Paint issues on Ford Vehicles

[Pigpen]

I traded in a 2017 Ford Escape when I bought my Bronco Sport. It only had 16,000 miles, and was always washed in a brushless car wash. One of the reasons that I traded a low mileage car with no other issues was the paint problem. I came out of a Cracker Barrel restaurant one Sunday morning and noticed that a two inch strip of paint was completely gone around the top edge of the windshield. After Googling the problem, I found that it was happening to hundreds of 2017 Escape owners, and also other Ford vehicles. Ford blames the problem on the owner. Car washes, acts of God, etc. They refuse to repaint these vehicles. There are many supposed reasons for the paint detachment. Too thin paint at the factory was one. A general consensus is that the newer, eco friendly paint needs to cure for a long time before the first wash. Some owners that only hand wash report no issues. What I gathered from the other owners is that you shouldn’t wash your new Ford for as long as you can stand it. Months, maybe. These brushless car washes that I always thought were best for my car, ( no brush marks, swirls, etc) may not be the best for new cars with uncured paint. One issue is the high pressure water jets. Another issue is that these brushless car washes recycle the water used to wash and rinse. It gets some kind of filtering, but if the car wash is not serviced regularly, it may be sandblasting your paint job with fine particles of grit. I know we all love our new Bronco Sports, so I’m just tossing this out there for informative purposes. What I took away from my reading is 1: Don’t wash your Bronco for a couple of months, and 2: Handwashing is best.
Here’s some of what I found. Enough to scare you into Hand washing.
https://www.vehiclehistory.com/questions/does-the-2017-ford-escape-have-paint-problems-60242
Bear in mind that this paint problem is on most Ford vehicles, not just the Escape. Do your own research, judge for yourself.

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[Adam CW]

I traded in a 2017 Ford Escape when I bought my Bronco Sport. It only had 16,000 miles, and was always washed in a brushless car wash. One of the reasons that I traded a low mileage car with no other issues was the paint problem. I came out of a Cracker Barrel restaurant one Sunday morning and noticed that a two inch strip of paint was completely gone around the top edge of the windshield. After Googling the problem, I found that it was happening to hundreds of 2017 Escape owners, and also other Ford vehicles. Ford blames the problem on the owner. Car washes, acts of God, etc. They refuse to repaint these vehicles. There are many supposed reasons for the paint detachment. Too thin paint at the factory was one. A general consensus is that the newer, eco friendly paint needs to cure for a long time before the first wash. Some owners that only hand wash report no issues. What I gathered from the other owners is that you shouldn’t wash your new Ford for as long as you can stand it. Months, maybe. These brushless car washes that I always thought were best for my car, ( no brush marks, swirls, etc) may not be the best for new cars with uncured paint. One issue is the high pressure water jets. Another issue is that these brushless car washes recycle the water used to wash and rinse. It gets some kind of filtering, but if the car wash is not serviced regularly, it may be sandblasting your paint job with fine particles of grit. I know we all love our new Bronco Sports, so I’m just tossing this out there for informative purposes. What I took away from my reading is 1: Don’t wash your Bronco for a couple of months, and 2: Handwashing is best.
Here’s some of what I found. Enough to scare you into Hand washing.
https://www.vehiclehistory.com/questions/does-the-2017-ford-escape-have-paint-problems-60242
Bear in mind that this paint problem is on most Ford vehicles, not just the Escape. Do your own research, judge for yourself.

Our current vehicle is a white platinum 2019 Ford Escape Titanium. It’s been through three Wisconsin winters, hit by rocks and bugs and washed numerous times at touch-free car washes.

Zero paint issues. Still looks great and would probably look like-new if we professionally detailed it.

We had a ruby red 2016 Fusion before. Went through the same as the Escape and no paint issues.

Bad paint jobs happen to all manufacturers and it sucks big time.

 

[69cuda340s]

There have been paint issues with some sports reported on this forum. Around a year ago ppl complaining paint chipped and scratched far too easily and frequenttly. One person lemon lawed their sport from bad paint. But majority of sports paint has been good.

My sport 6,000 miles zero paint chips no paint issues on mine.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Also discussed on the Escape forum. A few have seen peeling with the blue on the A pillar.

 

[Flash]

My Bronco doesn't have paint issues at this time, but my 2000 Ford Ranger XLT does.

 

[Adam CW]

The last time I was at my dealership, which was about three weeks ago, they had a Bronco Sport in the showroom.

I carefully looked over the paint to see if I could find any of the problems some people reported earlier on. I even got my flashlight out to take a look in places where it’s difficult to see.

I could not find any problems whatsoever. It looked flawless from what I could tell.

 

[Tall Timbers]

Bear in mind that this paint problem is on most Ford vehicles, not just the Escape. Do your own research, judge for yourself.

I've owned a lot of Ford vehicles over the last couple of decades and haven't had a paint problem that you indicate is common. We sometimes hand wash, sometimes take it to the car wash. We don't have a brushless car wash in our town. On my Bronco Sport I washed it a day or two after receiving it and then applied a ceramic coating.

 

[Fossil]

Bear in mind that this paint problem is on most Ford vehicles, not just the Escape. Do your own research, judge for yourself.

I've bought 12 new Fords since 1970. None have had any factory paint issues so I'll judge your post as bull.

 

[cgparsons1983]

Do you park your vehicle outside? Something I never understood about Americans is how we have these huge garages and instead of putting the 2nd most valuable thing you own after your house inside the place where it's supposed to be, they fill the garage with boxes of junk and leave the car outside to fight the elements.

 

[Power Man]

My wife’s 2021 Bronco Sport is in Cactus Grey with 34,000 plus miles with zero paint issues.

 

[LastBronco]

There have been paint issues with some sports reported on this forum. Around a year ago ppl complaining paint chipped and scratched far too easily and frequenttly. One person lemon lawed their sport from bad paint. But majority of sports paint has been good.

My sport 6,000 miles zero paint chips no paint issues on mine.

Look very closely around the headlight assemblies…,you’ll probably find some there.

 

[RiotfunK]

The squared off corners on the plastic panels on mine. Around headlights. The roof panel, rear quarters, back panels all have over spray chips where the paint blistered at the pointed corners and have all chipped off. I’m already waiting on a roof panel replacement and then it goes into body shop since the panels aren’t painted prior to shipping. The roof panel on mine is also separating from the vehicle on the passenger side. I’d say there’s worse things to worry about than the poor paint jobs on these

 

[69cuda340s]

Look very closely around the headlight assemblies…,you’ll probably find some there.

I looked around headlights before delivery saw one chip. Dealer had body shop touch it up before I bought it. No issues since

 

[Jill]

Our current vehicle is a white platinum 2019 Ford Escape Titanium. It’s been through three Wisconsin winters, hit by rocks and bugs and washed numerous times at touch-free car washes.

Zero paint issues. Still looks great and would probably look like-new if we professionally detailed it.

We had a ruby red 2016 Fusion before. Went through the same as the Escape and no paint issues.

Bad paint jobs happen to all manufacturers and it sucks big time.

I traded a 2015 Escape Titanium white platinum tri-coat metallic for my BL. It went through the touch-free car wash once per week and southern Ontario winters. It didn’t have so much as a tiny scratch on it. A friend bought it and it’s still scratch-free. A friend has the same paint on his 2019 Taurus with the same result. That paint is Ford tough!

 

[Jill]

My wife’s 2021 Bronco Sport is in Cactus Grey with 34,000 plus miles with zero paint issues.

My 21 Kodiak BL is good as new!

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