Need Advice with Massive Paint Gouging.

[Tyr_XXI]

At 4500 miles, I have never experienced a vehicle being so easily damaged before. I previously owned a 2021 Bronco, which had one or two rock chips on the hood. But within two months of one another I have gotten the absolute worst rock gouging I have ever seen in my life.

The smaller, being the first and on the roof I recieved on the interstate. I was quoted $2500 to repair.

The larger, being new to last night and I have no clue where it could have come from. But it is on the hood, my guess it will be around the same cost.

But this prompted me to do more research on whether this is even normal for paint, because I have never experienced this in over 10 years of driving regardless of make or model of vehicles. But i also have read that there may be some issues with paint on newer fords as well.

So my questions being, is this normal? Or the cost to repair seem too much even? Or even, should I be reaching out to my dealership about this?

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[Idle0024]

I have experienced the same as you. Mind you, I try to keep my distance from people ahead of me, avoid highways and take care of the car, yet within 400 miles of ownership (bought brand new) the car had 2 rock chips on the front section of the hood. I mentioned it here but was told I was just not taking care of the car or didn’t inspect it upon delivery (which I did). To me, the paint layers are very thin hence why we see this. My wife has a 22 Rav 4 that goes through hell and barely has any rock chips on it.

 

[Tyr_XXI]

I have experienced the same as you. Mind you, I try to keep my distance from people ahead of me, avoid highways and take care of the car, yet within 400 miles of ownership (bought brand new) the car had 2 rock chips on the front section of the hood. I mentioned it here but was told I was just not taking care of the car or didn’t inspect it upon delivery (which I did). To me, the paint layers are very thin hence why we see this. My wife has a 22 Rav 4 that goes through hell and barely has any rock chips on it.

I've read quite a bit about the '24 not having the best paint. And at this point I'm more than positive this abnormal, but I'll be curious to see what people say.

After showing my Dad, who has worked on cars for 35 years with 25 of those being specialized in body work, he immediately said either the metal was too thin or the paint was.

 

[Gregs24]

Paint on my 2024.5 is fabulous

 

[RLE55]

There's a lot more crap out on the roads n highways with more vehicles on the roads. Road crews do the best they can, but can't get it all before it gets you. It's frustrating as hell , but hopefully you have a good auto body shop you trust.

 

[Bikeman315]

It reminds me of the old saying, “sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windshield. Seems like you were the bug, twice.

 

[roadpilot]

There are some days that I swear I'm going to stop even logging on to these forums.

Driving cars at speed on roads full of other cars, trucks, and semis means all kinds of roadway debris are going to be thrown up in the air and back at your vehicle. This happens with EVERY vehicle. Doesn't matter what an 'expert' relative the body shop guy, the neighbor down the street who owns the detail shop, or Phill who happened to stay at a Holiday Inn Express has to say about it. Life happens. Chit happens.

Reach out to the dealership? How in the world do they bear any responsibility?

Yes, it's expensive to fix roadway debris damage to your vehicle, as this is 2025, not 1993.

Yes, it's normal. It happens. I've got about 4,500 miles on my Dark Horse and a big gouge in the front fascia due to something that hit it - no, I have no idea what, but it's not because of "thin paint" or "thin metal".

 

[Deleted member 63363]

RoadPilot, I totally get your frustration. I agree completely with all your statements. I live in Arizona, the rock, gravel and stone capital of the USA! People come from all over the country to view our beautiful rocks. Over time they get ground down to smaller rocks and gravel. That gets blown, scattered and tossed onto our cars driving at high speed. I had a rock ding on the hood of my new '24 GT just days after taking delivery! In case anybody has tried, touch-up paint for these metallic paint colors does not work. It actually makes the ding look worse. Why? It doesn't match the 5-layer paint process done at Ford. So, the very first thing I did was prep the paint for waxing, then give the whole car a good deep wax coating. The hood is alloy, not steel. No rust worry there. There are lots of plastic panels that are painted. No worry there. The other dings I've gotten are filled in with new local wax application. Really, you can't see any of these dings unless I take you there and show you. So, I just forget it. I've gotten used to looking at the paint with blurry eyes. It comes with the territory.

 

[89Trooper]

There are some days that I swear I'm going to stop even logging on to these forums.

Same. For many topics.

 

[DevilDog]

4,000 miles on mine and not one chip.

 

[Bikeman315]

4,000 miles on mine and not one chip.

Well you certainly just jinked yourself!

 

[OldMerc]

I had PPF applied with only 300 miles on the car. It's saved previous cars from damage. I think at least the front should be done.

 

[Grabber1]

I had the clear bra put on right away. No chips here.

 

[Neggytive]

The hood is easy to do, unfortunately I am not where I can get onto my estimating software and see the paint times and cost of materials

where that is a heavy metallic and a silver tone getting it to match is going to be pure hell.

The best you can hope for is a spot repair of probably not more than a few inches around the scratch, they will paint that area then blend the color out into the hood. Then they will do a complete clear coat over the panel.

The roof.... well that one sucks because there are no "break points". Look at say an olderRav4
2 rubber strips running down the roof sides but the quarter panels are metal finished to the roof, so where do you stop painting. Now look at a new one and you'll see a black plastic so that is where they can bring the clear coat to without having to paint both quarter panels.

On the mustang hard tops there are no break points, so the shop has 2 choices, blend the paint and blend the clear, or clear coat the roof and both unisides.

the roof? I'd do touch up paint and call it a day

The Hood? for the moment some touch up paint then in a year or so after you get more chips on it refinish the hood.

When I was an Insurance Appraiser, I'd get people running to make a claim on every chip in their bumper cover on a new car. I'd write the claim and tell them take the money, put it away, in 2 years when you have lots of chips have it fixed then. This was something I told to people that had leased cars, wait til you are about to turn it in, get all the damage fixed, and they won't ding you on the turn in for damage.

 

[OzzieRoss]

We had full PPF installed on our Dark Horse for exactly this reason. Expensive and the future will learn whether it adequately protects the paintwork. So far so good, but driving carefully (not close behind trucks etc) and only 2100 km on the clock (in Australia!)

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