ok, i've seen several other threads on paint problems and i definitely believe there is *some* kind of issue... what i'm trying to put my finger on is how common are these problems (usually you only hear from the people that are having problems)? and also, i'd like to know if they are more common with any particular color...

if you are having paint problems, please be sure to select your proper color in the poll... mods, can we make this a sticky?

thanks,
Jeff

Mine's BSP - and it's doin fine - even with the cold ___ weather, salty ____ty Michigan roads, and all the ice and snow.

Don't trust the average tC buyer to know what's "abnormal." Too many first-time new-car owners.

Mine's fine.

just make sure you vote, even if you're not having problems... in fact, especially if you're not having problems... i'd like to see 75+ votes total to get a real sampling of tC owners... and i understand that the tC might be many people's first car, but you don't have to be a mechanic to know what looks bad... if your car is only a month old and you have excessive swirl marks, tons of chips, moisture under the clearcoat, etc. anybody should recognize that as being odd compared the other cars their family owns...

thanks for participating!

So far my FM is okay. However, I wish I would stop curbing my rims....

Kevin

bump! come on, let's get some more votes... so far, it's looking like about 1 in 5 are unsatisfied with the paint on their tC... i'm sure that's way higher than Scion's target, but not quite as bad as I was thinking based on reading other threads...

can we make this a sticky for a little while? i pm'd a mod but haven't gotten any response...

It was strange when I washed my flint mica the other day, it looked like faded paint blotches but only when it was wet.

Yeah I curbed my rims too.. i'm kinda ____ed cause it probably won't be the last time, just gotta be extra careful

ive notice some light scratches on one of the roof beams, and a small paint chip on the hood. I have had my car for only 5 weeks. Wasnt expecting any paint chips that quickly. But its very tiny, and I still love my car.

i've got two small chips on my hood, but i heard the rock that hit it VERY hard on the freeway, so i wasn't too surprised...and other than that everthing is fine, except i'm paranoid about scratches and such and my eyes keep playing tricks on me. i've freaked out no less than ten times in the past month i've had it thinking some line of dirt or whatnot was a scratch on my car, but it's been all good.

Looks like mine didn't get enough bake time, had very light contact result in chips and streaks.

The paint is peeling in small spots between where the rear bumper meets with the body. Maybe that's just caused by too much hauling ___...

Don't trust the average tC buyer to know what's "abnormal." Too many first-time new-car owners.

Mine's fine.


100% agree...

Don't trust the average tC buyer to know what's "abnormal." Too many first-time new-car owners.

Mine's fine.


100% agree...
http://scion.20megsfree.com/images/scionhoodpics007web.jpg


yeah right. I think people know a paint problem when they see it. Its a brand new car. The oldest one is only 6 months old!

I'm not affected, but I don't have a tC.

I purchased the Ultra-coat package from the dealership. They treated the interior and exterior. When it rains, the water just beads off and I don’t ever have to wax it. I did this feature on my 2000 Solara and I love it. It is almost a necessity on black cars.

The problem is that it cost a lot. But, by getting it, they guarantee your car against abnormal and minor paint chips and dings. It is supposed to prevent this from happening and so far it has worked for me. The money up front is way worth it because it is raining right now and my car looks good, instead of looking like it has brown dirt water spots.

The dealership said that if someone gets the Ultra-coat then they could deal with the dealership on the paint job problems as opposed to the company, which is real hard. I am finally putting some miles on the car and the paint still looks as perfect as when I picked it up at the lot. Time will tell though.

i'd like to see 75+ votes total to get a real sampling of tC owners...

They're selling an avg of 5,000 of these a month. I don't know that 75 is a representative sampling. Also enthusiasts sites like this tend to attract people that can skew the results...

Yeah i think the general consensus is that the paint is not very high quality. The "gosting" you see....like on that silver car....is caused from water getting into the paint, like when you leave a cup on a finished wooden table. The clear coat is porous. I just learned this (my car has the problem, water trapped under the protective film during shipping) and supposively a heat gun will fix it. As for the chipping, nothing you can do about it. I had a cheap paint job done on my previous car and it did the same thing.

Paint problems seem to be a big deal on this forum in the last couple of weeks. I wonder if it is because of cold weather?

