Were our cars waxed at the factory?

[MERCMAN]

I am just curious. With all the paint problems on the early builds(and later) with the response from Ford being "acid rain, not our fault". I wonder if they protect the paint from the elements at the factory with wax or some other compound?

All you UAW assembly workers, please chime in. I have a reason for needing to know this and will post it later in this thread once I have received an answer :)

[Zack]

You meathead, you cant wax fresh paint.

[sailsmen]

cars coming in from overseas are coated w/ a spray on protective coating.

[chader]

Ya Fords Has The Worst Paint Ever..who Cares If It Was Waxed.

[Haggis]

Wax on, wax off.

[Marauder2005]

Fresh paint is good for a month. They might throw something on it

at the dealer before you buy it, but thats it.

[MERCMAN]

Fresh paint is good for a month. They might throw something on it

at the dealer before you buy it, but thats it.


ok, finally an answer!! Anyone who has been to the STAP and watched a car being built who can CONFIRM that the cars come out of the factory with just a paint-job before being shipped???

[Bluerauder]

ok, finally an answer!! Anyone who has been to the STAP and watched a car being built who can CONFIRM that the cars come out of the factory with just a paint-job before being shipped???

Suggest sending a PM note to STAPrap. I believe he still pops in here on occasion.

[High-C]

My car didn't get a waxing until the second week of December... It had never been rained on until November... What types/brands do you guys use? I was always a Xymol fan but I am curious to hear your thoughts...

[TheDude]

My car didn't get a waxing until the second week of December... It had never been rained on until November... What types/brands do you guys use? I was always a Xymol fan but I am curious to hear your thoughts...

Zaino! Look for it online. It is not a wax however.

[BAD MERC]

Easy now little lady!! I seem to remember about a million Rams and Neons with the paint flying off in sheets. I think Chrysler was using Pam for primer in the middle 90's.
Ya Fords Has The Worst Paint Ever..who Cares If It Was Waxed.

[High-C]

Easy now little lady!! I seem to remember about a million Rams and Neons with the paint flying off in sheets. I think Chrysler was using Pam for primer in the middle 90's.

How about the mid 80's Oldsmobiles... Their roofs would almost rust right through...

[Master]

Fords in the late 80s did exactly the same thing. More Ford pickup trucks were running around with grey polkadots than any other colour.

[Master]

Now: The two rust holes emerging on the roof Ford says that they can't fix till they rust through. How silly is that??? Why would anyone want to have to repair a hole when they could just fix a rust spot? What kind of warranty is that?

[Rider90]

I doubt it.

Doesn't seem cost effective to add protection to a fresh clear coat, that should last through year round conditions for quite awhile.

[Joe Walsh]

Fords in the late 80s did exactly the same thing. More Ford pickup trucks were running around with grey polkadots than any other colour.

YEP!

My '84 Mustang WAS silver, then it quickly became a primer grey!
I don't think that Ford clearcoated Silver back then.:(

FORD had a 'quiet' recall on the medium Blue metallic Mustangs.
My brother's '88? Blue Mustang was loosing paint in BIG circles and in some places in sheets!
He *****ed and *****ed and *****ed and finally the Ford Area Service Supervisor authorized a complete re-paint of his Mustang.
The paint shop technician told my brother that they had done lots of re-paints on the Medium Metallic Blue color.

As far as I know NO manufacturer waxes new vehicles prior to delivery to the dealers.

[Merc-O-matic]

My car didn't get a waxing until the second week of December... It had never been rained on until November... What types/brands do you guys use? I was always a Xymol fan but I am curious to hear your thoughts...

I have used Zymol...but I like NXT better.

Gotta Love It!

[MERCMAN]

Many of us have problems with less than satisfactory paint jobs.White dots appear, bubbles, blisters etc. Ford's answer is acid rain. Look at this picture.

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/9/7/6/mmshipping.jpg

These are MM's waiting to be shipped out of STAP. Notice they have been rained on.

Now Google a search on acid rain in Ontario, Canada. Why should we have to pay for paint repair when the acid rain in that area is notorious? I know that the silvers and DTR's don't seem to be plagued with the paint issues we owners of the blacks have. It might be due to the paint, it might be due to the acid rain in Canada before we ever took ownership of our vehicles, or a combination of both.

My point is just this, I have used a claybar, kept my car garaged in inclement weather, waxed it at least twice a month, and have never had it in snow. I can only remember having it out in the rain 3 or 4 times. If the explanation from Ford is valid, I feel the acid rain damage was already there when I purchased the car and didn't cause the paint defects until after the 12 month/12K paint warranty had expired.

BTW I purchased my '03 in April of '03, the picture above was taken the latter part of June '02. I have 22k on the od. I have small white dots on the horizontal surfaces,,,hood, roof, and trunk.

