Lower trim pieces fading on Expedition

The trim on the lower body of my 03 expedition are fading and discolored. They have been this way for some time and I have noticied a couple of other expiditions doing the same thing. It looks almost as if it is "chalking" up, you can scrape it off with your fingernail. Any info?

There is a TSB for this. Take it back to Ford and they will replace them for free. For real--just get it done before your warranty runs out.

Bob

I have the same problem on my 2003 Expedition. The fading actually forms a pattern of sorts, on all four lower door panels (half circle, with lines shooting up to the sides - sort of like a sunrise image). I have also seen a couple of other Expeditions with the same problem. Unfortunately, I have 45K miles, so I'm out of warranty. Any ideas on how to clean it up? As mentioned in original post, it can be scraped off with fingernail, but this would take days to go over the entire surface. I tried a brush with stiff bristles, but it didn't do much. Maybe there is some type of heavy-duty solution that would remove it? Does the TSB mention anything of this nature (or at least the cause of it, so I could approach an auto-body shop with useful info)?

I assume Ford is not inclined to replace these free if I am out of warranty, even though my car is less than 3 years old, and the problem would seem related to time rather than mileage. Anybody think otherwise?

Thanks for any feedback.

Todd