Hi Came out to my car today and noticed at the front of the bonnet (Hood) that it appears to have developed spots of some kind. Raised nodules all over the front that where not there last month. Smooth to the touch and randomly spread not near any chips or dents etc. Anyone know what on earth this is and how it happened and most importantly how to fix it. Is this an issue with corrosion/perforation of the metal from underneath. Picture attached
The hood is made of aluminum. It is likely that the original paint was chipped due to impact with road debris, and the hood surface had been repainted without proper preparation. The fix would be to sand off the paint down to primer, then respray the color and clear coats.
Damn that sounds expensive fix wise. It must of had some chips filled at some point but its been a very good paint match as I did not notice at all. Guess its not going to be a fix under Toyota warranty
Well went to a few places today for some quotes. Bonnet has corroded from the inside to the out and has caused these micro blisters. So will need to be replaced. And then a front end respray etc looking at £450 think that works out to about $750 in dollars. Toyota had a look at one of there own bodyshops and said it has had a respray at some point in the past and while a very good job may have caused the corrosion but then again they said it might not have and in actual fact maybe corrosion has what has caused my paint job problems instead. so right now I am waiting on them phoning me to see if they are going to do anything or just leave me in the lurch its clearly a 50 50 chance.
Improper repairs..it will get worse. Looks like the shop did not prep the surface prior to painting. Lots of dealerships use "lot lizards" to cheaply fix imperfections prior to selling. Good luck. Talk to a shop, to strip, prep and paint the hood can be done..negotiate. SCH-I605 ? 2
To update on this I have got Toyota to cover it under the corrosion warranty thanks to a brilliant manager at the Toyota dealer who had seen it before and managed to convince them its the water trap that caused it. Its going in on Monday for a brand new bonnet and will be painted to match the car. My question is what will they need to paint to match it. I know they do the wings but would they need to paint the grill part and then blend it into the front bumper as well?
Will not need to blend the bumper. Bumper is plastic and usually does not totally match the sheet metal anyway. (Look, closely and I bet there is a slight difference). No grill paint for same reason. At times, depending on the color, they will blend into both fenders for a color match. Samsung Note 2 ?
Painting should match pretty close. You didn't notice it last time. Typically they paint up to the seams where possible. That's a natural eye (and paint) transition point that will allow for very slight color differences that you will never see. I your case the hood has great seams all the way around. Post pics of the result.
Thanks guys will post some pics when I get it back. Once this is all done my next jobs to get the interior shampoo cleaned it needs a good clean
wjtracy, I'm not trying to insult you or be condescending, but have you owned your '06 Prius since you became a member here back in 2006? It's a very light hood that I can lift with my little finger. A hood made of "normal" steel sheet metal would weigh way more. Maybe you just haven't lifted your hood that much to notice it. Are you aware that the rear hatch is aluminum too? It won't hold any magnetic signs where most people put them, so I had to put the few that I have on the rear quarter panels. Ken (in Bolton,Ct)
The hood requires a different primer and prep than basic auto sheet metal since its aluminum. If not done properly it does exactly what your car looks like. They can match the hood paint really close using a spectrophotometer which tells the painter how to blend the paint to match the fade of the paint. Spectro's are used widely today in most high end paint shops. It does not work on the plastic bumper's though as plastic cures different than metal. A good paint shop should be able to match the color of the hood really closely. The bumper if ever need to be repainted will be a pretty bad color mismatch.
Got the car back and its looking amazing. Brand new hood and paintwork matched perfectly they even polished the rest of the car to make it look the same. Total bill would of been £800 or around $1200 so cant grumble