Not Impressed with Toyota Paint

all paint is like this anymore. these big companies find ways to maximize profits by spraying less paint etc.

that being said, if your're a stickler about your paint i wouldn't be driving through bushes my dude. that's you're own dumb ass fault

my '08 civic's roof started pealing off and after Honda said they wouldn't do anything about it (there are service bulletins on select vehicles) I ended up pressure washing the rest off and now i have a matte blue pearl roof. looks pretty tits if you ask me.

 

Had it fixed and they fucked it up... doesn’t match. 700 miles, white and can’t match the paint.

 

I’ve seen all too often a body shop fix a white car with no clearcoat and then the body panel they fixed they put clearcoat on it. Seriously they can’t tell what they’re working on? Even if it matches it’s going to look different as it ages.

 

I don’t get it. Now I have to take it somewhere else. Thinking about trading it in and getting me a platinum. There are some good deals out there on 18’s

 

Any good paint shop should guarantee their work for as long as you own the vehicle. If it doesn’t match, you make them get it right until you’re happy or they can pay for you to get it done somewhere else. It’s not like they’re dealing with 10-year-old paint. I understand you may want to trade it in for a new one, but you know how that goes. Some dick will F it up for you right away and then you’re back to square one.

 

https://youtu.be/FdljlZyckXs

 

https://youtu.be/MQX2pj-lbLs

 

The paint is just one thing among others that is disappointing about the tundra to me at least but I only notice the 4 times a year that i wash it and even then I don't think I could bring myself to drive through a narrow bushy road.

 

It’s not just TOYOTA, Honda has had many issues also.

 

Can a body shop just respray the truck with clear coat to add thickness? Say I took my 2017 truck to the shop and asked them to thicken up the clear coat for more shine and protection?

 

Those scratches don't look that bad to me, a full respray? Before the OP jumps into that, or jumps off a bridge, I'd recommend he try a good compound, polish, maybe even wet sand. Consult a professional.
Maybe I'm missing something in the pics. What do you think @SouthBoundSteve , @driverdog ?

 

Too thick of a clear and you start getting an orange peel look. Which sucks.

 

Factory Toyota 2016 040 BRIGHT WHITE has a clear coat on it. Here's a simple way to Get the paint code off you truck, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ9W85w7Lwc
Once you get the paint code, call a automotive paint store and ask if the color has a clear coat on it. Ask if you can buy a single stage paint, or two stage paint. Two stage is base coat, clear coat. Some states can sell single stage paints with hardener you mix in them to spray. Or follow the direction below,

Before working on a Special Interest or Custom car, it's a good idea to first establish what kind of paint is on the car unless the owner can definitely tell you what type of paint is on the car. Older cars and sometimes special interest, and often times original older cars will have a single stage paint job. At the same time, if these cars have been repainted recently the painter may have sprayed a modern Basecoat/Clearcoat paint system onto the car. If the owner doesn't know or isn't sure what type of finish/paint system the car has then before you work on it you want to find out exactly what kind of finish is on the car. You can do this by testing the panels on the car using a paint cleaner like ScratchX or Deep Crystal Paint Cleaner cleaner and either a clean soft wax applicator pad or a piece of terry cloth toweling.

Note: 99.9% of all new cars have a basecoat clearcoat paint system. Clear coat paints were introduced in the early 1980's and as each year went by more and more manufactures switched their entire line of cars to clearcoat paint systems. So if you're working on a newer car and it has the factory finish, chances are pretty good it's a clear coat paint system, if you want to, it never hurts to check anyways as there are a small percentage of new cars that have single stage paint systems and there are some cars that have what are called "Tinted Clears". So when in doubt, simply check to find out what type of paint system you're working on before starting the paint polishing process.

To test a car to find out if it has a clear coat finish or a single stage finish you want to use a paint cleaner and a white cloth of some type, if you're working on a white car then you'll want to use a dark colored cloth because if the car is in fact a single stage paint then you won't be able to see the white pigment you're removing on white cloth, so use a dark colored cloth when testing white cars.

Good luck my friends.

 

Really?

 

As a general rule, if you can catch your fingernail on the scratch you probably won't get I out with a buffer. And factory clear is generally to thin to wet sand and buff it out. One thing you can try is to take a piece of 400 or 600 sand paper and fold it, then carefully scuff inside the scratch. Put on a couple coats of paint inside of scratch then put clear over the top. Then gently block the new higher clear with 1000 or 1500 being careful to only block high spots. Then gently over that with 2500 then buff. May not totally disappear but will be less noticeable.

