Paint scratch touch up on back hatch

[JoeyD]

Kelly (kamorela), wanted to touch on a couple of things about your paint scratches.

As long as the liftgate wasn't dented, I wouldn't have taken it to a body shop. There are mobile paint repair professionals that will come out to your house (or work) and fix the scratches. It will look absolutely perfect when they are done. I have used them several times in the SF Bay Area for scratches, rock chips, etc. They are NOT cheap but less expensive than taking it to a body shop. From the work I've had done on several cars, if I had to guess that would cost between $500-700 and would take several hours. I know you're already in the process of having a body shop work on it but if you have issues like this in the future, look these guys up. I found a few in your area after Googling "mobile paint repair".

As far as having to remove the glass to paint those scratches, I can see them wanting to do this so they can paint the entire liftgate but again, way overkill when you can have just the scratches fixed without removing any body parts. Speaking of removing body parts, the spoiler can be removed WITHOUT breaking any clips or screw retainers. I've taken the spoiler off all three of my Mach-E's to sound deaden them as they are the only thing that rattles on the exterior if I have the bass in the audio system turned up a bit high. The trick to not breaking any retainers is to NOT use a power tool when removing the screws. There is too much torque with a power tool and you have to slowly loosen the screws so the metal retainer (which is in a plastic support) on the spoiler does twist and break off.

Now, about your garage door opener, I would change it out for a Chamberlain Wall Mounted opener. That way you can get rid of everything above the car (opener, chain, belt, rail, bar, etc.) and allow your liftgate to be opened to its maximum height without hitting anything. You would never have had this issue if you had a wall mounted opener. This type of opener will work with your garage door and attach directly to the torsion bar. They are not cheap but easy to install (I did both of mine myself). They are very quiet and smooth with no vibration and work with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. I use CarPlay and when I get close to my home, a notification tile pops up on the Sync screen for me to select and it will open the door. Or I can set up an automation in my phone so that the door automatically opens when arriving and closes when leaving or I can just ask Siri to open and close the door.

This is how clean and uncluttered the garage ceiling looks when you use a wall mounted opener. I have a lift under the car on the right and needed to have the ceiling clear to allow any vehicle to be raised as high as possible.

Regarding the Chamberlain wall mounted garage door opener, I installed one a couple of years ago because the cheap builder model we had was so noisy. This is the quietest door opener I've ever heard. No vibrations at all and really like how it starts up very slow, gets up to speed then slows down when stopping. One of the best improvements to our home.

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[kamorela]

Kelly (kamorela), wanted to touch on a couple of things about your paint scratches.

As long as the liftgate wasn't dented, I wouldn't have taken it to a body shop. There are mobile paint repair professionals that will come out to your house (or work) and fix the scratches. It will look absolutely perfect when they are done. I have used them several times in the SF Bay Area for scratches, rock chips, etc. They are NOT cheap but less expensive than taking it to a body shop. From the work I've had done on several cars, if I had to guess that would cost between $500-700 and would take several hours. I know you're already in the process of having a body shop work on it but if you have issues like this in the future, look these guys up. I found a few in your area after Googling "mobile paint repair".

As far as having to remove the glass to paint those scratches, I can see them wanting to do this so they can paint the entire liftgate but again, way overkill when you can have just the scratches fixed without removing any body parts. Speaking of removing body parts, the spoiler can be removed WITHOUT breaking any clips or screw retainers. I've taken the spoiler off all three of my Mach-E's to sound deaden them as they are the only thing that rattles on the exterior if I have the bass in the audio system turned up a bit high. The trick to not breaking any retainers is to NOT use a power tool when removing the screws. There is too much torque with a power tool and you have to slowly loosen the screws so the metal retainer (which is in a plastic support) on the spoiler does twist and break off.

Now, about your garage door opener, I would change it out for a Chamberlain Wall Mounted opener. That way you can get rid of everything above the car (opener, chain, belt, rail, bar, etc.) and allow your liftgate to be opened to its maximum height without hitting anything. You would never have had this issue if you had a wall mounted opener. This type of opener will work with your garage door and attach directly to the torsion bar. They are not cheap but easy to install (I did both of mine myself). They are very quiet and smooth with no vibration and work with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. I use CarPlay and when I get close to my home, a notification tile pops up on the Sync screen for me to select and it will open the door. Or I can set up an automation in my phone so that the door automatically opens when arriving and closes when leaving or I can just ask Siri to open and close the door.

This is how clean and uncluttered the garage ceiling looks when you use a wall mounted opener. I have a lift under the car on the right and needed to have the ceiling clear to allow any vehicle to be raised as high as possible.

1. I'm very happy with the scratch repair that the Ford body and paint shop did, it's impossible to see they were ever there, the color, coverage and even micro-metallic density is perfect. When I picked it up I Inquired about the comment made initially about broken clips when removing the spoiler. Now the story expanded to blame the screws that would strip resulting in having to break the spoiler off rendering it garbage. I can see the clips in your photos but am wondering if those "easily sripped" screws are visible? I'd love to see where they're located. Your description of your success in their removal has piqued my curiosity.

