maybeillcatchfire

my other cars have never had it this bad at all. i had a 98 m3 and that is a very flat grill and .i use to get hit but it wouldnt leave a chip. my dads extreme s10 now that is pretty flat hell thats flater than the tc and still no chips

vosteven

On the tC most of the time you dont even hear the rock hitting the car. Thats when you know you have a chip. Most of the time I find my chips when I am washing my car or just inspecting it. Scion has some cheap paint. I would've been happy paying a couple hundred more for more durable paint. At this rate I am going to have to repaint my front in a year.

fearturtle44

Is it Scion with cheap paint or most cars? So far I have not had any problem with the paint on my Flint Mica. Just wondering if it is car paint in general which is not as good these days???

Kevin

Rivulent

I've got 1700 miles on my tC and about 4 minor chips in the front from rocks. I wouldn't blame scion for it though, we've had 3 hurricanes roll through so our roads have been debris-filled. Only problem I have with the tC is the vertical bumper loves to kill insects and leaving a mess , but a weekly car wash keeps it going

smilingjudy

Rock chips - okay, that's to be expected....big deal. But on mine, a rock chip + car wash = paint explosion. I've never had a problem like that on any other cars. Definitely cheap paint and definite issues with it sticking to the non-metal parts of the car.

IsItSnowing

At least you don't see sheets of paint falling off like a bad sunburn like some of the Dodge Neons I see running about...

Rich_Manas

the chips has nothing to do about the quality or cost of the paint they use. what makes the paint itself expensive is how many different colors they use to get the final color. case example the flint mica. ask any color expert and they will tell you that there's 6 different colors mixed into that paint.

also, there are other toyota, lexus and scion vehicles sharing the same paint why is it i've never heard of this problem with the exception of the xB which to has a very flat front area.







which of these cars based on looking at the front would get more chips? let's leave the price and maker of each car out of the equation but base the poll by looking at the picture.

Mish

I just took delivery of my tC on Monday of this week. I wanted to get a clear bra put on the front because my old car had TONS of rock chips in it. I called an installer and took the car in yesterday. They called me back a few hours later and told me that they could not put the clear bra on due to the kit they had was the wrong size. Apparently when x-pel / clear-bra set up the kit fot he tC, the dimensions they put in were too big. Really sucks because I was looking at the car yesterday and there are 3 very small chips and one larger one already. I only have 250 miles on the car too.

Has anyone else had this experience with x-pel / clear bra?

Mish

IsItSnowing

Translation, they probably messed up the install and blamed it on the kit.... Looking at their site it is one of the hardest ones to install, so I assume they ran into problems...

I have see it on a couple of cars and looked like it fit to me???

jlaznlover

damn it, i washed my car today and noticed a paint chip oh the hood. doh, ruined my day.

smash

I'm just curious; do most of the others having this issue with paint have a silver tc? I wonder if something's up with that color. Thought I read some people with flint mica and black weren't having any problems at all with the paint. Grr.

Mish

That's what I wanted to know. If anyone had this done to thier car or not. The people that I was dealing with just started doing the clear bra a few months ago. They were willing to put it on for the price of the kit. No labor charge.

I guess I'll call someone else and just eat the labor charge.

Mish

maybeillcatchfire

ok maybe it isnt cheap paint maybe its a badly done paintjob. maybe it didnt cure riught maybe they messed something up to rush the car for the national rollout. who know but again i say somwthing is wrond the beamer is flat in the front the xtreme s10 is even flater with more paint and still not as bad as my tc

wyldekat25

I have a Black Cherry TC and have 1 chip on the door by the handle and a couple of scratches and I've had it 3 months too. So include that color in the lot. *mumbles....and takes self to find touch up paint*

lucky

the paint on the car does seem subpar. It scratches easily, and even off the lot, there's a TON of orange peel. I want to wetsand the _____ and get some nice mirror reflections, the way it should come off the lot.

smash

Well.. I just dropped my car off this morning at the dealer to have the oil changed, the clutch squeak examined and the paint chips looked at. The guy took one look at the front of my car and started saying something about the Toyota paint team would be in later this week.. I don't know if that's a good or a bad sign. Hopefully, if, IF they tell me they'll repaint it they will be able to put a stronger clearcoat or something on it.

Seems it would be rather pointless to have the whole front end repainted only to have it chip again in a week. I'll let you all know what the dealer tells me this afternoon or tomorrow, hope it's something good!

smash

Of course they said the paint chips were normal. They even called the manager out to assist me-- he proceeded to walk me around the parking lot and say "look, see all these cars? They will have the same type of chipping on them.. it's from normal wear and tear!" He then decided it would be better to stop talking after 10 minutes or so of looking around at 4 and 5 year old used cars- he could not find even ONE that had chips anywhere NEAR the size or frequency of the chips on my 3 month old car.

He claims he'll be calling me back later this week after talking to his regional manager.


In the meantime, I am writing 2 letters- one to the dealer, to put my problems and my experience in writing, and the other to Scion to make them aware of this problem, and that others are going through the same thing, and to let them know of my sub-par experience with the dealership manager.

I strongly urge you, as a Scion owner, to voice your complaint to Scion as well if you are having a serious problem with this like I am. It might prove useful in the future.
Mazda had a large paint problem with the new RX-8's and ended up recalling numbers of them to be repainted.

Contact Scion: 1.866.70.SCION or write them on their website at http://www.scion.com/contact/contact_main.html

FrostyMC

I have a 2013 FR-S and the paint is bubbling all over the car. The rear, the top, and the sides are all affected. At first I thought it was bird dropping, but no amount washing seems to be able to get rid of it. First noticed it about two months ago.