I have a BSP TC with approx 2500 miles, I have more ghosted white scratches on my car than anyone on SL.com, I am so enraged I have wrote to Scion direct and went to the dealer , and all I got was "Well my daughter has this same car and hers is not like that", so tomorrow I will be going again and this time I guess I have to go full force, I will keep everyone updated for a resolution to this problem.

my white tc is fine

however its always in the garage

I just noticed 1 small paint chip on my Flint Mica tC, right smack in the middle of the hood. Its tiny, you can't see it from far away, but up close it pains me to know that my not even a month old tC has a paint chip. :? But, what can you do?

I just noticed 1 small paint chip on my Flint Mica tC, right smack in the middle of the hood. Its tiny, you can't see it from far away, but up close it pains me to know that my not even a month old tC has a paint chip. :? But, what can you do?
I almost thought I posted this :?
Cut and paste...
Washed my car yesterday and I just noticed 1 small paint chip on my Flint Mica tC, right smack in the middle of the passenger front fender. Its tiny, you can't see it from far away, but up close it pains me to know that my month old tC has a paint chip.

Gonna get some touch up paint from the dealer and hopefully it doesn't get worst...

Don't trust the average tC buyer to know what's "abnormal." Too many first-time new-car owners.
100% agree...
yeah right. I think people know a paint problem when they see it.
Considering people are posting about single paint chips, I think this thread has already proved my point. ;-)

Some moron hit my rear end last week.....
they finally got it finished and dried today.......
some moron backed it up into the garage door.....
my car is getting painted tomorrow....

I think this is a paint problem.

Is there any way to to prevent these chips/swirls from happening? like another coat of paint

We have soft paint. It dents and chips more easily than some other cars.

It's not coated with a 'ceramic'-like clearcoat, like the newer Mercedes Benz models.

If you really want to see bad factory paint, you should check out my mother's Hyundai Tiburon. Less than a year old, and the paint looks like hell.

I think people expect a very high-end paint job on a relatively inexpensive, well-built car that could pass as a relative of the Lexus IS 300.

I got a rock chip in my hood. It sucked. I cleaned it, patched it with touch-up paint, then used polishing compound on it until it blended with the rest of the car. It's still there, but not as noticable.

Someone in my apartment complex tapped my rear bumper while I was parked. It freaking sucked. There's a license plate frame-shaped, very shallow dent in my rear bumper. But it's barely noticable, and there's nothing I can do about it.

I found some swirl marks on my hood from where I had been wiping and re-applying coats of touch-up paint to the hood chip.

So I polished them out with scratch remover.

Stuff happens. If you take care of it, it won't all add up 'suddenly' and make you feel like your car turned into a jalopy overnight.

If you truly feel there is an unusual problem with your paint, call Scion Customer Relations at: (866) 707-2466.

Otherwise, go out and invest in some detailing products, and put some elbow grease into your 'paint problem.'

We have soft paint. It dents and chips more easily than some other cars.

It's not coated with a 'ceramic'-like clearcoat, like the newer Mercedes Benz models.

If you really want to see bad factory paint, you should check out my mother's Hyundai Tiburon. Less than a year old, and the paint looks like hell.

I think people expect a very high-end paint job on a relatively inexpensive, well-built car that could pass as a relative of the Lexus IS 300.

I got a rock chip in my hood. It sucked. I cleaned it, patched it with touch-up paint, then used polishing compound on it until it blended with the rest of the car. It's still there, but not as noticable.

Someone in my apartment complex tapped my rear bumper while I was parked. It freaking sucked. There's a license plate frame-shaped, very shallow dent in my rear bumper. But it's barely noticable, and there's nothing I can do about it.

I found some swirl marks on my hood from where I had been wiping and re-applying coats of touch-up paint to the hood chip.

So I polished them out with scratch remover.

Stuff happens. If you take care of it, it won't all add up 'suddenly' and make you feel like your car turned into a jalopy overnight.

If you truly feel there is an unusual problem with your paint, call Scion Customer Relations at: (866) 707-2466.

