Our 2000 Accord Special Edition has paint cracks on the hood.  The cracks
look like little "crows feet".  The paint color is dark green.  The car only
has 50000 miles on it.  When I took the car to be checked out by the Honda
dealer they were baffled.  The cracking doesn't appear on any other part of
the car.  The service manager performed a test using what looked like a tire
pressure gauge with a magnet on the end of it.  When he did the test on all
the other parts of the car surface the gauge read between 4 and 6.  When he
performed the test on the hood, the gauge read between 12 and 14.  He said
that it appeared that the car had been painted improperly.  He thought that
the hood may have not had the proper amount of clear coat.  I told him that
I had not had any repairs whatsoever to the hood.   I have only ever taken
this car to this dealer since we bought car from them in 2000.  The dealer
performed a check to see if the car had any history of repairs or damage
prior to arriving at the dealership.  They found nothing.  The dealership
says that American Honda refuses to pay for any repairs (dealer estimate of
$371.00).  Has anyone else had a problem with paint cracking in a localized
auto body part (hood, fender, roof, trunk, etc.)?

Steve in Fort Worth.