They had this problem quite a few years ago (early 90s)when I worked at a local dealership that sold Ariens snowblowers.
we used to get a few back that had the paint pealing right down to the bare metal, what the factory used to get us to do was sand and respray.
I see that whatever the issue was it is still around.
At that time the issue was improper prep work to the units at the factory level we were told.
I recall this problem from conversations with those that were around in the ealry 90's. If I remember correctly, it was an insufficient cleaning process on the powder paint line.
Our paint system has worked really well since then. It's likely this is an isolated occurence.
This housing could be a "repaint" that wasn't processed properly. Occasionally, when a housing makes it to the assembly line with a paint defect, it is rejected and sent to be buffed and/or stripped and repainted. It could have picked up a contaminant that the paint line washer was not designed to remove.
Snowman, if you get a chance, I'd still like to see those pics so I can turn them over to our quality people.
PK