[Bigdogjim]

Issue now is for '03 owners is the cars are 4 1/2 years old if build in say June 0f 02. Build later then take off some time. Too long now for bad paint issues.

[Agent M79]

No... the factory didn't wax the MM... Elana did.

[MERCMAN]

No... the factory didn't wax the MM... Elana did.

No she waxed us!!

[vegasmarauder]

Hey! That's my car in that picture...It's the 7th one from the end of the middle row. The black one.....I'm sure that's it!!!

Cool pic..Anymore like it?

[Paul T. Casey]

I seriously doubt that Ford waxed any cars off the line. As far as the acid rain, I think that's kind of a natural event.(Ok, it's cause by man, but ...) Insurance companies won't cover it. Way too late for any kind of claim.

[Mike]

Hey MERCMAN.....nice photo!!!! Did they put something over the chrome exhaust tips to protect them, they look a bit rusty?

[Canadasvt]

I work at Oakville Assembly Complex where the Edge/MKX is built. In all the years I've worked in Oakville, including the Ontario Truck Plant where the Lightning was assembled, no vehicle was ever waxed. That would hold up production.
Now my co-worker ordered a 07 F150 from Dearborn Assembly and he got our plant manager to get Dearborns pm to build it as a show unit. That truck was wet sanded, polished and waxed to perfection. Then the whole thing was basically covered in wrap. The dealership wanted to try and hold onto it for their showroom because they had never received a vehicle as mint and polished as this. I actually saw it in the parking lot today, covered in salt like my MM. Oh well.:( Todays paint can be waxed by the time it rolls off the assembly line.

[Canadasvt]

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/files/9/7/6/mmshipping.jpg


That looks like the original 100 that cruised down HWY 401. An engineer at work bought one of them and still has less than 4000kms.

[Bluerauder]

Hey! That's my car in that picture...It's the 7th one from the end of the middle row. The black one.....I'm sure that's it!!!

Mine's not there .... they must have kept all the Blue MMs inside out of the rain. ;)

[duhtroll]

Dealer told me they put a coat of wax on every car they sell 'cause the factory didn't.

mine sat inside from delivery in Feb 03 until I picked her up in May with 24 miles on her. The hood paint sucks but the rest is pretty passable.

[STLR FN]

We do not wax them here at Mich Truck.

[ahess77]

I work at Oakville Assembly Complex where the Edge/MKX is built. In all the years I've worked in Oakville, including the Ontario Truck Plant where the Lightning was assembled, no vehicle was ever waxed. That would hold up production.

I agree, I've been to Ford's Wixom, Wayne, Michigan Truck, Kansas City, Oakville, Rouge, Flat Rock (also Mazda), Chrysler's Sterling Heights, Toyota's Georgetown, GM's Flint, Spring Hill, Fort Wayne, and Hamtramic plants and no OEM is going to wax a vehicle as part of a production process.

Considering they're trying to eliminate pennies out of the vehicle cost, they're not going to spend $50+ to wax a car. If your car was waxed when you got it new, the dealer did it.

Just at a note, there are better clear-coat chemistries that have more resistance to acid rain, but they're more expensive and therefore aren't used in production. Ford, or any other OEM, picks what goes into your car based on what they think will sell to the average customer. That's it. They're not painting your car to last 100 years because they don't expect the average customer to keep the car for 100 years. They allow some runs and drips and thin spots because most customers don't care. The OEMs are building cars to make a profit. Unfortunately, most of us are more discriminating customers than average, but we can't yet afford the Ferrari or Lamborghini. Just my $0.02

[joemama]

I use Black Magic Wet Shine liquid wax. Consumer reports rated it number one, although they did not evaluate Zaino...

[Marauder2005]

YEP!

My '84 Mustang WAS silver, then it quickly became a primer grey!
I don't think that Ford clearcoated Silver back then.:(

FORD had a 'quiet' recall on the medium Blue metallic Mustangs.
My brother's '88? Blue Mustang was loosing paint in BIG circles and in some places in sheets!
He *****ed and *****ed and *****ed and finally the Ford Area Service Supervisor authorized a complete re-paint of his Mustang.
The paint shop technician told my brother that they had done lots of re-paints on the Medium Metallic Blue color.

As far as I know NO manufacturer waxes new vehicles prior to delivery to the dealers.

I remember reading somwhere that Ford had clear coat as an OPTION
in 1991? then standard in 1995. Its somthing like that. So your '88
was not clear-coated IMO.

[sailsmen]

Ford had a prob in the mid 80's w/ defective primer provided by a well known paint mfg.

One of our local dealers bought a new paint booth in order to handle all the work.