Otherwise, go out and invest in some detailing products, and put some elbow grease into your 'paint problem.'

word :clap:

i've only had my indigo ink pearl for about 4 days now...i don't have any chips or scratches yet, however, since the use so much salt here, the car almost looks like subaru blue in the sunlight sometimes. i'm going to wash it for the first time since i got it tomorrow, then i'm going to wax it with turtle wax ultra gloss. i'll use that stuff until i get my zaino wax

I put down as having a problem with my color, although the problem is not exclusive to my color. It's the quality. The color is great, but the paint and more importantly, are so thin that it takes very little to chip to the metal. I have about 4-6 major spots about 5 mm in diameter, and quite a bit more of very small dings on my hood. I was waxing my car again today (second time since owning), and I found a few dings on the side of my car. Also, i opened my door and BARELY (I made sure to not hit it quickly) a brick sign because I parked way over in my spot. I go home to notice quite a bit of paint missing now. It's really a bad paint quality. This being said, to expect this is natural because of the price, but it does suck seeing a car with less than 10k miles having so many chips. I keep telling myself "I'll be buying a CF Hood in a few years" but not because i want to, but because I'll need to replace the hood to make it look representable.

i got azure pearl...i only have a dig in front from a rock on the highway, a scuff on the back left corner(my mom rubbed up with her car), and a scratch on the bottom front spoiler....they r just normal chips that i am going to touch up in the spring...nothing too abnormal, just bad luck :eyebrow:

IIP 3 weeks old, no prblems yet, (knock on wood)

No problem on the Flint Mica so far. Have to wait until after this winter to see, after all the sand and salt.

I should also add that I'm in Florida, doing mostly all highway driving, and the highways here are always under construction. Translation = ashphalt can fly apparently.

First of all, don't bother calling Scion "Customer Experience" thinking you're going to get something out of them. All you're going to get is a run-around, wait 2 months to see a District Mgr who blows you off in under 3 minutes, and then eventually, once they have forgotten to send you paperwork and you have to call them up and request them to FAX it to you just so you can be sure you'll get it this time you'll have paperwork for an arbitration hearing. And then you're all on your own from there. I highly doubt I'll win my case because no matter how crappy the front end of my car looks now (15+ noticeable chips all the way down to the sheet metal of the car plus 2 fade spots forming beneath the paint.. getting worse every day) Scion can still claim its "normal wear and tear".

So, I'm doing what any self-respecting car owner would do and attempting to "fight The Man" on this one. Don't know if it'll get me anywhere, but at least I can say I tried and better yet- at least it's been brought to Scion Corporate's attention and maybe they'll be able to spare future owners this headache.

i had issues with my hood, seems to be under the clear coat. Dealership said they'd fix it free =)

This is making me very nervous. I just ordered a SSM tc yesterday and I hope I don't regret it because the paint is bad.

This is making me very nervous. I just ordered a SSM tc yesterday and I hope I don't regret it because the paint is bad.


Eh.. no biggie. If I were you I'd save myself the trouble and cancel the order and just get another color while you still can. I just got an estimate today for fixing the chips and fade spots and repainting the front end of my car with a more durable clearcoat from a good bodyshop and.. yay.. $1,300!!

hahaha, good sh*t. :rofl:

This is making me very nervous. I just ordered a SSM tc yesterday and I hope I don't regret it because the paint is bad.


Eh.. no biggie. If I were you I'd save myself the trouble and cancel the order and just get another color while you still can. I just got an estimate today for fixing the chips and fade spots and repainting the front end of my car with a more durable clearcoat from a good bodyshop and.. yay.. $1,300!!

Is there a link between the color of the cars and the paint problem? I just thought that flint mica and silver streak mica had the most votes because they were the most popular/bought colors.

This is making me very nervous. I just ordered a SSM tc yesterday and I hope I don't regret it because the paint is bad.


Eh.. no biggie. If I were you I'd save myself the trouble and cancel the order and just get another color while you still can. I just got an estimate today for fixing the chips and fade spots and repainting the front end of my car with a more durable clearcoat from a good bodyshop and.. yay.. $1,300!!

Is there a link between the color of the cars and the paint problem? I just thought that flint mica and silver streak mica had the most votes because they were the most popular/bought colors.


