Not to dis my quad 01 dakota but the paint is falling off the front end. The hood, fenders and roof top the clearcoat looks like its flaking. I thought it might be just my truck but I find thats not the case. Its odd that you drive into another town and you see the same thing in the same areas. Does anybody know what the cause was?

 

chrysler really screwed up their clear coat, not sure if its the clear its self or the prep/application process. but mines got it bad too.

 

Same here pretty sure everything like pre 04 had this issue

 

My 98 Dakota was repainted before I got it. In my eyes, it looked like a red flag figuring it was painted to cover-up significant body damage but that wasn't not the case.
I was told that the paint was just flaking off and that most Dodge trucks had the same problem.
I didn't need to hunt around much online to find that most people were having the same problem. I've noticed that most 2nd Gen Dakotas (for one) have a primer-grey Mohawk, from hood to cab roof, since reading about this paint issue online.
Looks like Dodge just used crappy at the factory.

 

E) All of the above.

 

Has anyone tried to contact Chrysler about warranty.I'm not the orginal owner but if they knew they had an issue they should come good for at least a portion.
Just my thoughts

 

Bumping an old thread.

My '01 was bought new and just rolled 60K last week. The paint has been flaking for several years and after a particularly big snowfall last winter huge amounts of clear coat on the hood and roof came off with the snow. I'll admit to not having taken the best care of the poor thing lately but the body is mostly unmarked and the flaking clear coat bothered me. I decided to take it to a body shop/friend. There's a tiny blister on the passenger side rear wheel well. The tailgate is in need of replacing. The truck is red, which I know can be a bear in painting. The figure I got to repaint the truck and replace the gate, plus do whatever with the blister was $4500. That number made me decide what to do.

LIVE WITH IT~

I might try my hand with some rattle cans but I can't justify the money on the vehicle, low miles and all. I can think of lots of other things to blow the cash on. Sadly the Dakota isn't one of them.

 

just had my roof and hood painted... $600 , same thing, clear coat flaking .

 

Go get yourself a few cans of mixed rattle cans. Can be had for around 15.00 and usually clear will run you about 8.00 a can. Our 97 and 02 work rams have clear coat pealing. The 97 has 88k on it and the 02 has 53k. My personal 02 ram doesnt have any paint problems. Its been waxed 2 times a year and garage kept most of its life.

 

it was a chemical issue 2000 (maybe 1999) to mid 2002 I believe, and specific to trucks made at the california plant.