Paint, rear door, and body issues.

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My driver-side rear door has a nasty blemish in the factory paint. After bringing it to the dealer, I had to argue with the body shop guy for several minutes that the blemish was not the PPF (I have PPF over all the painted areas) but was in fact the paint. I know this because the PPF guy took a photo of the issue while putting on the PPF because they knew people would think it was the PPF. The tech finally agreed that IF I have the PPF removed from the door and the issue really is the paint and not the PPF, they would repaint the door. He was also seemingly floored about full-body PPF and not the small panel versions he normally sees. He reportedly has never seen a vehicle with full PPF.

I am hoping they can do a good job when they do, but I did not get a lot of confidence when the guy told me people should always try to keep the original paint because repaint is never as good.

Along with that issue, the rear door touches the plastic below the window when you close it and the small body panel next to the passenger tail light is pushed in further than the bottom. The rear area itself seems out of wack in some way and I am hoping this all is found after they remove things back there. It is like there is a skew in the alignment of things.

The tech agreed the window rubbing was a problem and that the body was out of wack in some way.. but... he has no idea how it can be fixed until they take it all apart because they have never worked on a Bronco and don't know how it connects or what they will find. Don't they have manuals that detail that type of stuff? That along with the poor attempt on his part to try and introduce the idea that these are built for utility and you can't expect them to be perfect. Not sure I'd call this wanting things perfect, but to each their own.

I have a pretty small window to get this done before a trip out west, including additional off-roading. I don't want to remove one door's PPF and then have the thing offroad before they fix it and I get the PPF replaced. Hopefully, it works out or this might take a number of months to finally get looked at.

As far as the PPF goes for anyone thinking about it. I have had the Bronco through some seriously overgrown trails and there is not a single scratch/mark from the literal hundreds of them I have pushed through. One trail I went down in VT looked like a tunnel from the overgrowth. The branches leave plenty of marks on the PPF, but they disappear after a wash and a day in the sunshine.

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The two trim pieces on either side of the tail lights snap into the tail light housing mounting structure and don't really have any adjustment built in. You could loosen the housing bolts and try to shim it out some but that could create another issue. Mine is similar and will eventually get it better but I need to see what type of shims I can put where to get it pushed out some.

Can't see the whole swing gate but if the body lines are good then you almost have to try and make the adjustments to the cap or trim. If the gate looks a little high they might be able to drop it a hair to help some. The glass hinges on the top don't have much or any adjustment so then you have to look at the cap to see if it's sucked down really tight and if you can loosen it up a little so it relaxes. I believe the plastic strip is part of the rear glass assembly and not put on correctly at the factory. Not tried to remove one yet as the risk of blowing the tempered glass is pretty high. My point is there may be several things that need some tweaking to get the needed clearance on the rear. The paint defect is definitely warranty as we've seen a bunch of new vehicles, including non broncos, with crap like that. Some is seam sealer drips that don't get cleaned off prior to paint, some is dirt and we've also seen finger prints or touch spots.

 

[Quest]

Thank you for the detailed response. That lines up with several things I have seen. I am curious now if the cap might be the issue. Here are some detailed photos I took prior.

driver side gap

driver corner gap

passenger corner gap

passenger side gap

 

[Quest]

Update: After having the Ford body shop manager look at it, they submitted it and got a repaint approved. Besides the door drip line issue, he also noted the rear quarter panel was not fully painted. Once he pointed it out, it was obvious, but I had not noticed it until then. I don't know how they painted the green, but the tank cover and a little bit of the panel itself seemed to be missing the flake and the pearlescent effect (or whatever it is on this paint). Hopefully, they can also figure out the gap issue with the tailgate.

 

[Quest]

The repaint went well and I have not noticed any issues yet. They did the door and the rear quarter panel. Both look a LOT better.

They also adjusted the tailgate. I think it might still slightly touch the bottom of the rear window when I close it but it is tons better. Closes like a normal door now and not like I am slamming things into another.

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