Honestly.. I don't know. It could be, they are both variations of silver. There's a dealer who is checking my VIN number to see what production batch my car was produced in, and comparing it to a customer's of his with a flint mica having the same chipping/peeling issue.. he wants to see if maybe this problem only affected certain, possibly earlier batches.

Ok, these type of threads have been posted before........

But I will way this again...If your paint is bubbling, gosting (water under clearcoat), or peeling off (like on the older Dodge Neon).

Then YES you have a paint problem and your dealer should take care of it.

If your complaining about "excessive" rock chips- then your driving on roads with excessive amounts of rocks.

Rock chips are not a paint problem!

Ive detailed a $45 Audi A6 with more rock chips than my scion!

My mothers 28K Camry SE chips just as bad as my scion. My fathers 38K 4Runner SE chips as well.

I hate chips like the rest of you do. But I dont follow closely, and keep my distance and I think my xB's front end has 4-5 tiny chips. Big deal......

This is all horrifying news being that I'm coming over from a Matrix XRS that i believe was painted with nail polish 10 minutes before i picked it up. I was really hoping after those 2 years to be getting something with decent paint.

Couple of things here folks...

1. Every time a new Toyota product comes out, there are folks on various bulletin boards that claim to have paint problems. If you have the time and inclination, go to Edmunds and search in the Solara, Avalon and Tundra threads. You'll see a lot of folks complaining about stone chips and speculation about soft paint. In the last 6 years of playing on various boards, I have seen exactly two that had genuine problem paint. One was a Solara where the paint was coming off in large chunks and a Tundra that had a similar problem on the roof.

2. When a car is new, you notice the little stuff. On your old car, you may have had enough little marks that one or two more didn't make a difference. You're hood may not have been as rounded as the Scion. There are a number of reasons that it appears to get a disproportionate number of chips besides a paint issue.

3. New paint is soft. Do you know why? They can't be heat cured as they once were. Federal factory emission rules preclude long term baking and that means it takes a lot longer for the paint to reach its maximum hardness.

4. This is the big one... there is one paint "defect" out there. Its the one where it looks like you have splatter marks in your paint. I've seen it on silver, flint and ingido. It will not buff out and doesn't show in all lighting conditions. There is an extremely simple fix that takes only minutes. Go get an extension cord and a hair drier. Set the drier to "hot" and hold it above the affected areas for a minute. You'll see it vanish, never to return.

I agree that this should never happen, but it does. It has for a number of years. I've seen it back as far as 1996 on the 4Runners and we've always dealt with it the same.

..concerning what appears to be moisture between paint and clear coat .
..there was a service bulletin around May '02 .
..moisture gets traps under the ragland (white shipping plastic)
..this stains , GOOD NEWS : it can be taken care of .
.. with a heat gun ; heat area , max. temp 156..let cool and check it out..may take several attempts . ( just don't get it too hot , might melt paint )
..it works , fix a BSM xB .
..don't know if a hairdryer will get it hot enough , but you might try .
zinc

Couple of things here folks...

1. Every time a new Toyota product comes out, there are folks on various bulletin boards that claim to have paint problems. If you have the time and inclination, go to Edmunds and search in the Solara, Avalon and Tundra threads. You'll see a lot of folks complaining about stone chips and speculation about soft paint. In the last 6 years of playing on various boards, I have seen exactly two that had genuine problem paint. One was a Solara where the paint was coming off in large chunks and a Tundra that had a similar problem on the roof.

2. When a car is new, you notice the little stuff. On your old car, you may have had enough little marks that one or two more didn't make a difference. You're hood may not have been as rounded as the Scion. There are a number of reasons that it appears to get a disproportionate number of chips besides a paint issue.

3. New paint is soft. Do you know why? They can't be heat cured as they once were. Federal factory emission rules preclude long term baking and that means it takes a lot longer for the paint to reach its maximum hardness.

4. This is the big one... there is one paint "defect" out there. Its the one where it looks like you have splatter marks in your paint. I've seen it on silver, flint and ingido. It will not buff out and doesn't show in all lighting conditions. There is an extremely simple fix that takes only minutes. Go get an extension cord and a hair drier. Set the drier to "hot" and hold it above the affected areas for a minute. You'll see it vanish, never to return.

I agree that this should never happen, but it does. It has for a number of years. I've seen it back as far as 1996 on the 4Runners and we've always dealt with it the same.

