Fiesta Mk7 Paintwork

[RickyBobby]

Have just dropped my car into the ford body shop this morning to get the wheel arches resprayed due to flaking (like some others on here) and i mentioned to the manager about checking the paint quality/depth on the car because it seems to be scratching really easily. He said that it was a common thing with the ocean blue and black colours that they seem to show scratches mere than any other colours! has anyone else noticed this or is it just my car?

example is when i was hovering the boot the plastic pipe brushed against the lip of the bumper and scratched it lightly. surely the paint should stand up to more punishment than a brush from a plastic pipe! Never had any problems from old fiesta (1996) and i'm obviously looking after this one way more!

[hillmangimp]

Ford paint jobs can be dodgy in my opinion. I was surprised at the quality when I bought a mark 2 focus, wasn't that great and there is also evidence of flakiness etc. Your car is new so should have a good qulaity paint job. However someone recently posted on the Ford KA forum about rust proofing their car and it was highlighted how primer was not sprayed in certain locations at the factory. Having come to Ford from another manufacturer it appears they make good drivers cars at the cost of quality in certain areas. In certain areas my Renault Clio outscores my ford for build quality!

[RickyBobby]

Will have to have a look at the clio, my brother got a 59 plate just after i got mine. such a shame that ford can be let down so much by niggles like this. i suppose they can get away with it when most owners just buy it as a run-around and don't really care, its just frustrating when you do everything you can to look after it and you can't avoid marks etc.

[roversok]

When ford first brought out the Escort XR3i my father bought one in black, within 2 months the paint looked a right mess so he tried T-Cut on a panel to find the paint came straight off and he was down to primer / metal, Took it back to supplying Ford dealer, they denied responsibility told him he had invalidated any warranty due to applying T Cut, unknown to local Ford dealer my Father was a independent consulting engineer to the motor trade and had friends / contacts in the right places, after a few tests it was found the paint applied to the car was only 20% of the required thickness in areas, 2 weeks later my Father received a new XR3i from the dealer with additional trim levels flowers to my mother add a !Removed! licking apology in person from supplying Ford group director.

[hillmangimp]

Ricky, don't get me wrong I'm not saying buy a clio, I'm just saying that Renault who are believed to be a manufacturer of poor quality/unreliable cars are in my opinion better than Ford in certain areas with paint being one of them. This is because with my Focus paint has been a problem area and it appears that Ford do not pay attention to paint quality as much as they should which can be evidenced by postings in forums for a range of their vehicles. I agree with you in that its niggles like these that can be frustrating and shouldn't relly happen in the first place.

[thesilverfox]

Ford have been using more eco-friendly paint since the MKII Focus, as I too have noticed how easily the paint can damage.

It would apparently be down to the pressure to use less oil-based paint that is behind it, but should be more prevalent to bumpers and non-metal trim from what I understood.

However, it's still something Ford are meant to be addressing. The MKII Focus RS had HUGE colour matching issues. When I had a look at one and whatnot, the dealer asked me what I thought. I said:

"I think it needs a new paint job. None of the panels match."

He agreed and said it was because of different luminosity levels, and due to the materials used (metal vs plastic) and that less paint is used.

Also, I recall my father mentioning back in the day that staff-built Fords were more often than not given an extra layer of paint at the request of the person buying. Whether or not that's true, I don't know; but I've heard many stories about the antics at Ford factories (a bag of pennies hanging from the rear sub-frame to create lots of noise being one ... that customer got so annoyed at this mysterious noise, that it was sent back to Ford).

[RickyBobby]

I'm glad i'm not alone then but surprised at some of the things above. Shame I don't have any connections in the business :( I have asked the manager to check the depth of the paint but may also get an independent second opinion. Does anyone know what the standard depth of paint coverage should be? Also, would a thorough clean & wax etc help to protect the paint?

It does seem to be the case that the plastics, i.e. mirrors/bumper seem to scratch more easily than the metal work so kinda matches what you're saying silverfox.

Hillmangimp, i just meant that i would see if his car is showing the same kinds or wear on the paintwork that mine is to compare.

[hillmangimp]

'Hillmangimp, i just meant that i would see if his car is showing the same kinds or wear on the paintwork that mine is to compare'

Sorry misunderstood, it would be a good idea to compare similar age cars for paint defects etc.

[Nico.]

mines a black one and is coated in tiny little scratches everywhere is really annoying!

[RickyBobby]

Just been to pick it up. Said that the paintwork is fine, nothing out of the ordinary. If it gets worse then bring it back but it is likely that any warranty claim would be rejected as it is now. Mentioned that the Ford diamond brite thing might help but from what i have herd on here i think i will be avoiding that and hoping that the bulk of the marks will polish out.

[poshpawsfiesta]

i have a 2006 fiesta its black and from the day brought it i was dissapointed with the paint finnish it is truely awfull and 4 years on omg it now looks like a 15 year old banger i will post sum pictures sum time if any 1 is interested , my dad had a avalon ford focus and the body work and the bumpers where a totally diffrent colour soo not acceptable for a 24k car , so wen we brought our mk7 fiesta a few weeks ago we looked at every colour and decided vision was the best , lol y we are on the subject has any1 seen the white it think its the worst the bumpers are cream the body is brilliant white , totally unaccpetable!!! in some areas fords are a real letdown to say the least !!

[poshpawsfiesta]

Just been to pick it up. Said that the paintwork is fine, nothing out of the ordinary. If it gets worse then bring it back but it is likely that any warranty claim would be rejected as it is now. Mentioned that the Ford diamond brite thing might help but from what i have herd on here i think i will be avoiding that and hoping that the bulk of the marks will polish out.

the diamond brite makes NO diffrence trust me u will just be wasting your money , if i were u i would just go down Halfords and buy auto glym Ultra Deep Shine, and that makes hardly any diffrence !!

[RickyBobby]

the diamond brite makes NO diffrence trust me u will just be wasting your money , if i were u i would just go down halfords and buy auto glym Ultra Deep Shine, and that makes hardly any diffrence !!

Thought so. Will have a look for the auto glym stuff, need to check out the detailing thread anyway!