 

Hmm my 03 Sequoia must be single stage white because when I restored the finish it was chalky and the water turned milky running off. It wasn’t taken care of before I got it. I was under the impression that most of Toyotas with superwite were single stage.

 

I just finished buffing out the scratches on my 2016 Tundra and the paint looks vibrant. For the most part I'm done. I just have the top to do. I used a 6" rotary buffer purchased from Harbor Freight and I was able to work most of the minor scratches out. For the sides with the heaviest scratches I used the Turtle Wax rubbing compound, green tube, and worked on them with a cotton strip and fingertip pressure. Second pass on the truck was with a polishing compound (Meguiar's Fine-Cut Cleaner #2), and then followed up with Meguiar's Gold Class Carnauba Plus Premium Paste Wax. My truck surfaces look better than new now.

I don't know what grits the Turtle rubbing compound and Meguire's cleaner are, but they worked.

The trend today is to put something on the car surfaces to make it look shiny, but shiny doesn't protect the clearcote. IMHO wax adds an extra layer of protection to the clearcote that the quick spray, or quick application products don't. The Meguiar's wax I mentioned is pricy but you get what you pay for. I tried it for the first time this last time and I like it.

Car paint needs maintenance too. I waited too long to put a good wax on my paint but now that I see what it looks like I'll be doing it much more often.

 

I went with nufinish but now I will try and fix the scratches. I am looking at the 3M products. Has anyone tried those products?

 

This stuff is great, had a friend that detailed cars, before he passed away, and he swore by this stuff with a coat of Mother's carnuba paste wax on top of it . When he finished my cars, I'm almost positive the bugs I hit going down the road picked up speed as they bounced off the hood.

 

For those with white paint, Toyota used a single stage on most/if not all their cars trucks until just a few years ago. Pearl white paint(like on Lexus cars) was a 3 stage paint, base, pearl coat, clear coat.

BTW pearl white on the Lexus cars is a superior paint, had a 1992 SC300, always garaged/under a carport its whole life, paint after 26 years still looked mint and better than a paint job on new Toyotas. I really wish Toyota would show the same love on their cars/trucks with that pearl white, even if it is a $1000 option. If the quality of the paint is as good on my 1992 Lexus, it would be worth the $1000 upcharge IMO.

 

Funny - the issues I have with the paint on my truck are nonexistent on my Honda

 

What ... a Lexus with awesome paint? Can't be. LOL. It is a Lexus after all!

Is that recent or like a few years ago, cause I don't recall paint problems with older vehicles, (say 2010 and below).

 

My Crosstour is a 2010 - no issues.
My Tundra is a 2011 paint is soft nicks easily and dead is some spots - hard to care for.

 

Once you get your finish cleaned up, consider a couple of coats of Klasse.. It’s an acrylic sealer glaze that lasts months, even with washings. You can apply waxes, sealers, etc... on top of it.
It’s easy to apply. To get multiple coats, I did it one evening and then did a second coat in the morning. It’s easy to work with. And inexpensive.

 

I would use a dual action polisher to eliminate any chances of burn through. Then you can use cquartz or any other ceramic coating which will thicken your clear coat and make it harder to scratch.

 

You adjust for inflation, these loaded up Tundras were about the same price as that 1992 Lexus. The build quality on these Tundras isn't nearly as tight as that car, you look at things like panel gaps, quality of the paint finish, quality of the interior plastics/fit/finish inside, quality of the leather, the wood trim, etc. 27 year old Lexus is miles ahead of anything with a Toyota badge except a new Land Cruiser and maybe a loaded Highlander(I'm surprised at how nice those are inside).

 

For the past 12 years or so I have used only Zaino products on my cars and trucks. A good clay bar, polish, and sealer every 6 months does a good job on my vehicles. The trick to keeping your paint looking good is to use only quality products, wash it every 2 weeks minimum, and if you get minor abrasions or spots from bird droppings remove them as soon as you can.

I have used these products on 3 Lexus cars and my previous 2005 Tacoma that I traded in for the Tundra and my Tacoma was still looking brand new when I traded it. I know that pictures don't always show defects but here's mine at 13 years old. Some paint chips was the worst that I had but the overall finish was still deep and clear. All my cars are garage kept. That's a great help as well. If it's outdoors then everything needs to be done more frequently.

 

They definitely decided to cut cost on the paint, it is sh*t.

 

Lamikela is right, waxing with professional products makes a massive difference. But your scratches look like they are only clear coat scratches. Anyways the clear coat they put on Tundras now are pretty thick and they scratch easily and smudge. You basically have to wax it yourself every 4-5 months.