While shopping for Dakotas in recent months it seemed like so many were having premature paint fading. I purchased mine without a hint of it, and had the entire car buffed just to be safe, parked it in the shade whenever possible, and kept it clean.

Well... look what seemed to pop up overnight?

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I can't stand the sight of it. Paint quality seems to be a widespread issue among Chrysler products, and I rarely see similarly aged Ford or GM products with paint issues.

I will probably sell the truck before it gets worse. Its a shame the quality isn't there to back up the looks and performance.

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yea i hear you. i bought it and it was perfect, then it seems after every time i wash it it gets worse. tail gate is all effed up same with above the rear pop out window on my CC and some spots on the side of the bed. they need to recall it!

 

Mine was bad too but only on the roof. I have new paint on the hood, fenders and doors because I had a wreck in March. I sanded the roof myself and shot it with 2 cans of rattle can Dupli-Color and 2 rattle cans of clear coat. It looked like a$$ so I wet sanded the clear off and wet sanded the silver base coat again. That's where it is in the process right now, I hope to have time to re-spray the silver base coat and spray some more clear coat this weekend. It won't be perfect but it's on the roof and doesn't really need to be perfect.

I really wish the paint had been better quality or applied correctly to the primer so it wouldn't peel and fade like that. I am lucky though, I have seen lots of other Dodges and other makes of trucks too that are much worse off than mine was/is. The sun is brutal here in Florida and is murder on paint.

I took some pics before I started sanding, and will post some pics when I finally do get the roof done. It really doesn't look bad now, but it can and will be better, soon as I have time to finish the job.

Bad paint or not, Tyler that is a good looking Dakota you have there. Don't get rid of it just because of the paint problem.

Jimmy

 

Yeah my last dakota had spots popping up all over the hood when I sold it.

So far, I've been lucky with this one and hope it doesn't do it anytime soon. My only problem is a little rust on the wheel well in the bed.

 

It seems to me like its really only happing on black trucks but now looking at more daks its happening almost all of them. I cant say that mine is holding up cause I know for a fact that my truck was repainted cause there is a finger print where the paint meets the sliver on my truck and I know that didnt happen at the factory.

 

My dad's `98 1500 V6, and my friend's `97 1500 V8 (both black) have terrible paint fade occurring.

<knock on wood> I don't have this trouble yet with my Dak, but I'm really tempted to start storing it in the garage year round. (that's just a pain though) Winter garage storage is one thing... I don't need to get to the lawn mower, bicycles, etc...

 

I think it kinda depends how often you wax I do mine like every 3 months

 

My 01 is starting to do that on the roof also . But I do have to agree that the black dodges are the worst for it and here in central tx the summers are brutal for vehicles.

 

from the late 80s to the late 90's, Chrysler had a bad batch of primer from their supplier, causing the paint to not adhere well and peel off...It is most noticable in lighter colors. My '92 Dak had almost no paint left on it when I sold it a few years ago. As for the clearcoat fade, I know a guy with a black Sebring and his whole entire car looks mottled white like that. Apparently its a bad batch of clearcoat this time, most noticeable on the darker colors(go figure.)

 

my 94 dak had no paint left on the roof, just primer. my 01 now is rusting under the paint right above the windshield. luckally no paint is coming off there so its not to noticable.