Rock guard missing on half the vehicle !!!

[atreehandle]

Hello,
While attaching my new mud flaps, I was cleaning the area where the 3m protection sticker was to be placed. I noticed on the passenger side that there were bumps in that area and I thought it was tar clumps. Cleaned as best I could and applied the 3M sticker.

It wasn't until I attached the mud flaps to the Drivers side ( same cleaning procedure) that I figured out that those bumps were actually a Rock Guard.

The problem became apparent when feeling along, the drivers side under panels and comparing it to the Passenger side. The drivers side was completely void of having the Rock Guard bumps.

I brought the vehicle to a professional body shop for their opinion. They said they have never seen this happen with a new vehicle with factory paint. Afterward, I took it to the dealership and they were at the same opinion.

The dealership said they will take care of it. But it sounds like it will be a huge undertaking as they have to sand down and paint the entire side of the vehicle in order to match the paint.

Anyone else find this issue with their 2021 F-150? STX version 2.7L

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[Pedaldude]

Are you talking about the texturized rocker panel paint or the little vestigial mud flaps in front of the rear wheels?

A couple pictures might clear everything up.

 

[dolsen]

Do you have running boards? Back when we launched the 2018 exp/nav we set up all the robotics to spray on the rock chip guard but before production started we mothballed the equipment because we’ll over 95% of the vehicles were getting factory installed running boards and that does a better job of protecting against rock chips than the rock guard does. If you have running boards I wouldn’t break the factory paint. For something so trivial

 

[Blue]

I would pass on any paint work to correct that minor problem, we all know how bad paint matches can be.

 

[atreehandle]

Are you talking about the texturized rocker panel paint or the little vestigial mud flaps in front of the rear wheels?

A couple pictures might clear everything up.

Texturized rocker panel paint

 

[atreehandle]

Do you have running boards? Back when we launched the 2018 exp/nav we set up all the robotics to spray on the rock chip guard but before production started we mothballed the equipment because we’ll over 95% of the vehicles were getting factory installed running boards and that does a better job of protecting against rock chips than the rock guard does. If you have running boards I wouldn’t break the factory paint. For something so trivial

I do have running boards. The question is why would they paint only one side and not the other? I am on the fence about them breaking the factory paint as well.

There is another issue that I am having with the paint as well. See the picture. This stain , will not go away after multiple attempts to wash it off. I had that autobody place look at it and they thought it was some volitals in the paint leeching out. This is on the door panel and side panel of the box.

To me it seems like Ford had a bad paint day. With all these compounded it leads me to believe there may be something long term that may be problematic with the paint durability.

Thoughts?

 

[dolsen]

I do have running boards. The question is why would they paint only one side and not the other? I am on the fence about them breaking the factory paint as well.

There is another issue that I am having with the paint as well. See the picture. This stain , will not go away after multiple attempts to wash it off. I had that autobody place look at it and they thought it was some volitals in the paint leeching out. This is on the door panel and side panel of the box.

To me it seems like Ford had a bad paint day. With all these compounded it leads me to believe there may be something long term that may be problematic with the paint durability.

Thoughts?

Oh no, don’t confuse what I’m saying, it’s absolutely a misbuild, BUT I’m simply saying it’s not worth breaking the factory paint to have it done on the other side. You won’t get any benefit from it since you have running boards.

As far as the other thing, it may be able to be wet sanded and buffed out. It’s hard to tell from the pic exactly what it is, maybe a basecoat sag? Could be excess solvent that made the paint run but didn’t actually clear it all the way off. If it’s in the base coat, it’ll have to be repainted. If it’s in the clear it may be fixable without breaking the paint.

 

[Pedaldude]

One possibility is that the truck was damaged in transit.

Dealerships and transporters have absolutely no problem with covering their tracks when it comes to damage on their end and I have seen it first hand many times!

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