Hey All, What gives?!? In my family there is my 2010 Prius, a 2010 Maxima, and a 2011 Sonata. All the finishes on all three vehicles, despite being brand new, feel like paint on an aged vehicle with a very ROUGH finish. Are the car manufacturers careless during storage and shipment now? I had to clay bar the vehicles to give them that new car paint feel. Strange. You guys have any thoughts on this?
It's up to the dealer to wash or wax or detail the cars they sell. When I bought my car the dealer had it detailed and clayed before delivery. -mort
I suspect that Chicago (or the whole midwest) is about as far as you can get from where the Prius comes into the country so it is probable that this is rail or road grime. Mine was just fine and it was trucked from Jacksonville to Miami and they barely washed it. No problem.
Mine is brand new and purchased on east coast. Feels like sandpaper. Noticed it when I washed it the first time. Guess I'll have to clay bar it. If I take it back to the dealer, I'm sure they'll try to lay it off on me.
Isn't thePrius shipped with that white adhesive-backed plastic over the top surfaces? Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I've seen it. It's removed at the port normally, depending on the distributor zone, but some of the adhesive residue may remain if it's not removed properly. My Prius was glass smooth but it did have the SET Toyogard. Does a good cleaner wax remove the roughness? Railroad dust is not removed by wax alone. I had one US made car I saw pre-delivery with the white plastic, and when it was delivered you could still see the edge image. Not well done by the dealer.
Mine was the same way, when I picked up (june 2010) it was fine one week later it was like sand paper. I did a quick clay and 6 months later it's still fine. This was a dealer not do their job and I did let them know. Just bought a Rav4 (Jan 2011) and let them know they were going to clay bar it and no problem this time
It happened to my brand spanking new Prius as well, just finished washing it the first time, rough spots on different parts of the car mostly in the front, have to clay bar and rewax the front before I bring it in for the 3m film