROSION—SERVICE TSB 06-25-15" to go to your dealer and if they won't do anything then go to the Ford District Manager and up the chain until you get results. It took me going to the District Manager to have my hood replaced free in 2010 on my 2005 Mustang GT. Good luck! R/Mike

 

Even if any of us would pursue this, how can we be sure that the replacements wont bubble up like the old ones? I'm asking because this problem started in '05 and I've already seen some 2014's with this issue. Even Ford4v429's virgin '09 GT with 4 miles has it. Not trying to be a jerk or anything, but I'm sure it would take a while to go up the chain to get the issue resolved, but if the problem still exists, what's the point?

 

Ford put out the TSB because they knew it was a problem. My replacement hood (from 2010) from Ford shows no corrosion or bubbling. There are also many fiberglass hoods avail online you can put on the S197 Mustang in case you don't go the route of a Ford replacement hood.

 

I say replace your OEM hood with an after market hood and send Ford the bill. Tell'm they have a faulty product and you needed to find an alternate route to resolve the issue and it was to replace the OEM hood with an after market that works....

 

People need to stop bringing this up as a thing that explains it all. It in no way does. But good on you for persuing the problem. I hope yours is resolved. It's 2014, I doubt I'll get the same results for my '06.

Yes, Fe can contaminate the Al alloy panel, but the truth is that is a lot less of a problem than the reality:

Aluminum does not like paint without proper prep, contamination is a secondary issue here.

I've said it before: Prepping aluminum is a scuff, etch primer, then paint process, and even then, the aluminum is trying like hell to shake the paint off.

The undersides doing it more than the top sides is the seams are *complicated*, and the paint has no chance. Shaking of the panel, rubbing of the pad, gravity, and/or just a little bit of bad luck(tm) (seam sealer/iron/just didn't stick) and the next thing you know, the paint is falling off on it's own.

Dipping the car in seam sealer with the steel panels... don't you think maybe the iron might be suspended in the sealer? Hm?

But beyond the iron... so what? The problem is iron then.

FIX IT. It's been 10 years.

That it's still going on, even with the TSB... that indicates a different problem, and someone just 'waved a hand' to explain it away, and they're using it as an excuse. That's what I'm thinkin'.

Which means, to me, it's not iron. It's bad process.

Hoods should be painted separately, like the bumpers. And prepped like they ought, instead of just slapping the paint on like the steel is done. It just WON'T WORK.

---

For my car, I don't care. I'm not even after a hood or paint. I'm going to have it stripped and done right. Unless someone can point me to a plastic/fiberglass/steel version of my hood without washer holes, in which case, I'd be up for getting one of those, weight be damned.

I'm more in the point that Ford should just do it right in the first place. And that it's explained properly, instead of the iron hand wave.

 

The pic on the left is definitely suspicious for corrosion. However the pic on the right looks very much like e-coat blow out. I have that in several places on my hood. Been there since new and in 3 years has not changed.

 

it will.

I popped one of the tiny bubbles on my 09 when it was new, got a pic somewhere, was crunchy white powder(aluminum oxidation), put a dab of vaseline over the little hole, it never changed- but this summer 3 other areas bubbled up- and the car has sat inside under a shelby cover since new- has 4.9 miles on it, was washed at the dealer one time the day it came in and I washed it two years ago. its possible it might have got rained on at AAI's holding lot, but basically it is likely the only base mustang gt anywhere thats never been driven. when it started bubbling up it really really frosted me at ford- the paintjob/evcuses is simply pathetic- they or anyone can make all the excuses they want, but I dare anyone to look at the underhood seams on a hyundai and explain how they ALWAYS put out perfection and ford always puts out subpar work on the mustang. it would be inexcusable on a yugo, ford ought to be ashamed of the work being done at AAI on these hoods. the cheapest cars on the planet have great hood prep and paint, why cant a Mustang?

 

Cheapest cars on the planet use steel. So that's a big advantage over Mustang's aluminum alloy hood.