Yeah, I totally agree- thats why I said what I said above- not only that- but on Focus boards you heard about "paint problems" all the time....

Anyway. I know that I have a paint problem, and that's all that really matters in the end. Furthermore I could care less who agrees with me and who doesn't. The world has always known skeptics, and it always will. I have my arguments, and you may have yours- I'm just not willing to sit here while my friggin brand new car rots away from crappy cheap ___ paint. And that's why I'm doing something about it. You all should be doing the same thing if you think you're having "abnormal" paint problems.


And you know what ____es me off? People who want to sit here and talk like they're experts on the paint matter- why, have you worked 20 years at a paint and body shop? NO. I don't think so. Point being, all it ever, EVER comes down to is personal opinion on the matter- if you FEEL your NEW car should not be looking the way it's looking at the moment, then get off your ___ and do something about it. Don't just sit there and say "no, it's normal man I'm probably just driving on too many rocky roads". That's weak.


Oh, and one other thing. Maybe the people in this area are all on crack but of the 5+ plus body/paint shops I have gone to for estimates, they have ALL agreed whole-heartedly that, even though the chips are impact chips, they are too numerous and too deep through the paint and primer to hardly begin to be called "Normal" on such a new car. Oh, and the "ghosting" effect has also decided to get underway on my hood, too. :clap:

well good luck trying to get Scion to pay for it....

yeah, thanks. don't spare any sincerity on me or anything, please.


PS- as i've said before, at this point it doesn't really matter if the arbitrator finds in my favor or not- what's more important is that i'm bringing it to the company's attention ANDletting them know that i am not happy with the entire "Scion" customer experience. they need to make some major adjustments before i will consider buying a toyota again, for reasons above and beyond the paint on my car.

yeah, thanks. don't spare any sincerity on me or anything, please.



TRUST ME I dont have any for you- I was being scarcastic!

Ohh, and they dont care if we have a "good" cust. experience.

Why?

Because Scion has 100's of people waiting to buy a scion!

Wow, that was the most retarded thing I think I've heard all day :) Thank you.


Well, at any rate, not that you know how they run their company- but if they really don't care if their customers have a good experience, then it will eventually come back to bite them in the ___. The biggest msitake a company can make is not caring about their customers.

A car company especially requires good customer service; if the customer isn't happy it can be detrimental to their reputation and their business. It's common sense I'm not saying anything most half-wits don't know. Save you, apparently.

My last reply to this because I'm not following the golden rules of this board and "keeping my posts relevent and helpful".

First of all I am not a first time car owner, I have had a few cars before I purchased my Scion. I have a 2008 Scion TC, Crimson Red and I purchased it new in November 2007. My car currently has 4,850 miles on it. Every time I wash my vehicle I notice more and more paint chips on the hood, side doors, etc. And these aren't just random paint chips, I am talking about several chips appear to be in clusters on my hood. There are random chips on the side doors though. I will be taking my car to the dealeship to have them check it out. I know for a fact that these paint chips are not "wear and tear issues," this is the result of a poor quality paint job. And the dealership had better not try to tell me any different because I know better. There are also numberous scratches on my car, so many that I am afraid to hand wax my car for fear it will scratch the paint! One day I waxed my car and noticed that my microfiber cloth was etching into the paint in certain places. Microfiber doesn't usually scratch painted surfaces. Toyota needs to correct this problem of using low quality paints on their Scion vehicles. I purchased this car brand new for the simple fact that I didn't want to deal with wear and tear issues for a few years. That's the whole reason to purchase a brand new car.

^^how often do u wash ur car?? r u using a clean towel??

my nautical blue is fine

I need pictures, but my car is fine just too much swirls but that is my fault.

my sw is turning yellow... and the bumpers and lipkit never really matched the color of the car...

also getting little spots all over it like rust color... but thats normal to white cars

if theres anyone in the orlando area, i can get you a great deal on an awesome paint job for your entire car. i asked my toyota dealer and they said a paint job would run me between 3k-5k. i can get it done for 1500 or so, and it looks amazing.

On my 06 Black Cherry, it has dings and nicks all over the front of the hood and bumper :/ bothers the hell outta me.