Need Help - Dont know what to do

espressomac said:

It's heartbreaking to read that someone like you is going through this. You have been beyond patient. For what it's worth, I'd call that guy Stephane and let him know that no one did get in touch with you. He did provide you with a phone number. Take him up on it.

Stéphane Cesareo
Lincoln Global Communications Manager
o: (1) 313 323 8917
m: (1) 313 443 2035
[email protected]

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Heartbroken pretty much describes how I feel :frown

The worst part now is last year I had no idea what was happening until the car was terribly damaged. It was a bad winter and my car was dirty most of the time and I could not see what was happening. When it did start to show I just thought it was dirt. Three months later when I was finally able to do more than just spray my car off with water is when I saw the severity. This winter I know it's happening and can't stop it other than not drive the car.

Now I have to get in my car every day knowing I'm doing more and more damage and there is nothing I can do about it. :crying I HAVE to drive my car (my son to school and shopping to get food minimally). I can't just keep it in the garage until spring when the street cleaner comes out and sweeps up any pebble on the road. My car is depreciating at an accelerated rate. I've never had a car sustain "damage" from driving on these roads.

And it literally has affected me driving my own new car! If you know me you know I HATE not being the driver and being a passenger, particularly with my husband at the wheel. I LOVE to drive, especially my new MKC as we know. But every weekend or opportunity I can get my husband to take his car (which only he drives) I take.

My son asked me to take him skiing after school today (we live 15 minutes from a local resort we have season passes for) but after washing it and seeing how much damage has occurred so quickly I am afraid to drive it and keep damaging it. Makes me angry it caused us to not go skiing (until tomorrow when my husband will be home from work to drive - his ford escape very similar to the MKC never gets damaged though )

Now everyday I drive my car for the next few months I get to have complete anxiety every minute behind the wheel thinking about how its getting damaged and watch my car get destroyed progressively. That's not to mention having to clean the salt covered gravel/pebbles out of my door jambs and inside plastic "sills" pretty much everyday or it will eventually corrode the paint, plastic, and metal. Because the rocks literally stick way up high in the jambs I have to place towels underneath in my garage and pour cups of water slowly over the rocks and grit because I can't just wipe them out unless I want to scratch up the paint. Major PITA to say the least!

I'm so sorry to hear about your MKC mmoretti, Somehow, I cannot picture you hitting the gas out your driveway and laying rubber on a daily basis...This does not solve anything but hopefully is will minimize the damage going on.....have you considered installing mud flaps to the front/rear.....unless you already have them installed....
For comparative reasons, I also live on a dirt/gravel road....Thus far, I have zero sand blasting to the areas behind my wheels, granted I take it real easy while on these roads,and usually move at around 20---25 mph at most, Im not suggesting to the contrary with you!
Publicity in ANY form gets attention, if I was in your shoes...I would inform Lincoln of intent of inviting an automotive reporter to discuss a story regarding the MKC inherent issues, and the lack of support you are receiving from them, that hopefully will set off some higher up action on their part....last thing Lincoln needs is negative publicity especially in this economic downturn .
If there is any way I can be of any help, please do not hesitate to let me know, that goes for the both of you.....there's strength in UNITY!

5.0 Candy REDCS said:

I'm so sorry to hear about your MKC mmoretti, Somehow, I cannot picture you hitting the gas out your driveway and laying rubber on a daily basis...This does not solve anything but hopefully is will minimize the damage going on.....have you considered installing mud flaps to the front/rear.....unless you already have them installed....
For comparative reasons, I also live on a dirt/gravel road....Thus far, I have zero sand blasting to the areas behind my wheels, granted I take it real easy while on these roads,and usually move at around 20---25 mph at most, Im not suggesting to the contrary with you!
Publicity in ANY form gets attention, if I was in your shoes...I would inform Lincoln of intent of inviting an automotive reporter to discuss a story regarding the MKC inherent issues, and the lack of support you are receiving from them, that hopefully will set off some higher up action on their part....last thing Lincoln needs is negative publicity especially in this economic downturn .
If there is any way I can be of any help, please do not hesitate to let me know, that goes for the both of you.....there's strength in UNITY!

