anyone else disgusted?

[robobx]

by how easily the paint scratches on these new trucks? It takes nothing at all to make a bad scratch



Not to mention the inside of the bed dents VERY easily. I have rhino sprayed in my bed, I set a Jeep 4. 0L engine in the bed with a hoist(did not drop it), strapped it down for an hour drive, lifted it out with another hoist, and there is a dent no less than 4" around and . 75-1" deep!!! I expect dents when tossing crap in the back, but dang:--)

 

[dcscott]

Don't get me wrong - I love my new truck, but as I previously posted, I've never had a vehicle that scratches so easily. I've never seen such a thin coat of paint in my life. To make matters worse they used a light grey primer under the dark garnet so all the scratchs are real obvious.

 

[lschultz]

They have been like that since I got my first one in 91. I think if a bug hits the paint it scratches it

 

[MUDDY]

yep,,,,,,,,,,,,pisspoor paint in the last 20 years. dodge,,,ford,,,,whatever. all pisspor.



i was hopin the mex made rigs paint be better. but noooooooo. last 2 mex made. no better than missouri made rigs

 

[rrausch]

We can all thank the EPA and the Wacko Environmentalists.



What happens is that people end up doing multiple paint jobs instead of one GOOD paint job. When Government gets involved in Business the results almost always go bad.

 

[Blakers]

I'm thinking of putting a piece of diamond plate across the front of my bed. I can just picture something rolling around and shoving the bed into the back of the cab. Cheap!

 

[Fireman]

dcscott,



More than likely all you have is a scratch in the clear coat. When the clear coat is scratched it looks white. If you polish out the scratch the color will come back. On some really severe scratches I've even daubed in some clear coat and wet sanded with 1500 paper and the scratch dissapeared.



Fireman

 

[David Muench]

The bottom of my doors and cab look like they've been shot up with a BB gun thanks to my gravel driveway. I am putting flares and even bigger mudflaps on this weekend, but I still am going to have rust down there I am sure. Next truck will have a set of wheel to wheel runningboards at home when it's delivered.

 

[CSilkowski]

They (US automakers) should all learn from the Japanese. I have owned Toyotas (i. e. , landcruisers specifically) prior to owning the Dodge. I absolutely love my new truck, but it appears the Japanese cars have much better paint and finish. One good thing about the scratches is that they come out easy with rubbing compound. I nailed a parking structure with my cab roof the other day. Appears the parking garage had mislabeled their signage. The scratches came out with some polishing compound, but what surprised me was how flimsy the sheet metal was on the roof. I thought I was going to fall through into the cab.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Originally posted by robobx

I set a Jeep 4. 0L engine in the bed with a hoist(did not drop it), strapped it down for an hour drive, lifted it out with another hoist, and there is a dent no less than 4" around and . 75-1" deep!!!

Just a thought, but putting an engine in any pickup bed without a board or pallent underneath will most likely result in a dent, no matter how easily it is set in there. An engine like that probably weighs 450 lbs easily and concentrated on a few small areas due to the shape of the engine, add your typical bumps and ride dynamics and I would be surprised if there wasn't a couple of dents or depressions, Rhino liner or not.



Maybe I'm lucky, but the paint on my Pat. Blue truck is excellent, sprayed on well and scratch resistant. The bedliner installer commented it was some of the toughest paint he's dealt with in a long time.



Vaughn

 

[JWaters]

Originally posted by robobx

by how easily the paint scratches on these new trucks? It takes nothing at all to make a bad scratch



Not to mention the inside of the bed dents VERY easily. I have rhino sprayed in my bed, I set a Jeep 4. 0L engine in the bed with a hoist(did not drop it), strapped it down for an hour drive, lifted it out with another hoist, and there is a dent no less than 4" around and . 75-1" deep!!! I expect dents when tossing crap in the back, but dang:--)

If you would have had a slide in bed liner this would not have happened!! Rhino liners are nothing more than a coating over you scuffed paint, Everyone keeps telling me I need a rhino liner to "protect" my bed paint, They really dont know that they scuff up your paint that you think is protected to spray this stuff in there. Maybe if my truck was scuffed really bad I would get one to hide the scuff marks. But it does very little to protect from dents.

 

[rashwor]

Heavy duty rubber mats...

work well at protecting the bed floor from dents. Personal experience!

 

[BFaoro]

sAD

While I was at the Colorado State Fair showing Cattle with the kids, the wife and I looked at the new four door Ram diesel. It stinks for room !! I can't sit in the back middle because my knees hit. I wouldn't even want to sit on the side because if someone big is in front you hit !! Looks like I keep the 96. I beleive my 96 is a better truck !! if I do get a 4 door maybe one with a burned out stroke and drop in the 12 valve !!

 

[JWaters]

4 door

it has allot more room than you 96 does, I know I have both!

 

[dPierce]

Back to the paint issue. Yes, I'm disappointed at how easily this paint chips from rocks and road debris. At only a couple thousand miles my new truck had a dozen or so rock chips behind each wheel, this is without any gravel road travel.



Against my personal taste and preferences, I felt forced to add large mud flaps both front and rear (see my signature). Now it feels like my truck does not look as sporty or tough with the bigs flaps, but I'd rather sacrifice some looks than to lose my paint.



After I installed the flaps (which required drilling the inside edge of each wheel opening... painful!) I learned of the invisible film available from 3M that protects surfaces from rock chips and scratches. Maybe I would have applied this instead. But I still would get stuff thrown up high on the side, especially when I go to 305/70/17 tires.

 

[dslcummins]

I just recently had a discussion with Dodge over how easily my truck scratches. I have the Patriot Blue. They said it was the water base paint that they are forced to use. It is nothing like the paint job on my 92.

 

[goodwid]

Rhino/Rubber Bed mat

From experience the spray in liner with a rubber bed mat is the best combo. No screw holes with a Wood liner, and no chaffing with the plastic bed liner at contact points.



My truck came with a plastic bed liner even though I didn't request it, two days after I brought it home I sold it and there was already lots of chaffing on the box (Nasty).



In regards to thin metal, they are all the same and Fords are even worse. A work associate has a ford psd, I rested against it with my arms over the rails and "BONG" the bloody metal buckled in, lucky for me it came out again when I backed away. And thank goodness he wasn't around.

 

[robobx]

I tried rubbing compound and it did nothing, maybe made the scratches fade a little. The paint on my 99 wrangler is MUCH better as far as scratch resistance goes...



I had my Rhino sprayed up near Pittsburgh, the other day I went to Rhino of Charlotte to have some warrenty work done. They do such a better job of spraying, about 2 times as thick everywhere and a way nicer texture.



I have also gotten bed dents from silly lightweight things like a deepfreezer, not from moving it into the bed, just where it rode during the trip

 

[4xquadrod]

My Black truck is primed with white primer and the chips look like a back country fire fly festival.

 

[MattSt]

Originally posted by dslcummins

I just recently had a discussion with Dodge over how easily my truck scratches. I have the Patriot Blue. They said it was the water base paint that they are forced to use. It is nothing like the paint job on my 92.

Who at Dodge? I'm thinking someone was pulling your leg... off.