Toyota customer service,on paint chipping.*must see

What is the point of your correspondence? Are you just venting your complaint, or are you expecting Toyota to take some action?

Is the issue whether or not your car has clear coat; or is the issue that regardless of the paint that was applied, you find that the hood and front bumper has excessively chipped?

I think your issue is the latter. In any case, with 53K miles logged, its not likely that Toyota is going to take any action with respect to repainting your front end.

The official Prius website shows the various colors currently available. Note that many of the colors have "Metallic", "Mica" or "Pearl" in the name, which implies the painting process includes a clear coat that contains something special to produce the various effects. However Black and Super White do not have such a suffix.
Toyota Prius Colors

 

black is indeed clearcoated.

regardless, after 53k miles, paint chips are inevitable. of course, it looks worse on black. you can't expect the car to look new for that many miles unless you've thrown a clearbra on it or something. the estimate to repaint my hood was about $350, but it's not a priority for that cost to me.

 

My 2005 SuperWhite has had the rear bumper cover repainted twice due to minor accident damage. It was done each time at a (different) Toyota dealer authorized repair facility. Both times clear coat was specified by the repair facility.

 

Paint chips are a sign of a lot of highway driving. Those big trucks raise a lot of pebbles and dust. Clear coat or no, you'll get the chips.

 

DH isn't a collision/body shop guy, but i learned a fair amount from the body shop guys when the car was keyed a couple years back.

 

Hmmm, my '04 Prius was clearcoated, but it was tideland pearl. They claim my '07 FJ in sun fusion is NOT clearcoated

Since my FJ isn't clearcoated, I have an easier time looking after the paint. First of all, the FJ paint appears better quality than on my Prius. Second, I use an aviation care product on my FJ, it works great

Aero Glaze Dry Wash (One Gallon) - Sporty's Pilot Shop

I then follow up with NuFinish, very good results

To wash I usually use Fleet Wash.

Fleet Wash (One Gallon) - Sporty's Pilot Shop

I was unsure of how this product would react with clearcoat, so I only used it on non-clearcoat vehicles

Oh, and if you want to remove those nasty scratches from plastic headlight lenses

Sporty's Windshield Care Kit - Sporty's Pilot Shop

Especially up here with snow/slush and sand spread on roads, the headlights get absolutely caked with grime. So at a gas station, after cleaning the windows, I use the squeegee on the headlights and tail lights. Naturally they get scratched all to hell

The aircraft windshield kit restores them nicely

 

Are you sure its clearcoated?

Lexus black is single stage, no clearcoat. I've detailed many of them and they are definately single stage. I've never detailed a black Toyota...but I wouldn't be surprised if it too was single stage.

The issue with the chipping is because of the aluminum hood I think.

Anyways the dual stage vs single stage has no bearing on chipping. If anything single stage cars are LESS prone to chipping, but they are way more prone to surface marring. Lexus single stage black marrs when you look at it funny, but it polishes up like nothing else...

 

Well tri coat paints definately have a clearcoat because its one of the three coats

My Lexus is a tri-coat.

 

123 miles a day. 80% freeway... and you were expecting??

i know of a few people who do the same thing and they take extraordinary measures to insure their paint job lasts longer, but nothing really works and the color is not going to make a difference with up close inspection anyway.

your hood is aluminum. a soft metal. it will have pits in a relatively short period of time. a coating will only go so far to prevent that.

 

hmm- maybe the body shop guys were wrong, then...

at any rate, that would explain my swirls even with careful washing.

 

LOL, I had a feeling thats what you meant

Mine isn't bad, it definately chips a good bit but after 125k miles I wouldn't call it excessive. Steel hood though...

Really and truly it doesn't matter, the paint is all the same paint its just clearcoat has no pigment in it which makes it a little harder, less prone to scratching etc. The reason they do the black single stage is that it looks a lot richer and deeper...

 

I've noticed that white and light beige paints appear best at "hiding" damage and dirt. Problem with white vehicles in this climate, in winter time you'd think you engaged a Klingon cloaking shield.

One thing about FJ's and Sun Fusion: Toyota calls it "yellow" but to me, a VW New Beetle is truly yellow. FJ's like mine, I call "school bus yellow"

Pull up next to a school bus at a red light. You'll know what I mean ...

 

That's probably the conflict with the poster too, why the conflicting info.

 

If I only care about rust (not appearance) then since aluminum don't rust I don't need to worry about paint chipping, right?

 

This is true for the hood and the rear hatch. Other body panels are steel.