Problems with paint chipping away

I had issues with rock chips on my front bumper of my Scion tC before moving to this car. It seems to be that Toyota has brittle paint so I had the front of my car (hood, mirrors, bumper, fender) clear bra'd to prevent rock chipping from freeway driving. I've never heard of paint chipping from a bike rack but it makes sense if you were bumping into another car even if its so slight.

 

Uhh, don't take this the wrong way, but while the formulation of the paint appears to be less robust then normal paint... in my opinion, if you scrape against something... what do you expect? The paint is not bulletproof. For example, it isn't going to hold up against someone keying your car any better/worse then normal paint. Perhaps learn how to park or avoid parallel parking? a 3000 lb vehicle touching another is going to do some damage. Especially if all that momentum/energy is focused in the area the size of a pencil eraser. That said, the only chips I have are on my hood, from rocks. And a license plate imprint where someone rear-ended me. But yeah, the dealer stuff is always a scam. Your right to avoid that stuff.

 

The new eco friendly car paints are not as durable or scratch and chip resistant as older car paints were. It's not just Toyota, I just did a Google search and virtually every make of car has people reporting paint problems.

I never use car washes anymore and I had Clear Shield (same as Clear Bra by a different company) put on the front the week I bought the car, so far so good.

 

As I read your post, particularly the parts I highlighted in red below, I felt like I should check the calendar to make sure it wasn't April 1st.

I can't imagine what issues you'd have if you weren't exceedingly careful drivers...

 

I had the same problem. I had a black 2010 that I ended up selling but the hood had tons of small chips from normal driving. In fact, I took it to two different paint/body shops and asked how much to buff out and was told at both locations that it was beyond that and that hood would have to be repainted. Of course, I didn't do this, but I was disappointed in the weak integrity of the paint on my Prius.

 

Dont mean to flame here, but if you cant paralell park without using the braille method, you should drive a bit further and find a nose in parking spot. Where I learned to drive, its never okay to come in contact with any other cars while parking or while moving.

Its because of bad parking of others that my 4 month old Prius has 2 dents in it already. What is slow, gentle contact to you can look alot like a hit and run to someone else.

But yeah, the paint chips easily, ive noticed!

 

I have decide to never visit Maryland with a car
I though parking by sound was a urban myth

 

This thread is a hoot! Let's see: "it's hard to see out of the back of the Prius, so just go on back until you gently bump the car behind."

That's a "collision," and if you bump someone's collectible car, then flee the scene, they can prosecute you for hit and run.

 

Lets all just agree that the paint is more "brittle" when compared to previous paints, due to its more stringent environmental standards.


I would like to suggest that if you don't like the paint, then perhaps you should get your bumper "contact areas" repainted with a more... abuse-tolerant paint variety?

Personally, It is not OK to come into contact with another car - ever. If you can't drive/park without doing so, then you should have some backup cameras, proximity sensors, etc installed so you can mitigate the issue entirely.

 

or buy one of these

 

...and you passed a driving test?

 

I've had mine for 6 months and notice a couple chips. I had a 1985 Cressida for 25 years and the paint was much better. I think it's the body material, plastics, that keep paint from binding as well but I really don't know. I just know that I'm doing the exact same driving and there's more chips in this car than I had in 15 years of my other. The paint and clearcoat just aren't as thick.

 

The Prius is an eco-friendly automobile. It is just decomposing back to it's natural environmental state (dust). It starts with the paint chipping off.

Don't you guys remember seeing the Prius TV commercials of the eco-friendly decomposing Prius?

Keith

 

Sounds like you need to run a rubber belt around the car as found on NYC taxis. VentureShield film will help but cushioning is indicated.

 

I had the same experience with my 1997 Camry, but the paint on the 2010 Prius seems to chip very easily. I have a couple of chip marks on the left hand side toward the front, and frankly, I have *no* recollection of coming into contact with another vehicle or service. I know a very nice body shop which is very cooperative about painting the chips -- I'm not good with the touch-up paint myself -- but this is not pleasing me.

 

A good driver's vehicle never comes into contact with anything...thats just the bottom line.

I would not at all consider you "exeedingly careful" at all. There is no reason your vehicle should ever bump into the vehicle behind you when you are parallel parking. You should never scrape your bumper on a curb. Gently touch my bumper and I see you its going to cost you $500 for a bumper repaint.

Whenever your vehicle comes into contact with something...it will be damaged.

 

Hey everybody! Well, most every body. Back off the snides. The OP just asked if the paint was a problem.

 

I had a 2002 Polo and it had all sorts of scratches and paint chips. The Prius is not better, but not even any worse.

I have a paint chip on the engine hood due to a small stone flying off from a car preceding me on the highway. I had several of them on the Polo as well. After one tough winter I was actually surprised that the Prius still looks "new" (just washed it the other day - I cannot hand wash it, therefore I have to rely on the car wash - but since Germans are really careful on how their precious cars look, the quality of car washes here is really good).

BTW: in parallel parking in Germany if you touch the car behind or in front of you it is considered an accident. You have to be *really* sure you made no visible damage whatsoever. Otherwise you need to call the police for checking it. If you leave the place without notifying the police, it is considered "hit & run". If you don't call or wait for the owner of the car to come back, he can call the police and trust me, they do find you again - Police here have nothing better to do than finding people who chip other people's cars when parking....