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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Focus / August 2004Help needed please - Ford Focus problem
Hi all I am in the need of some advice of what to do next. Let me fill you in on my problem: I had a ford focus which was involved in an accident, the person who caused the damage was never found, hence claimed from my insurance. Took the car to a FORD accident repair centre for repair. You would have thought that a Ford Garage would be able to do the job properly - well they resprayed my car a total of 15 times. Problem been that paint would fall off the car after each respray (longest time it lasted was 48hrs), workmanship was very poor and rust started to develop in the wheel arch and boot where they had been working on the car. Anyway finally got the car replaced with a new Ford Focus (garage said they did me a great deal with taking the car they bodged as pert exch.!!). Got the new car and there was a hole in the drivers seat, paint chip on the rear drivers side door and some trim loose. Anyway garage corrected these and now the car has developed a leak in the passenger footwell. Yep it appears it is the pollen filter problem. Anyway car went back back they were supposed to have fixed the problem. Rained the next day following their fix and water leaking again. They have had the car back (2nd time) and have informed me that the problem is now sorted as they have water tested the car. So I collect the car - drive it home and guess what - area in the footwell around where looks like is the foot heater vent is soddened - wet through. What can anybody tell me can I do. I have written to watch dog, talked to FORD customer services (as if they care) and now I am at as loose end. Before I go back to the garage in a blazing rage and totally loosing it with Staff has anyone got any advice they could give me. The car cost me alot of money and I cannot afford to trade again - plus this car is only 2 months old. I have a photo record of all the problems both from my old car and the new car. Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks in Advance Nick > Hi all > [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > > Nick Have you in the past used wax that contains silicone ? That's tough stuff to get rid of and causes all sorts of wacky problems with finishes. Are you usually this hard to please ?? Bill Response to berkshire bill No I am not hard to please - all I want is a car that is free from problems. Response to Dave Gower: The rust around the wing mirror was seperate issue with the car. All the problems arose from the repair to the damage to the rear wing of my old car - and NO I do not exaggeratre - what is the point in doing that! I fight for what I thiink is right until otherwise proven differently with facts. Regards Nick > > Hi all > > [quoted text clipped - 55 lines] > > Bill >NO I do not exaggeratre Nor do you use a spell checker. But like I said, if the paint has literally fallen off 15 times you have the makings of a TV documentary, plus a scientific investigation. I'm not an expert on paint, but even once would be exceptional from a paint shop that was at all competent. Twice would be almost inexplicable. Any more and I'd be consulting an exorcist. > >NO I do not exaggeratre > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > exceptional from a paint shop that was at all competent. Twice would be > almost inexplicable. Any more and I'd be consulting an exorcist. Just had to say that I had a friend once who's car suffered the same problem. It turned out that the car had an electrical fault and caused the 'corosion'. That was an old Morris Minor though. The paint crumbeld and crackled as it almost 'jumped' off the bodywork. Eos. Yes, I knwo....the spellchecker! ;O) 'Never use 'em. > It turned out that the car had an electrical fault and caused the > 'corosion'. > That was an old Morris Minor though. The paint crumbeld and crackled as it > almost 'jumped' off the bodywork. Hmmm... just a hunch - didn't these cars have positive ground? If I recall, it was just these types of problems that made the industry standardize on negative ground, I believe around 1950. Cheers > > It turned out that the car had an electrical fault and caused the > > 'corosion'. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Cheers Spot on! I couldn't remember, but after you mentioned it, it came back to me! That was indeed the problem....'positive ground. Could it be the same problem (on the Focus) then?! Hmm. Eos. >That was indeed the problem....'positive ground. > Could it be the same problem (on the Focus) then?! Nope. The Focus is negative ground, like every other car in the world for decades now. There's only two things that I know of that can make paint refuse to stick. One is failure to clean the surface before painting, and the second is using incompatible paints on different coats. It takes a real idiot to do a job that doesn't stick. Like I said, I've done some auto painting. It didn't look professional, but it stayed on for at least the couple of years I wanted to keep the car. And I'm certainly no pro. Apparently some early European Focuses had poor paint, but my 2000 Canadian model has spectacular paint. It still looks new, and that's after four Ontario winters. Cheers. > Have you in the past used wax that