2004.5 paintwork

[dennmont]

I have read some of the threads about Dodge paintwork I was wondering if anyone could give me some details about it. It seems like some of you have many problems with the paint. I have a 1994 Dodge that the paint has held up well I think. The last dodge i had was a 2000 gas. I then went to a Ford 350 with a 7. 3 Pwrstrk. I had some problems with that truck so I sold it for a GMC with a Duramax, dont like it at all so I ordered a 2004. 5 Dodge3500 laramie 4x4 CTD600

 

[PJ]

Expect the paint to fail in the first 500 miles and dont look under the hood and expect to see much color. The mexicans dont paint under the hoods. My truck looks like it was sprayed with a can of KRYLON. About $2. 49 worth.

 

[XcumminsX]

LOL @ PBJohnson2... The paint isnt that horrible

 

[Moterhead]

The paint was great on my '03 hemi. Equally good on the '04 CTD. Of course, both were the ONLY color for a pickup, flame red! My fourth Red Ram!

 

[VStahl]

I have an atlantic blue without any paint issues. under hood and underneath well painted.

 

[klenger]

My paint seems to scratch with the slightest touch. I'm planning on putting a coat of ProtectAll on it to see if that helps. The box will get Line-X when I get some money to spare (yea, right). Oh well, it's a truck.

 

[rbattelle]

Every area of my truck not exposed when the doors are closed is unpainted bare primer. I am not exaggerating.

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

I'd have to ditto rbattelle's comments. Remarkably scimpy paint job



No complaints with the paint on my white 98 or my red 02.



Think the boys at dodge have it all figured out - we can wrap any POS around the Cummins and they will continue to sell. A little hyperbole perhaps, but at this rate if they lose the Cummins contract the sales will go from 1 million to zip, pronto (a little mexican lingo for the Satillo painters). Actually my main gripe is the thinner sheet metal. Can imagine what you folks who kept the box are doing - wrapping the truck in foam?

 

[NMansfield]

I have an 04. 5, just got a fresh paint job under warranty for brake dust from a rail car, the paint has more fish eyes than a country catfish pond! By the way its patriot blue metallic pearl coat... . definitly my last

 

[sag2]

NMansfield

Too bad you had it painted. ClayMagic and a bit of elbow grease would have taken the rail dust right off. Most body shops will just want to paint it because they make more money, and you end up with an inferior paint job in most cases.

 

[PJ]

Expect the paint to fail in the first 500 miles and dont look under the hood and expect to see much color. The mexicans dont paint under the hoods. My truck looks like it was sprayed with a can of KRYLON. About $2. 49 worth.

The above was my 04. My new truck is Atlantic blue and is wonderful. I think they started with a full can of Krylon. Only the stake pockets and a few out of the way spots are light. I also installed mud guards the min I got it home!

 

[rbattelle]

The good news is the primer coat seems to be pretty tough.



In hindsight, I probably should have bought a silver truck instead of patriot blue. Patriot blue attracts dirt like a glass of milk on a paper plate in a snowstorm attracts white. Plus scratches and surface imperfections show up like neon lights.



The interesting thing is a friend owns a 2003 PT Cruiser in patriot blue. EVERY PART of that vehicle is painted, and it seems to be thicker paint, too. So my theory is that every vehicle DC paints gets the exact same quantity of paint. They determine what that quantity is based on what it takes to coat their smallest vehicle. If it takes 4 gallons to coat a little PT Cruiser, then every vehicle they paint gets 4 gallons... including a LWB QC pickup truck. Hence, as I said before, every surface on my truck that cannot be seen when the doors are closed is completely UNPAINTED.



Traildog may be onto something with his theory that since they know it'll sell based on the Cummins name there's no reason to bother with the details.



I've coated quite a bit of my underside with flat black rustoleum and I touch up any frame/axle components that develop any rust spots as soon as I can.



-Ryan

 

[jsimpson]

My 94 had to be repainted. Red did not hold up well at all. So far (23k miles), my 03 paint is holding up fine except for peeling on the front valence between the bumper and grille.

 

[Kennywould]

The good news is the primer coat seems to be pretty tough.



You guy's are killin me, i don't know half the time if your kidding or not, have two silver ones, no problems so far, must of allotted 5 gal paint for mine, seems like everything has paint on it! Silver is the way to go, shows little

 

[rbattelle]

Oh, I wasn't kidding! I've got tons of surface area with only primer and no paint!



It seems like the paint jobs must've gotten better with the '04s-up because you don't hear a lot of complaints anymore. In that 1st year there were lots of complaints.



On edit: okay I exagerated (sp?) a little. The underside of my hood is painted. Other than that, my statements are accurate (for my truck). I never bothered to bring it up to the dealer, so it's not like I lose sleep over it. I wonder if I'll regret it someday?



Ryan

 

[Tony T.]

Colors

The last two trucks I've had including the CTD where white. To me white or silver is a lot easier to keep clean unless it's raining every other day, then that's for any color. I bought a new truck in 95 an it was Indigo Blue really liked the color, but not the up keep. I have a few stray cats in the neighborhood an they like to perch on the vehicles, that blue truck of mine really showed the surfaces scratches bad from those cats.



So the next one if there is another CTD,have'nt wore this one out yet at 24K miles :-laf will be another white,silver,or maybe if I can resist red. I really like the flame red color.



No issue's with the paint on present ride:





Tony

 

[wolfman00hd]

Watch the Plastic!

No complaints from my early '04 2500 until I took it in to get my freebie first oil chg. from the dealer and figured, what the heck, I'd get them to wash it while it was there.



Went to pick it up and did a walkaround on it and bot back to the front. The plastic piece above the bumper below the grill had 1" size pieces of paint gone ALL over it. And where it was gone, it was peeling as well. The dealer tried to tell me it was from the lovebugs being on there for too long. After some inspection, the exposed plastic was as smooth as a baby's butt! No scuff means no paint adhesion. They repainted under warranty no questions but I was a little disappointed to say the least. Then AFTER the repaint, the cat w/dirty paws jumped down on it so now the cat scratches are there. LOL



Oh well, bygones.

 

[NMansfield]

NMansfield

Too bad you had it painted. ClayMagic and a bit of elbow grease would have taken the rail dust right off. Most body shops will just want to paint it because they make more money, and you end up with an inferior paint job in most cases.

Yea it reallly is too bad, the paint IS inferior to what came from the factory... I almost upchucked when I seen my truck in the sunlight this morning :{ .

 

[jsimpson]

Same with mine. Haven't decided whether to get warranty paint or chrome it. But chroming it is AWFULLY expensive!

"Went to pick it up and did a walkaround on it and bot back to the front. The plastic piece above the bumper below the grill had 1" size pieces of paint gone ALL over it. And where it was gone, it was peeling as well. The dealer tried to tell me it was from the lovebugs being on there for too long. After some inspection, the exposed plastic was as smooth as a baby's butt! No scuff means no paint adhesion. "