 

but they still seal/clean/prep underhood seams- still think if AAI did we wouldnt have these threads... the cheepest hyundai has flawless seams and paint under the hood, mustangs? no sealer on most, the new blue one i put the pic up of had dirt and a piece of some sort of wire sticking out

 

finally got to see a 2015 F150- as one might expect from me after suffering three mustang aluminum hood paint failures, I'm unimpressed- and not surprised...

what do you guys think of these pics? anything look familiar to the areas under your mustang hoods where corrosion initiated?

on the flipside, perhaps the little flaws are nothing, and the fact opposite sides didnt have them just means someone did 'too good' on the other sides.

maybe.

sorry but I see bad things coming 2~3 yrs down the road with these trucks. in my opinion, this is complete **** quality control compared to some other brands out there. put this on aluminum- I will be staying far, far away from the aluminum truck. it looks great, ought to be a great vehicle- but in my opinion the panel hem/sealing/paint on the underbody areas where corrosion always starts is simply pathetic. Perhaps Ford should contract Hyundai to put panels together for them.

 

The F150 photos seem to picture sealant beads. On my 2010, I did not see a similar surfacing, just the edges and small bubbles. If the metal is different ("aircraft grade aluminum"), I don't necessarily conclude there will be issues.

 

maybe not- I just hate the sloppy look compared to others. there were two spots that looked like the tiny bubbles, but were bad pics- youll need to zoom in a bit, but the area towards the windshield/side edge on drivers side had the tiny bubbles that looked just like my mustang hoods had- the ones that eventually strawberried. I did NOT see the cobwebbing like areas under the paint like early bubbling started out, and like seen on the orange and blue auto show mustangs...the drivers door bottom edge sloppy as it is, did appear to have a lot of paint on it- the bubblegum looking crooked strip over the mismatched quarter panel had mostly nothing- and if you look close at the top edge in that pic, notice how jagged that edge is- i didnt notice that until i downloaded the pics...

the thing that just bugs the crap out of me, obviously they applied sealant for a reason, and obviously areas were missed on one side or the other...every single hyundai i checked at the auto show was perfect, 90% of the toyota seams looked as good as hyundais, just saw a couple that were a little bit sloppy around tailgates or doors- every Ford I looked at had seam sealer that looked like a roll of hardware store bathtub caulk if any, and even in sealed areas there were spots where the sealer completely missed the seam- just shoddy work.
heres the best hood bubbled edge pic- was only maybe a inch, but sure looked like the mustangs early on...only time will tell. sorry pic is so bad, was overcast and my phone has a crap camera, contrast when looking upwards with sky in background washed pic out pretty bad.

as for the alloy, if they knew 6061T6 or something with similar corrosion resistance, or maybe just a different type of Ecoat, why are mustangs ten years later still getting a lesser material after all the documented issues? I'm pretty darn sure this trucks design was tested/finalized years ago, it couldnt have been tooled up for in a year... the 'stuff inthe paint' pic of the drivers door bottom looked like good old dirt, also if yo look close at that pic, the panel edge is crooked- it looked a lot worse in real life...most of the other pics i got were just holes/missed areas

 

Tony, you should know more about what you are taking about...

aircraft grade aluminum is a marketing ploy. aircraft are made from a variety of aluminum materials including 5052, 2024, and 6061 alloys, with various tempers, among others. Some of these are alclad, meaning they have a coating of pure aluminum (around 2% of metal thickness iirc) applied to each side and i highly doubt ford spent money on that. Best i could find is the f150 is using a 6xxx series aluminum.

Corrosion = any metal that is oxidizing (and other materials but i am focusing on the topic at hand). "Rust" is not a technical term but often used to describe corrosion on ferrous metals and the resultant red-ish colored appearance.

For corrosion to occur, four things are needed; an anode, a cathode, a conductor (could be a single piece of metal due to impurities, or two pieces of the same of different material fastened together) and an electrolyte (commonly water in the automotive world) but is anything with dissolved oxygen content and will allow electrons to flow. This is why deeply sunken ships corrode slowly (along with low temps) there is generally less dissolved oxygen the deeper the water is.

There must be exposed metal on the inside portion of the hood and condensation is allowing corrosion to occur even on cars not exposed to weather (i.e: the member with the 4 mile 09)

the bottom line is if the f150 is using the same manufacturing process as the mustang hood, it is highly likely to incur the same result.

I have an 08 bullitt with 52k miles and noticed bubbles when cleaning the bottom of the hood this past summer

I am a retired (24 years) USAF aircraft structural maintainer

 

Not to change the subject, but you've been a member since 2006 and this is your first post? Wow! You've done some serious lurking!!!