Brand new Tundra with major paint bubbles under clear coat

Got the truck on Saturday. It was dirty for the test drive and after 4 hours waiting to sign the papers we were really hungry, went to dinner and then it got dark. Next morning I got to the truck and noticed issues on the paint. Got closer and it seems that there's air bubbles under the clear coat on the hood and front right fender. Drove to the dealer right away and since service dept was closed, they said to come back on Monday to open a case. To make matters worse, I'm 3h away from the dealer and in a different state. Was there anyone in the same situation and if yes, what was the outcome?

 

You sure it's not the protective film?

 

I'm not sure of anything. Do they come with a clear film on them? I know most manufacturers ship them with a white film.

 

My thoughts exactly. Looks more like remnants of the adhesive on the protective film that's on the trucks for shipment.

 

How does a dealer clear that for delivery to the customer?

 

My Capstone was delivered with very similar marks on the hood, the detail team did a horrendous job and no one knew how to deliver the truck because it was the first one. First time I washed the truck I found a plethora of adhesive from the shipping film and went back to the dealer, they still failed to do a good job so I got the truck professionally detailed and sent the bill to the dealer. The adhesive was all gone, and the dealer was understanding. Hopefully you have a similar result.

 

They look like bubbles under a clear film or clear coat, similar to what you get when applying a film over a smart phone's screen, but can't see or feel it at the edges. Dealer said they didn't apply clear bra except for door edges and door handles. It's not going away when rubbing with microfiber cloth and it's definitely not on the surface, it's under either a film or clear coat, surface is really smooth to the touch.

 

That really sucks, I'd escalate with the dealer that sold it to you as much as possible. They can probably work with your local dealer if need be, that's going to be a corporate claim anyways if it's bubbling under the clear coat.

 

By the looks of your second picture, I would gamble to say it wasn’t an issue with the factory paint. It seems that the marks went from the hood to the fender in a matching pattern. Most modern vehicles are painted in parts so it would be hard to believe this was caused by paint failure. I wouldn’t rule out that something spilled or was sprayed and got on the adjoining panels.

 

Are you sure yours did not have the port option of clear hood protection? It sure looks like that is what it is.

 

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50 State Emissions
FIO
$0.00
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I’m currently dealing with Toyota PIO paint protection film issues on my Tundra. I took delivery in June at a dealership several hours away and have had to go through my closer dealer for repair. It has been an absolute nightmare honestly. I’ve had it at the dealer on several different occasions since July and had to eventually open up a Toyota corporate case. I finally have an appointment to have the fender films replaced on both sides of the rear and the passenger side film replaced near the headlight. I have some issues with the hood film as well (admittedly relatively minor on that section) and Toyota has denied that repair as the hair/stippling under the film is “within their spec.” Pretty annoyed about the whole thing. This was a PIO I was forced to pay for if I wanted the truck and it continues to feel like Toyota isn’t willing to do the whole repair properly.

 

I am going to go with protective film bubbles. Look at the edges, should be able to tell if there is one. I don’t see clear coat doing that. They are too big for paint bubbles.

 

I thought of protective film too but when that happens, if you press on one side of the bubbles, air moves towards the other side. Nothing changes when I try to push the air from one side to the other. Feels hard as a rock.

And like you said, paint bubbles are small and round, not big and long, but honestly I can't figure this out. I hope it's a film cause that would be easy to remove. I won't accept to have it repainted at a body shop.

 

It probably cured like that. I get what you mean by moving the bubble around but that when the film is fresh install. I would also want it to be a film. Would hate to have to paint a new truck.

 

how the hell can either toyota factory or toyota dealer give that too a customer.

what a shit sandwich

 

I have noticed that after the pandemic, people stop giving a shit.

 

I hope that it is quickly resolved to your satisfaction. From the photo it does look like an extremely poor job of applying PPF...When done well you can't even it tell it's on.

 

That definitely looks like the clear protective film, if you look at the second picture right above the reflection of your hand you can see in the gap the plastic starting to peel. It should have been removed prior to delivery, sounds like your dealership did a piss poor job at the PDI (pre-delivery inspection). My Tundra had similar markings on the hood but in dirt rather than air bubbles because they failed to remove all the adhesive like others have mentioned above me.

 

I had some adhesive and light scratching on the rear fender from where protective film or strapping was removed. The dealer brought in their real detail guy and detailed the entire vehicle to perfection. Of course I had to ID it

 

The tundras are shipped with a white protective vinyl over the hood and upper portion of fender, try some WD40 on a small area to see if comes off

 

no offense but I wouldn't mess with it at all, let them fix it. if he starts messing with it they will just blame him more

 

Sorry this is happening. I suggest calling Toyota USA and get them involved.

 

That was some white residue, similar to polish residue, that came out easily but they definitely did not polish the truck. They barely managed to wash it due to "not enough staff" and did a poor job at that too. Pretty sure the sales person washed it as she was trying to convince me to have it washed next week. Looking back, I'm wondering if they knew about it and were trying to hide it from me.

 

What your seeing is moisture under the clear coat it can be removed with I know it sounds dumb but use a heat gun at a safe distance don’t hold it in on place keep it slowly moving around it will slowly disappear

 

If it was a white residue, how were you able to move a "bubble" w/your finger??

 

Use to heat gun or hair dryer lightly after gone

 

When I bought my 22 Frontier, it was clean. I looked it over quite good before my test drive. While signing final paperwork my Frontier was getting a final detail. IE....due diligence. Just sayin. Your dealer sucks BTW. Hope things get corrected for you.

 

white residue was on the edge of the hood panel where the gap between the fender and the hood is. I wasn't able to move any bubbles.

 

What??? lol I hope you meant the protective film and not "clear coat paint".