Issues with Paint on Wildwood

Campahedu · 04-22-2018, 09:26 PM

Hi everyone. I posted a year ago about a paint issue I have with my FR Wildwood 262 X-Lite. Bought new in 2015 and by the beginning of 2017,

paint was peeling off the nose (see pic). No help from my dealer (Pete's RV in Vermont) and no help from FR

. No one could even tell me why or how to stop/prevent it. After much researching, I decided on a wrap (see pic). My own design (blog at campahedu.com)

GLBCamper · 04-22-2018, 11:19 PM

Would love to know how this holds up. I assume it is the vinyl sheet vehicle wrap. I have the same problem with my 2016 EVO. Tons of dime sized spots where the paint has flaked off. My dealer submitted it to FR under warranty but I never heard back and, to be honest, I figured they would just reject it anyway. I also hoped that since it is aluminum it shouldn’t rust. But maybe I’m wrong.

Campahedu · 04-23-2018, 06:45 AM

GLBCamper, yes it is the vinyl car wrap. They told me to expect 5 to 7 years life expectancy. I am hoping for more since I only use it half a year. Being aluminum at least it doesn't rust. My picture doesn't show it, but I too had a bunch of smaller areas that the paint was flaking off. As you can see, I wasn't real happy with either my dealer nor the company (FR) on this. Half of the issues is the obvious... but the other half is: What caused this? and How do I prevent in the future? I have no answers. BTW, good luck with your claim.

RiderBloke · 04-23-2018, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Campahedu

GLBCamper, yes it is the vinyl car wrap. They told me to expect 5 to 7 years life expectancy. I am hoping for more since I only use it half a year. Being aluminum at least it doesn't rust. My picture doesn't show it, but I too had a bunch of smaller areas that the paint was flaking off. As you can see, I wasn't real happy with either my dealer nor the company (FR) on this. Half of the issues is the obvious... but the other half is: What caused this? and How do I prevent in the future? I have no answers. BTW, good luck with your claim.

Our front on our 26RR started looking dull and streaky right from the word go. I have tried to keep it in good nick but it just doesn’t shine up like the rest of the aluminum. A wrap looks good to me and if it lasts 5 years or more that could be a good investment. Do you mind sharing the ballpark figure for the wrap?

Campahedu · 04-23-2018, 07:39 AM

Update: for several reasons, to have the aluminum front repainted, quotes came in at $1500! Aluminum has to be special prepared for paint. And those decals? that would be extra! Not a lot of places do wraps (google in your area). Prices ranged from $700 to $1000. Fortunately, the company I hired was the lowest (right @ $700 including the art work) and the BIG bonus: He came to my house and put it on! And another plus - it customizes my trailer

RiderBloke · 04-23-2018, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Campahedu

Update: for several reasons, to have the aluminum front repainted, quotes came in at $1500! Aluminum has to be special prepared for paint. And those decals? that would be extra! Not a lot of places do wraps (google in your area). Prices ranged from $700 to $1000. Fortunately, the company I hired was the lowest (right @ $700 including the art work) and the BIG bonus: He came to my house and put it on! And another plus - it customizes my trailer

Thanks, that’s very helpful. I did find a company near me that has done a lot of wraps and signs for various companies, it seems. Thanks again.

dustman_stx · 04-23-2018, 08:07 AM

I see that you had issues with the diamond plate and the front cap. Are you running aggressive/oversize tires and chunking rocks at it? It's only peeling where you'd be getting rocks from your truck tires on each side. Doesn't look like a warranty issue at all to me. That would be like putting tires on your truck that stick out of the wheel well and then demanding a new paint job on it under warranty when you scratch the sides all up with rocks- ain't gonna happen.

JimMorrell · 04-23-2018, 01:09 PM

My 2014 Wildwood has several small spots that I had assumed were dings from small rocks on the highway. It doesn't appear to be paint flaking, but I guess it could be. It looks like a one, very thin coat application.

schaffer05 · 04-23-2018, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dustman_stx

I see that you had issues with the diamond plate and the front cap. Are you running aggressive/oversize tires and chunking rocks at it? It's only peeling where you'd be getting rocks from your truck tires on each side. Doesn't look like a warranty issue at all to me. That would be like putting tires on your truck that stick out of the wheel well and then demanding a new paint job on it under warranty when you scratch the sides all up with rocks- ain't gonna happen.

I thought the same thing about aggressive tires and pattern of paint loss.

Larry-NC · 04-23-2018, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Campahedu

Aluminum has to be special prepared for paint.

In an earlier post you asked why the paint had peeled. And here you answered your own question!

It's really hard to get paint to stick to aluminum. The automotive people have a handle on it, but they do really exotic things like dipping the entire car body in a heated tank of paint while applying a DC voltage between the body and the tank. I don't expect that the folks who make those big 8-feet-wide coils of sheet aluminum do the same thing.

And it's no surprise that the front face is the worst. It gets rammed by raindrops, hail, bugs, and anything thrown up by the tow vehicle.

Larry

Campahedu · 04-24-2018, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

In an earlier post you asked why the paint had peeled. And here you answered your own question!

And it's no surprise that the front face is the worst. It gets rammed by raindrops, hail, bugs, and anything thrown up by the tow vehicle.

Larry

You are correct. I guess I incorrectly thought that a manufacturer of campers would be similar as a manufacturer of autos

. Like others have suggested, I suspected rocks and road debris but ...2 things lead me away from that. First, the diamond plate has the issue up high (not low where most rocks would hit). And Second, both the diamond plate and tan nose all the way to the roof line have little, dime size (or smaller) specks that have flaked off across the WHOLE front (not real evident until you look up close). I stand by the poor prep of the aluminum. Thank you all for your comments

dustman_stx · 04-24-2018, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Campahedu

You are correct. I guess I incorrectly thought that a manufacturer of campers would be similar as a manufacturer of autos

. Like others have suggested, I suspected rocks and road debris but ...2 things lead me away from that. First, the diamond plate has the issue up high (not low where most rocks would hit). And Second, both the diamond plate and tan nose all the way to the roof line have little, dime size (or smaller) specks that have flaked off across the WHOLE front (not real evident until you look up close). I stand by the poor prep of the aluminum. Thank you all for your comments

I see 2 issues with this conclusion:

1. How do you explain the vastly greater amount of paint damage where the tires would sling debris?
2. That diamond plate is PROBABLY the same used by pretty much every manufacturer out there, and that's not a common issue. I would be very surprised to find that FR was painting that diamond plate themselves.

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