smash

The other week I noticed a large (over a quarter inch) chip on my hood. It really upset me that the paint on the car would chip that easily. This week I just happened to see ANOTHER chip on a different area of the hood, as well as several chip-like,
yet raised (almost like a bubble) marks on my front bumper. What the hell's going on here??? I've had four cars now, and not one of them ever had paint that has chipped this easily or with chips this large, and especially not after only owning the car for 3 months!!

Is anyone else having this problem? I will be taking it into the dealer this week to show them, but I doubt they will do anything about it. In the meantime I'm all depressed cuz I feel like my car looks like crap driving around
with all these chips out the front of it and I feel like it'd be completely pointless to have the front of the car repainted, over a couple chips, and then just to have the same thing happen again.


__________________

Shadow_tC

I'm sure the paint is warrantied under basic coverage, which is 36mo./36000mi. The paint should not be chipping off like that. It sounds like it didn't have enough time to cure and that's what's causing it to chip/flake off like that. Go to Scion/Toyota and demand to have it fixed. It's a new car, after all...

- Desi

vosteven

Welcome to cheap Scion paint. I have had my car for about one month now annd have filled in a total of 8 chips so far. It also scratches easy. Anything that touches the car slightly seems to scratch it. And if you open the door and it barely even touches another car or wall there is a chip. SUCKS!

zizi

Do you all have Silver? I have had my Flint Mica for 3 months with 0 problems with paint.

___

Smoke20Scion

My girlfriend's Tc is going thru some problems as well, there is around 5 different places on the front about the size of a small rock, that has chipped, I know it is either from rocks, or bugs, but I have never seen this happen to any other new cars we have had.

PDM72

After reading people's posts about chipping, I searched around online and was slightly heartened to see that apparently a lot of new car models seem to be having this problem. I also happened upon this tip sheet on a PPG website.
I'm glad I saw it before I did more to it. I'm not sure what kind of paint is on the tC, but given the problems people are having, I think I'm going to follow these recommendations from here on out.

http://www.ppg.com/car_autocoat/enthusiast.htm

__________________

fearturtle44

The bubbling should not be happening. For the the others, let's face it, if a rock or door hits your car you WILL have a paint problem. It is nothing to do with the paint. Every car I have had ends up with some type of scrapes due to rocks, debris, other cars.

Kevin

UnFocused

Its normal- look how low the front end sits- bugs, debris, and little rocks on the road all get thrown up on you car.
And BTW bugs CAN chip you paint if your going too fast -IE going 80MPG and hitting a huge firefly or whatnot...

Every new car I or my parents have had- all do this. My mom's Camry had chips in it from bugs!!!

__________________

smash

Right I understand there will be some chips from wear and tear, that is common. I'm just saying that my personal experience with cars, and I've owned 4 now, I have never had paint chip this easily or this noticeably in such a short amount of time.

The fact that it seems to be -mostly- happening to those tC's with silver streak mica paint bothers me even more. I'm wondering if anyone else will be going to the dealer with this, or has already taken it to their dealer. I will be going this week hopefully and if the paint is covered under the warranty at all perhaps there is something that can be done about it.

KevinxB

I don't have a tC, but I went to my dealer after noticing numerous paint chips on my xB's hood. One of them had even started to visibly rust. The service writer told me since the marks weren't there when I took delivery of the car, repair would not be covered under warranty. I had a Cavalier with 45K highway miles on it and the paint on it looked better when I sold it than the paint on my xB looks now only having 11K mostly city miles. I think its BS, but I don't know what else I can do besides keep using touch up.

HollyDo

The bubbling should be covered under warranty it is probably caused by dust or something in the clear coat. I had that on my 4-runner and the clear coat started cracking. I never got it fixed but it was in my service jacket so that I could at any time because it was reported well within the warranty period. I prefer not to do anything to the factory paint if possible.

Creature

My G35c has severe paint chipping problems. Even little stones that have glanced off my doors or roof have chipped the paint. About half of G35 owners on the forums I'm on complain about it, but the dealer/manufacturer won't do anything about it. The word from Nissan/Infiniti corporate is that due to EPA regulations, new paints must be water-based and thus are less durable. I don't know how much I believe that story though, since it is not a problem with every new car, and our cars (the G35c and tC) were both made and painted in Japan, so I wouldn't think regulations like that would apply to them.

Hey smash, there is a silver streak tC in my parking garage at BAE in Reston, VA (I often park right across from it) -- wouldn't happen to be you, would it?

UnFocused

If you take it to your dealer they will laugh at you!!!
its normal!!!

smash

No, it's really not normal. Especially since I don't drive on dirt or rocky roads/major highways all the time. Never had a car with paint that chipped so easily, or else I wouldn't be so upset about it. It must be an issue with the paint, or perhaps this color alone since others are saying they don't seem to be having as much of a problem.


Also- I work for the DOI in Herndon, VA. So you may see my car up and down Elden street occassionally I'll wave if I see ya.

IsItSnowing

I feel for you...
The chipping is the main reason I will be having somebody put on the http://stores.ebay.com/Discount-Clear-Bras ASAP

scionista

The paint on this car IS softer than any other new car I have owned and this is number 14.

I had so many rock chips in the first month I could not even believe it. I have since done the clearbra and aside from them melting some of this soft paint with their heat gun, I have not had a chip since. The bugs come off super easy.

The body shop wants $312 to repaint a tiny 1/8" X 3" area where the paint came off the bumper. Then add in 2 days of a car rental and you are at $400. Yikes! They claim that they are only going to repaint the area where the paint came off and blend it in a little around the side of the bumper, but...they have to clearcoat the entire bumper. I need to check around and see if this is normal procedure. I do not want fresh paint of any kind on my entire bumper. You cannot reinstall the clearbra for 30 days after the bumper is painted. By then, it will be a chipped up mess. I may just get some touch up paint and carefully fill the area in. It is right where the bumper meets the metal of the fender so it may not be too noticeable.

I am still not going to pay the guy who installed the clearbra. Ba$tard!

Ivben_Blown

This link has been posted before but for those with small rock & bug chips it might be of some interest. It helped me fix a couple of small ones on the front bumper.... at least it was better than just dabbing with T/U paint.
http://www.bettercarcare.com/articles.php?articleId=27

IsItSnowing

Ivben Blown

good article!

Rich_Manas

its called get a clear bra cause with the tC flat front its highly succeptable to chips. also, it doesn't matter if you drive in a non dusty area. a car can get a hood or bumper chip driving down a freeway when the car's tires in front of you kicked a pebble towards your car going 80mph.

if people here knew what paint process toyota goes through they wouldn't blame toyota for the chips. the paint quality has nothing to do with the price of the car, its called normal wear and tear.

smash

Normal wear and tear for a Scion maybe. But like I and others have said-- I've never seen a car so susceptible to chipping. Perhaps it's a combination of the "soft" paint and the angle of the bumper. Either way it still sucks.

O well.