Tailgate paint chipping?

All of a sudden i have 30-40 tiny pin head sized chips on my tailgate. I have a 2017 1794 bronze Tundra that is less 6 months old. I never drive with the tailgate down. It seems to be chipping off in little dots but zero dents. I have no idea why this has started happening.

Any ideas? Anyone else having paint problems with basically brand new Tundras?

 

First thing I was going to ask is if you drove with the tailgate down. Do you park anywhere near grass or a field where workers may be blasting it with the Weedwhacker?

 

Nope, almost all miles are on the highway and its parked on the street, but ample space for everyone. I had a Tacoma for 4 years before this and ran it through hell and back and never had this problem or any paint chipping. Scratches, sure, but not chipping.

 

You did not mention anything about towing a trailer, but I will throw this out there; if you have ever towed a trailer, debris from the road could get kicked up by your tires and bounce off the front of the trailer onto the tailgate.

 

I have towed a trailer but wouldn't the debris leave some sort of dents? And these appeared a month after I had last towed anything.

 

It would not necessarily leave dents. Small road aggregate will only chip the paint. My wife's car has about 30 little chips the size of a pin head on the hood from driving behind a semi on a road where the surface was being repaved. No dents.

 

I'll take a pic as soon as I can.

 

Thats the other strange part. There aren't any chips like this anywhere else on the truck. So the debris from the dirt roads didn't chip any of the front and a month later chip the tailgate? Doesn't make much sense to me. And I did the same driving with the same trailer and roads in my Tacoma and never had this problem.

 

Yes, of course it can be something else. I am just speculating on my previous experience. Back in South Africa I had a new Hilux and pulled a utility trailer on a gravel road. The tailgate looked like it was sand blasted (not quite that bad, but you get the picture). I added bigger mud flaps and eliminated most of that. As with my wife's care mentioned above, it was an isolated case where she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. There just happened to be loose aggregate on the road when she was behind the semi. In her case it got flinged up onto her hood. If it is a case of the trailer reflecting it back it would be only onto the tailgate, and not anywhere else on the truck.

 

Maybe someone swapped tailgates with you because they messed theirs up.

 

Wow that's actually worse than I expected it would look. Sorry you have this issue.

 

Maybe some jackwagon is shooting a salt gun at your tailgate.
Like those big salt guns.

Just a wild guess. Look on the ground, what do you see or did you see When these appeared.

 

They appeared after a car wash. Went to a local chain. But a car wash shouldn’t be able to do that without something being wrong.

 

It could have sand in the jets or something. Not sure how sand or small rocks could get through the nozzle but I guess it's possible. It's only on the tailgate though?

 

Yup only on the tailgate and just showed in the past week. Haven’t towed anything in a month.

 

Something definitely hit that. I seriously doubt it’s a defect or problem with the paint. Something physically hit the tailgate of your truck. Someone had to of vandalized for to look like that

 

Where do you live? It looks like it got sprayed with something like rocks or sand from a lawnmower or snowblower, maybe a truck sander. The big chip over the tailgate handle is kinda weird though.

 

I am not sure how it could have been vandalized. No spot is bigger than. 1/64 of an inch. Some of it feels like little nics in the paint and chips off if you run your hand across.

 

I live in a city. No sanders or lawnmowers or snowblowers have been near it.

 

Can you see or feel any paint bubbles?

 

Nothing big. I can feel small ridges and in many of the spots it’s chipped off the primer

 

Wondering if this could be a bad paint prep job? a repainted tailgate? Defective paint/primer? Rust or water under the paint?

 

Yeah seems like something was done and either the work or the paint were defective.

 

I think some jealous asshole threw a handful rocks at it. Some people just hate Toyota so much because I just can’t get their head around the fact that Toyota is superior.

 

Look at the chip right above the tailgate handle. Zoom in. I just don’t see the bad prep job causing paint to chip. Flake maybe, but not chip in a circle like that.

 

That will be from the car wash if it was not hand or touch less. The brushes get closer to the truck on the tailgate due to less surface area, and exposes rocks or whatever was on every vehicle before you embedded in the brush. Go talk to them, or get it painted, not a defect, can see some came in from the same direction for sure. Car wash bad...

 

Brutal. Sorry to see that pal. Toyota paint isn’t a strong point ever but that’s real bad!

 

That was actually more of a bubble or cut until i ran my hand across it, and then it came right off

 

A stone can cause that. The paint doesn’t necessarily fall off after being struck by a pebble. It will just sit there loosely on the surface until it is disturbed.