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Candy I am driving on regular paved roads that everyone drives on. My neighborhood is nicely paved with curbs and regular cleaning. Ive talked about this at length in this forum. The car rarely sees a highway or excess of 50mph. 90% of my driving is on 3 county roads with speed limits of 35-50mph. Yes in the summer on clear clean roads you may see me open up a bit and have fun at 55 on some stretches of the road (without my son in the car of course :smile) but overall I'm a fairly conservative driver. Don't even put it in sport mode-don't need the temptation. If the roads are even slightly bad I'm crawling along, believe me - I have my son in the car. And seriously no other car gets damaged and the rocks from the road inside... There is nothing abnormal about the roads I drive on, every other car, all my neighbors and friends cars (including my previous Cadillac and my husbands current ford escape) has driven them for years including last year (when my damage and problems happened) without anything happening. PERIOD.

Mudflaps he he. I have several posts on that here too but because I like you I will repeat again :smile. No offense to those that like the look of mudflaps. I just do not. Not on this car, not on any car ever. I like the original look and minimal sticking out. I have never had mudflaps on one car I owned.

I should not HAVE to put them on my car to prevent this ridiculous damage. Particularly if I hate the way they look. No other MKC owner has to do that to prevent substantial damage (I'm not talked no about a few chips here). I accept normal chips here and there. It's normal. I'm not unreasonable. But there's a certain level that we all get and that's not what I'm talking about...

The dealer (Lincoln) wants me to put mud flaps on, yes. But discussing with them and the fact that mud flaps are meant to prevent "normal" splashes and as per their description "to deflect mud, snow, and ice". Not machine gun fire rocks that pummeled my plastic, paint and wheels. I doubt the mud flaps are going to solve it, then I'm stuck with my car with mud flaps I don't like. I asked them to guarantee that putting mud flaps on will solve my problem - they won't , they can't.

I told them I was concerned that the rocks could deflect off of their mud flaps and hit another car or person or do other damage. The force and trajectory of the rocks is just not normal to have caused such damage. They do not know how those rocks may react to the mud flaps. The rocks are thrown up to my windows. I'm seeing chips in my back windows too. The mud flaps are going to be absolutely pummeled. I told them I did not want to be responsible and if they want me to put mud flaps on then I need something in writing from them and Lincoln describing the problems and exactly why they were making me put mud flaps on the car to correct their problem and that they would take responsibility for any detrimental consequence of the mud flaps, etc, etc.
They will not...so I will not put the mud flaps on the car.

And my cars modem is dead again this morning..nice.

Well here in the Chicago area they throw rock salt when it snows... And if you happen to drive on a road that is freshly salted (especially on the higher speed roads) you get what's called "road rash". It will effect (chip) the front and side painted surfaces and the wheels... Some cars here look like they have been sandblasted on the sides especially if your rear-quarter flairs out (like the MKC). My CTS flared out at the rear and Cadillac actually had a clear plastic stick-on cover covering the rear (forward of the rear wheel). It sorta worked but turned a bit yellow after time. Mud flaps are about the only solution (at least in the front). The front hood is the result of other vehicles plain and simple. Even in the summer you get a fine rash just from sand and small gravel on the road surface if you tend to drive on highways. My Jeep has chips in the paint and windshield just from the rock salt. My sister drives over poorly paved (lots of gravel) roads to get to her home and her Subaru is all beat-up/chipped on the sides.

blankster said:

Well here in the Chicago area they throw rock salt when it snows... And if you happen to drive on a road that is freshly salted (especially on the higher speed roads) you get what's called "road rash". It will effect (chip) the front and side painted surfaces and the wheels... Some cars here look like they have been sandblasted on the sides especially if your rear-quarter flairs out (like the MKC). My CTS flared out at the rear and Cadillac actually had a clear plastic stick-on cover covering the rear (forward of the rear wheel). It sorta worked but turned a bit yellow after time. Mud flaps are about the only solution (at least in the front). The front hood is the result of other vehicles plain and simple. Even in the summer you get a fine rash just from sand and small gravel on the road surface if you tend to drive on highways. My Jeep has chips in the paint and windshield just from the rock salt. My sister drives over poorly paved (lots of gravel) roads to get to her home and her Subaru is all beat-up/chipped on the sides.

