To the other Scion owners:

[5-lO]

I know we have atleast 2 tCs and atleast 2xBs (well one no longer owns theres) on here now and I have a question for all of you:

How was the quality of your paint?

Im finally going to get into it with Toyota over it becuase it has gotten rediculous. I have swirls, scratches, chips (in places that rocks could not cause) that paint looks like its 10 years old! I was the car weekly or atleast every two weeks when im busy, with ALOT of water, a wash mit, good towels, and shamois.

The paint also appears to have faded, that or the clear coat has lost all of its luster EVEN AFTER A WAX!

There are many many Scion owners, not just tC's that have posted thier issues over on scionlife, and I just want some input.

Thanks!

[coupe]

As far as the swirls and scratches there isnt much you can expect them to do.
For the rest of it i would be complaining.

Can you get pics of these imperfections?

[5-lO]

As far as the swirls and scratches there isnt much you can expect them to do.
For the rest of it i would be complaining.

Can you get pics of these imperfections?

The swirls arent just your typical swirls though, they show through a good wax.

Im gonna get her all cleaned up tomarrow or thursday and get some good (not so much only 2mp) pictures taken to post up, I know you know your ish.

Also taking it to a body shop, to get some input.

[coupe]

Some vehicles have extremely soft paint, so soft that if you so much as look at it wrong it will scratch lol
I did a 97 red civic and all my MF towels scratched after i wiped off the polish. It really sucked, polished out all the swirls and scratches in a 2'x2' section then went to wipe off the polish residue and would rescratch it all over again. I had to go buy new vroom (from target) MF towels right in the middle of the detail. I wasnt happy.
The way you talk about your paint reminds me of this civic. Nothing wrong with the paint, its was just very finicky and fragile. Becuase of that all the elements it faces everyday has a much stronger affect on it.

What swirl marks actually are are hundreds of thousands of small scratches. They appear as swirls becuase of the way the light hits the paint and then bounces to your eye, makes them appear circular.
If they are deep enough and there are alot of them no wax can hide them. Then having black paint makes it even worse making every imperfection stand out like a soar thumb.

Talk to a few different body shops, there are so many who really dont know anything so get different opinions.

If you need help taking those pics let me know, there are some tricks to make it easier. Its hard taking pics of swirls.

[nascarnate326]

coupe's the first one I thought of after I read the first post.
Yes this post is a waste of server space.

[coupe]

I really wish i could see this paint in person.
You might have to take a road trip to my place in the spring......

[5-lO]

Im going to try to get a full detail in tonight (ext/int) while Im at work ... since chances are we will be slow (first day of the month + its cold out +its soon to be winter = no one is buying cars) and Ill bring the digi with and score some pictures.

And my question to you then Rand is, how is soft paint not a manufacturers (sp?) problem? Soft paint leads to deep scratches which could lead to premature rust through (which is warranted for 7 years) and I doubt Toyota is going to want to be replacing panels AND paint on thousands of cars in about 4-5 years.

[coupe]

Becuase it really isnt a problem. You just have very soft clear coat. I wouldnt worry about rust or rust through if the swirls and scratches arent down to the metal. If thats the case then you do have some serious problems.
The only other explanation is you have single stage paint. *Ussually* SS paint is soft and easily scratched and is extremely prone to oxidation.

[GregFarz78]

What color is your car again? Is it bad clear coat or just weak paint? Its probably a losing battle unless toyota issues some kind of recall, people complained on the forums about the sentra has crappy paint too (I beg to differ never noticed any problems myself) but I dont think any car manufacturer is going to take a messageboard seriously. Is there problems with any other toyota cars? I'm sure they use the same paint for toyota and scion.

[lone_wolf025]

Some vehicles have extremely soft paint, so soft that if you so much as look at it wrong it will scratch

Thats why in a way I'm glad I'm not working in a shop on customer's cars. I have seen that first hand and has had a severely discouraging effect on me persuing a career in auto repair. IMO its cars like that that take all the fun out of owning or working on them.

Though considering how Scion is supposed to be Toyota's "cheap but hip" brand one would assume they'd probably skimp out on something to keep the prices down.

[crazypontiac03]

I doubt they will do anything for ya, other than tell ya to get lost. Ur paint only has a warranty for about 3 months.

U could save up and get a body shop to respray some clear,if that actaully the problem.

[XMBlackGT1]

I know we have atleast 2 tCs and atleast 2xBs (well one no longer owns theres) on here now and I have a question for all of you:

How was the quality of your paint?

Im finally going to get into it with Toyota over it becuase it has gotten rediculous. I have swirls, scratches, chips (in places that rocks could not cause) that paint looks like its 10 years old! I was the car weekly or atleast every two weeks when im busy, with ALOT of water, a wash mit, good towels, and shamois.

The paint also appears to have faded, that or the clear coat has lost all of its luster EVEN AFTER A WAX!

There are many many Scion owners, not just tC's that have posted thier issues over on scionlife, and I just want some input.

Thanks!

The Silver on my 04 Solara (that has spent 90% of its life parked in a garage) is horrible too. I have a ton of swirls and large pieces of paint sheeting off of the car on the roof. I have washed it and had it professionally detailed several times and it still looks horrible. I am not quite sure what to do with it at this point, except keep complaining to Toyota.

[coupe]

I would love to see pics of these problems you guys are having with your paint.

[GrandAmGT1996]

/\
Siks moms pictures getting old?

[blake]

toyota and nissan, and a few others but they are the most popular, the darker the paint..the worse the quality clearcoat is.

my dad runs a body shop and he does warrantee work on those and mitsubishi's all the time b/c of people complaining about the clear coat being so sorry..seems like the factory(s) would do something about it but guess now

you have to keep them heavily waxed/polished otherwise they go to crap...fast

my friend that had the blue evolution, the first mod was getting it repainted w/ a better clearcoat b/c right off the lot you could tell it was bad in some random ass places

[XMBlackGT1]

Surprisingly, Toyota is repainting parts of my car right now as we speak under warranty. We'll see how it comes out. They know how picky i am about it.

[HiFiCarGuy]

you have to keep them heavily waxed/polished otherwise they go to crap...fast


That sums it up for me. I keep a bottle of Maguire's Tech wax in the back of my car along with their scratch-x and some microfiber cloths. I wash the car once a week and wax it every other. Whenever I get a noticeable scratch in the clear coat I start rubbin the scratch-x. I've had remarkable luck with the paint on my tC. Barely any scratches or swirls and nothing more than a few rock chips on the front end. I really baby the car tho so that could have something to do with it.