any of you have numerous rock chips on your front bumper?

current milage 1200

I haven't driving highway alot but well, I was washing my car today n found

like 6 tiny little paintchips on the hood, front bumper all of them had paint off and had black plastic out on bumper and metal on hood.

I don't know if this should happend in this early stage of this car's life how bad they will be in the future?

I mean I will get a touch up painting kit to fix them up but well this is messed up

I might need to get a new bumper every 2 years or something

 

Enjoy the thin layer of paint Toyota/Scion applies to their cars... I have over 20 little chips now... I've begun not to care.

 

stone chips? sorry to hear that.. yeah my old civic got lots of those.. nothing really anyone can do.. this is what happens to cars low to the ground sad to say..

toyota's paint for the tc is acid-rain and scratch resistant.. also from what I've read it's urethane based paint.. which is pretty tough.. but there is a disclaimer in your owners manual about the bumpers and body shop work.. about how thin the covers are.. that sucks.. but think about it.. they cut small costs where they could to deliver the whole car.. honda cut corners on my 1996 civic.. thin sheet metal but nice bumpers.. i'd rather take it this way.. with the tC having thicker sheet metal..

best thing I can think of.. is a good layer of wax.. and if you're really worried (after touching them up with a fine paint brush, not the fat one that comes with the dealer touch up paint) try a front nose mask.. or a half mask.. but even that can cause abrasion to the front end..

unfortunately, i know you don't want to hear this.. it's going to happen.. my 1996 look like it had zits.. lol.. but in time when it gets bad enough, repaint the bumper and start all over again :D

 

I have a few on my xB. On the hood, down to the metal. One even started to rust. I put touch up on it but it still bugs me. I even found a big chunk of plastic (or whatever its made of) missing from my rear wing. I have no idea how that could have happened unless it was raining rocks or something. At least I haven't found any chips on the bumper yet. If this keeps up I'm just gonna get a CF hood; at least I wouldn't have to worry about it rusting. This is frustrating because I had like 45K highway miles on the Cavalier I got rid of so I could get my xB and the paint was in better condition than my xB's now with only 10K mostly city miles.

 

the reason why the tC is prone to chips is because of the flat front of the car. best thing to do is get a clear bra. we have it on our demo tC and we've never gotten a chip yet.

http://www.clearstatement.com

 

First thing when I get my tC, I'm going to get a clear bra installed. Seems like a worthwhile investment. =D

 

Mud Guards do wonders!!!

 

I bought a long 3m clear bra from www.rockblocker.com ..... you can order it in their bulk area as wide and long as you want.. I just put it at the bottom of my bumper because i have 2 big scratches by where the the foglights (will) go so i figured in time the bottom part of the bumper is goin to get more messed up..

You can always order it in different sizes so that you can make it not 1 big long tacky looking line but rather even up with the lines on the bumper.

I figure if it looks like hell down the road, it didnt cost me that much, only $6 for 3 ft that i just installed in the area below the grill of the car. I mean hey if i bottom out again, its gonna hit the 3m rather than scratch the paint

 

Yep yep, SCION PAINT SUCKS!

 

good just bought those... between that and keeping 3 carlengths between me and the car infront should help a bit OH! and dont drive behind trucks

 

thats why I am getting a clear bra!

http://stores.ebay.com/Discount-Clear-Bras

Best price I have found thus far

 

Actually I think many new cars are plagued by this problem. Something to do with new EPA regulations governing paint thickness & dilution, etc.