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Anyone who would drive fast and plow through what you are describing deserves to have their car sandblasted. How intelligent is that? That's is most definitely NOT me.

My damage occurred NOT on a highway/high speed road as Ive stated multiple times.

I am NOT driving on the road after they sand, in fact the recent fresh damage happened in three short days a full week after they sanded (my son was home on Christmas break and I didn't drive...

How many miles are on your cars you have that you say have this damage? Did your car sustain the level of damage in just a few short months, a few thousand miles?!? A week of driving your child to school?

My Cadillac had 90 K miles on it and I tell you we literally used to drive that thing 4 hours up to killington to ski FOLLOWING the **** sanding trucks all the way up...,every weekend for years from November until April. My Cadillac was next to perfect when I sold it.

My husband has a 2013 Ford Escape titanium bought in 2012 55K miles that drive my roads and worse. Yes when we look closely after all the highway drives and all the times out driving in bad weather (as I do not drive unless I have to) you are right. He has some minor chips on his back panel.(hood chips are a given any car) Yes if you get down on the ground and run your hand on his plastic on the bottom like our mkcs you can feel where the rocks have hit and scratched up the plastic. His wheels? Perfect! No chips. Can you see visible damage from 15 feet away? No way his car looks perfect when clean.

I've driven this area same roads same conditions in all kinds of cars and SUVs. I know what the **** is normal. And no NONE of my cars have had mud flaps. No my husbands escape does not have mud flaps.

I understand you are all not here seeing it and going through it yourself. I can't keep defending myself in this forum, it's exhausting. Think it's time to go....q

mmoretti, please don't take an inquiry as an attack toward you....it most definitely NOT meant to be one, or sound like one....Im just trying to fully understand this as you can best describe it, and you're doing a great job at that...remember my only eyes are what you can describe to me/us....
Moving forward, I am beginning to suspect something very sinister with this stuff happening to your C...
I am wondering, and this would not be to your knowledge, unless the dealer fessed up and offered you a substantial lower price with the full knowledge of disclosure:
As a rule of thumb, factory paint is a much stronger and tougher application than ANY body shop application....NO EXCEPTION....based on what you're saying and the degree of damage you're finding, and the general speeds you drive at, and the fact your neighbourhood is not some country road built out of loose gravel and lime...and a few other parameters: it could very well be possible, and without your knowledge unless disclosed that your NEW MKC somehow suffered some sort of damage in those areas, resulting with the effected areas being quietly addressed by the dealership body shop and match painting those damaged panels....a factory paint will and does take a massive amount of abuse compared to ANY aftermarket repairs....
As far fetched as this sounds, it happened to me and I did discuss it in greater detail some time back with the rear trunk lid on my 11 Mustang GTCS.....I did find out later that the car was being delivered to the dealer, one of the car jockeys had backed the rear end into a light post....light superficial damage, but irregardless, it had to be repaired.....the dealer had quietly had their body shop repair it, but did not follow the protocol to repair the trunk.....there is a stick on vinyl section that goes in the middle of the trunk called a "blackout panel" and instead of ordering a new one for my then damaged car, then just used paint, as in black flat paint and clear coated it.....I had no idea of any of this, till the neighbour backed into my car as it sat parked in my driveway....when I took it to this Ford dealership close to where I lived before, where Mike my friend works....he calls me up days later and shows me the whole assembly....including a new blackout panel he had at the shop for another damaged mustang they were working on....so I found this out completely by sheer accident....when I approached the original dealer that I bought from, they denied any knowledge....when they got contacted by my lawyer and informed we were about to proceed with a court case against them....days later my lawyer get a call from their lawyer, their position was: they will not admit to any wrong doing, but will absorb all legal cost incurred plus a undisclosed cash settlement( which was pretty substantial )....after discussing their offer with my lawyer he advised me to take the offer....basically the car cost me under $10,000 including taxes and the rest was given to me in cash by selling dealer......not suggesting this IS YOUR case, but sharing an experience that I found myself into....and you wonder why so many people refer to dealers as "stealerships?
There something going on with your car that's just not making sense.....and please, it's not you at all,just to clarify my last remark!