contains silicone ? That's tough stuff > to get rid of and causes all sorts of wacky problems with finishes. Are you > usually this hard to please ?? I doubt the silicone would penetrate through the finish, and if it did, then why didn't the original factory paint not flake off on the first car BEFORE the accident? I don't know about you, but if I had been handed back a car with a rusting, paint flaking repair job, and then had it "exchanged" for a newer leaking, paint-flaking car, I wouldn't be a happy camper either. The OP doesn't say it outright, but the fact he says he "can't afford to trade again" means that rather than working with him to either fix the car right or give him a replacement outright, the dealer did a trade-in. That means they probably rolled his old loan contract into his new one, which may have been upside-down at the time (negative equity because the car depreciated faster than the loan balance went down). And instead of doing him a "favor," they ended up getting a fat commission, putting the OP further into debt with a new loan that carried the balance of the old agreement PLUS the debt on the new car, AND killed two birds with one stone by disposing of the old car they weren't competent enough to fix AND selling him a replacement car they may have known was shoddy and couldn't otherwise get off their lot. Frankly, I'd be hopping mad. Not too much can be done once the contracts are signed about the loan. But, I'd invoke the lemon law if I were in his shoes . Give them the opportunity to fix the paint problem on the new car... if they can't in a reasonable number of tries, it's time for another replacement, and this time WITHOUT redoing the loan. > > Have you in the past used wax that contains silicone ? That's tough stuff > > to get rid of and causes all sorts of wacky problems with finishes. Are you [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > then why didn't the original factory paint not flake off on the first > car BEFORE the accident? The silicone usually won't penetrate the paint, but it does complicate any refinishing. The best of cleaners and prep chemicals leave traces of silicone behind which can be trapped between your old finish, primer, binder and new top coat. If you are lucky enough to see fisheye in the finish before it go's back to the customer you can save face, but other times you never know what will happen to the finish. I worked for a dealer that sold "Silicone Protectant" as an add on, problem was we lost a fortune in labor and materials every time a car came in for body work! Bill <...they resprayed my car a total of 15 times. Problem been that paint would fall off the car > after each respray (longest time it lasted was 48hrs), workmanship was very > poor and rust started to develop in the wheel arch and boot where they had > been working on the car. I have been involved with cars for 4 1/2 decades and have never heard of such a thing. If you can prove this you have an episode for a TV documentary show. You say you have photographic evidence - can you prove each and every 15 instances of paint coming off? I've done home paint jobs on cars a number of times and have never had paint come off within 48 hours, or even 48 weeks. And I'm hardly a pro. Another strange thing is that a couple of weeks ago you replied to a post on this newsgroup about "slight rust around the mirror". All you said was you had the same thing. You didn't mention anything about paint falling off 15 times. Could you be exaggerating just a bit? I think u have grounds under Sale of goods Act to reject the car , and ask for a full refund. failing that , why not write to Auto Express car magazine and ask them to investigate. Howie. > Hi all > [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > > Nick > Hi all > > I am in the need of some advice of what to do next. Let me fill you in > on my problem: Your warantee is with Ford, not your dealer. Go to another Ford dealership and get them to take a look. I've found Ford CRC friendly and helpful on the one occasion I have had to ring them. Don't get angry - explain what has happened clearly to the operator and ask for a case reference number. Give this number to the dealer you take the car to and ask them to report back to CRC. Getting cross with your dealer won't get the car fixed - get even - go to a different dealer, have them report back what WAS wrong and then ring CRC with your case reference and complain about the dealership you bought from. HTH Alex Hi All Thanks for all the comments. Just to update you on what has happened: Ford dealer is replacing the plastic mould to the windscreen, replacing the pollen filter housing, replacing the pollen filter and then will see if there still is a problem. If the car leaks following this at anytime the dealer has agreed to replace the car like for like. Ford Customer Service stated that they were unable to help / get involved unless the dealer contacted them. Reasonable solution I think. Regards Nick > Hi all > [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > > Nick > Hi All > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Nick At least you are making progress. Sometimes these things have to go to the extremes. (elephants and tigers I can tolerate, mosquitoes bother me). Happy modeming, Bill |
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