2. Wow, I love those openers! My opener is an older Chamberlain (Liftmaster), circa 2005-ish I think. My two garage doors are much closer together with insufficient room to mount a wall-mount opener like yours in-between them but there is room at the outer end, although the opener rod sticks out too far and would have to be shortened. Which model do you have there in your photos? Does the battery backup really work to open the garage door if power is out? Is there any other method, i.e. manually, by which to open door if power is out? You were right, these are expensive but now I'm mentally fixated on it.

 

[markboris]

1. I'm very happy with the scratch repair that the Ford body and paint shop did, it's impossible to see they were ever there, the color, coverage and even micro-metallic density is perfect. When I picked it up I Inquired about the comment made initially about broken clips when removing the spoiler. Now the story expanded to blame the screws that would strip resulting in having to break the spoiler off rendering it garbage. I can see the clips in your photos but am wondering if those "easily sripped" screws are visible? I'd love to see where they're located. Your description of your success in their removal has piqued my curiosity.

2. Wow, I love those openers! My opener is an older Chamberlain (Liftmaster), circa 2005-ish I think. My two garage doors are much closer together with insufficient room to mount a wall-mount opener like yours in-between them but there is room at the outer end, although the opener rod sticks out too far and would have to be shortened. Which model do you have there in your photos? Does the battery backup really work to open the garage door if power is out? Is there any other method, i.e. manually, by which to open door if power is out? You were right, these are expensive but now I'm mentally fixated on it.

Hi Kelly, I'm glad to hear Ford did a great job on your paint repair. About the bolts that strip that is not what is happening. It is because the round retainer nuts start to spin. Not sure if they were put in too tight at the factory or if they have Loctite on them (I don't think so) but they don't always easily come out. Then when you start to force them, they don't strip, but the round retainer nut starts spinning in the plastic of the liftgate they are pressed into. Maybe the bolts and retainer nuts are not a good match for each other? I have gotten them out by forcing down on the head of the bolt while slowly backing it out by hand (no power tool). However two of them I could not remove. They were both the corner ones so I ground a hole around the bolt head in the liftgate enlarging it so the bolt would pass through when lifting out the spoiler.

Below is the spoiler and I have circled where the round retainer nuts are (green) are pressed in the liftgate plastic mold. If you look at the bolt that I circled at the bottom of the photo (red) that is one of the corners ones that stayed in the retainer nut. I was able to get it out by holding the round retainer nut then I epoxied that round retainer nut to the plastic it is attached to.

Here is the liftgate and the hole I enlarged to allow that bolt to pass through. After I got the spoiler out, I found a thick washer that I pressed in the hole and epoxied it in so that I could reattach the bolt to the spoiler in that spot.

About the garage door openers, I'm sure you can shorten the tension rod on the outside ends and install the door openers there. I cannot tell you what exact model I have as I'm traveling in Europe and won't be home until later next week. They do not have a battery backup but then they don't need one as my whole house electrical is backed up with Powerwalls. Like any other garage door system, this one has a manual pull cord on the bottom of the opener and when you pull it down, it unlocks the opener to the tension bar and you are free to lift the door up and down as you like. Pull the cord again and it locks back to the torsion bar.

 

[azerik]

Dang it. Now, not only do I need to break my spoiler taking it off for no real reason but once seen, it can not be unseen, so I'll probably replace my garage door opener while at it. lol.

 

[kamorela]

Hi Kelly, I'm glad to hear Ford did a great job on your paint repair. About the bolts that strip that is not what is happening. It is because the round retainer nuts start to spin. Not sure if they were put in too tight at the factory or if they have Loctite on them (I don't think so) but they don't always easily come out. Then when you start to force them, they don't strip, but the round retainer nut starts spinning in the plastic of the liftgate they are pressed into. Maybe the bolts and retainer nuts are not a good match for each other? I have gotten them out by forcing down on the head of the bolt while slowly backing it out by hand (no power tool). However two of them I could not remove. They were both the corner ones so I ground a hole around the bolt head in the liftgate enlarging it so the bolt would pass through when lifting out the spoiler.

Below is the spoiler and I have circled where the round retainer nuts are (green) are pressed in the liftgate plastic mold. If you look at the bolt that I circled at the bottom of the photo (red) that is one of the corners ones that stayed in the retainer nut. I was able to get it out by holding the round retainer nut then I epoxied that round retainer nut to the plastic it is attached to.

Here is the liftgate and the hole I enlarged to allow that bolt to pass through. After I got the spoiler out, I found a thick washer that I pressed in the hole and epoxied it in so that I could reattach the bolt to the spoiler in that spot.

About the garage door openers, I'm sure you can shorten the tension rod on the outside ends and install the door openers there. I cannot tell you what exact model I have as I'm traveling in Europe and won't be home until later next week. They do not have a battery backup but then they don't need one as my whole house electrical is backed up with Powerwalls. Like any other garage door system, this one has a manual pull cord on the bottom of the opener and when you pull it down, it unlocks the opener to the tension bar and you are free to lift the door up and down as you like. Pull the cord again and it locks back to the torsion bar.

All good info, thank you soooooooooooo much!

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