[copeland]

Ok so I've had my Dak since the beginning of January. Today it went in for it's first oil change (5500 km). I went down and washed it up, and cleaned out the interior.

I later noticed just how rough my paintis looking. Now for a truck that is only three months old, with relatively average/low km, it should not look as it does. Mind you I have taken it to work a couple times to pick up lumber and the inside of the box and rails are showing above average wear (no biggie since I was planning to spray in line it.) but the cab, the cab has these little rock chips all over, they don't go down to metal (some do) but they leave white marks signifying it has pierced the paint. also there seems to be a lot fo fine scratches (not like wipe scrathes but actual scratches) all over, I even found one little rust spot at the indent on the lower half of the driver door.

What the hell is going on? I remeber Dodge used to have horrible paint back in the 80/90s? with caravans, has the symptom returned?

I compared my sides to my moms car and her car is nearly flawless for being a 2000 neon with 50,000 km on it, with several road trips. My truck hasn't even had to survive a full winter yet (Gravel, salt)

What can I do? Tommorrow I'm going to clean it up again so there are no water stains and take it to my dealer who sold it to me off the lot. see what she says...then I start climbing the ladder...if I don't get what I want Then it's off to Toyota to get rid of the dak.

My superviser has a 04 and spends way more time driving it to the millsite and his paint isn't even nearly noticeable compared to mine

 

[ptschett]

I'm seeing a little damage down low on my truck (all below the character line) but I figure it's just from me driving more than a few miles on gravel and unimproved roads. Behind the rear wheels on the almost-horizontal segment of the box side way down low is the worst but there's some on the doors too. I'm thinking I'm going to get mudflaps and maybe running boards to try to stop the damage where it is and just fill in the bad chips with touch-up paint. There are some damaged points that look like another wax job would fill them in so I might just wax it real good down there. I've had my truck about the same time period you've had yours but I've racked up about 5000 miles already.

 

[WicKed R/T]

I suggest you strip the wax off your truck by washing it with dishwashing liquid, clay bar the truck ( i like mother's brand with the cleaner wax), and apply some swirl mark remover, and put a fresh wax job on it. Should look a lot better when you're done. :biggthump

 

[Jecht]

should never use dishwashing liquid for washing your truck. yo ucan do more harm than good to your paint.

I owuld get a bug deflector to put on the front. that will take care of most of the rock hits in the front. had one on my ranger for 10 years and the hood looked perfect. hate to tellyou but no matter what paint you have on your truck. it will chip. I doubt dodge will do anything about it. they will call it normal wear and tear. now if its orange peal or if the paint is peeling. thats a different story. I have rock chips on my 03 dak.


also is your truck a dark color? if so no matter how much your wax it. you will hav swirl marks and scratches on it. I had a 89 mudtang and yo ucould put fine scratches on the body just by running your finger on it. just get a swirl remover wax. and will take out most of them. but somehting yo uhave to live with if yo uhave a dark color paint on your truck.

 

[WicKed R/T]

You should use dishwashing liquid to strip the wax off your paint before clay barring the truck.

 

[Jecht]

NEVER use a or dishwashing detergent to wash your car. The dishwashing detergent contains harsh chemicals designed to remove grease and oils. This will over time dull the gloss on your clear coat, by stripping the finish of it’s vital oils

just something I pulled off the net. yes its good for removing wax. but it also attacks the clearcoat. I would be hesitant on using it on my finish. I also read that some dishwashing liquids can contain bleach. I will find another way to remove the wax from my finish.