I keep my car clean and wash once per week sometimes twice. I put many miles on my car due to work. The issue is paint chips and now they are getting bigger. I also have one chip above the windshield that has turned into rust. Should this be under warranty? In case it matters 08 Xb in super white with 48k miles.

 

The paint chips and chip on the windshield are not going to be covered under warranty. It's wear and tear.

 

yeah, sorry, but getting pelted by debris driving on the high at speed isn't manufacturer defect.

 

Windshield is fine its above the windshield on the roof.
It's pretty much crap that my 140k mile 00 civic si has better front end paint than my 08.

 

Sorry I read it wrong I thought you said chip in the windshield. Yes I agree its crap paint but almost all new cars have this problem.

 

Can't wait to hear Toyota when I trade it in......"that paint sure is rough" me "yeah toyota sure does know how to paint a car"

Besides this issue my scion has been trouble free. By far the best car I have owned.

 

Use touch up paint before it rust.

 

If you have paint chips as high as your roof, how close do you follow other vehicles? It sounds like maybe too close!

 

when you wax your car make sure the bare metal gets some. the wax will seal the bare spots and prevent rust

 

I for one have had the same problem from the first day I bought my xb. I have included a pic of my hood and all the white specs (I have at least 50) are all paint chips from the first two weeks from when I bought it. The long chip you see is from a stone that decided to do a little skipping action like when you throw a stone across a pond . I don't drive close to no big trucks and I don't live or travel down gravel roads or driveways. This is definetly a defect in the 'quality' of the paint applied at the factory. I spoke to an insurance claims adjuster and he told me that the paint has a seven year manufacturers warranty and that my hood will be covered; not should. I still haven't checked into this but its definetly looking bad and my car needs paint soon. I'm hoping my insurance agent cuts me a check for a paint job cause then I can go buy a fiberglass or carbon fiber race hood. Also, I have two bullet hole chips in my windshield and a huge one that is the white mark on my passenger side pillar. Thanks to a trip to South Dakota this is what I bought back. The insurance will also cover the windshield if it needs replacing which in my case it does. I have a 89' camry with 300,000 miles on it and the hood and windshield look nothing as bad as my 08' xb.

 

wrap the bumper, hood, and and roof in clear vinyl = problem solved

 

FWIW -- it doesn't require a truck, car tires are perfectly capable of spitting out stones. Even my road bike can do that.

 

The point is the paint is far less durable on newer cars than earlier cars. I'm pretty sure in the twenty years that my camry has been on the roadways it has followed many vehicles with tires that had flung rocks into the pathway of the car and into the hood but left no damaging effects. The clear bra vinyl is a nice solution to the poor paint quality but it is what it is. New paint jobs = Lesser quality craftsmanship.

 

This may well be true, but since we can't very easily do anything about that, I'm just suggesting that a greater following distance reduces the likelihood of stone impacts and resultant chips. Outside of that, there's always the bottle of touchup paint (I have mine )!

PS. I regularly see cars traveling at 50mph or more with not much more than a car length or so between them -- outside of increasing the likelihood of collisions and stone chips, I'm really not clear what advantage it brings.

 

I keep my distance. This may sound stupid but I think a majority of the chips are from bugs hitting the paint. Once again I take care of my cars hell here is a pick of my 10 year old si in the front from yesterday.....better shape than my scion

 

Even my wife called it out. She said why does this car seem to attract bugs and why does the front of your car look like you shot with a bb gun......sad.lol

 

Even my wife called it out. She said why does this car seem to attract bugs and why does the front of your car look like you shot it with a bb gun? sad.lol

 

The flat front end does not help, I have had 5 rock chips/dents on the front in 5200k miles. I opted for the Corgan bra and installed it last night along with my wing, I think it looks just fine, especailly since my front end will now be safe.

The problem with todays paint is the thinness and clear coats. Rocks hit the clear coat and rip the paint off to the metal.

A tube of touchup paint is also a must and its $10 from the dealer. Mine matches up well and I fix everyone I fine right after it gets washed.

 

I like the Colgan bra as well (and it's far cheaper than shelling out $500 for a clear bra!!), except that the top wheel well side clip doesn't hold on very well, even after bending it. I clean the inside of the bra from the bugs and dirt that fall down inside it with a vacuum every time I vacuum the car, and it seems to do pretty well. I bought a bottle of vinyl cleaner to help get the baked on bug guts off the front of it, but haven't tried it yet.

Def paint the chips with an small, fine painting brush. The application ball and brush inside the bottle of touch up paint is crap.

 

Honda has some of the softest paint/clear out there, thus making it more resistant to the chips. Our xB's paint/clear is rock hard.