Peeling clearcoat

Is it blizzard pearl by chance; that colour coat was failing.

 

I've noticed some of this starting on my 2014 PIP in Silver too, only on my drivers side doors and only on the portion of the doors right below the window that is angled more toward the sky. I attribute this particular location to my car being parked in one spot much more than normal during the pandemic as I shifted to working from home. Drivers side is south facing on my driveway, so it's baking all day. Not that it should fail, but I think this is a contributing factor.

I've also slacked on things like waxing it as the car has gotten older.

What's the best approach now to help mitigate it from getting worse?

My 2005 Honda Pilot is certainly suffering clear coat issues on the roof, but at 17 years it's doing fairly well.

 

I have the feeling that Toyota's choice of clear coat is deliberate. My wife drives a blue 2010 Camry hybrid. There are surprisingly a lot of them in this area. Every blue one that I've seen has the clear coat flaking off in similar areas. Those areas are the roof, the edge of the door just below the windows, the hood and the trunk. It started going bad around 2017.

There was once an interesting article that explained why car companies changed the car styles or colors every 4 to 5 years. Om essence, the idea was to make the older cars appear outdated so that there was a reason to trade in a perfectly good car with low mileage and no problems.

I find it extremely odd that the local paint shop says that they can't do anything about the peeling clear coat but they can repair and repaint the dented fender or door where it was run into.

 

They can fix it but it means painting the panel. Plus blending it into the next panel. If you have enough problem areas it is more cost effective to repaint the whole car. Most pro shops take off all trim, some windows, fix small dents and end up costing many thousands.

Alternatively, take it to Maaco for less than a thousand and they spray the whole car. You will be able to tell its been repainted but maybe it does not matter.

In many cases, drive through carwashes are responsible.

 

must be the cali sun, i haven't seen any problems around here. my 2004 is down the street and still looks good.

 

You’re gonna need to maintain and protect your car if you want it to last long term. If you only go to drive-thru car-wash or use toxic chemicals like ammonia, its not gonna protect your paint. It’ll actually speed up the erosion/peeling process.

My advice is use quality wax like ceramic coating. Also clay bar wax to remove contaminants. Here’s the wax that I use on my prius and audi.

https://a.co/d/hNH54Qj

 

Ammonia will strip wax I think; I use it to wash my polishing clothes after waxing.

 

So. My 2008 has hhhhoooorrrrible. clear coat. I've used a pressure washer to try and blast it all off it comes off in huge chunks. I've priced out repainting and it's hard to spend 2 grand on a car that is that old.....I'm thinking I will just repaint it myself this winter. I plan on buying a spray gun and using my compressor to shoot new color and clear coat. I can buy enough paint and equipment for under $300 to do the entire car. It's just my time which I don't have much. The other option is to remove all the clear coat and badges and trim and headlights myself and then have it sprayed by a local shop. The prep work to paint a car is like 8 hrs of labor. Spraying the car both color then clear takes about 4 hours total including drying time I understand. If you don't have much clear peeling you can rattle can clear coat it yourself. But in my case. Redoing the entire hood, roof and then sides is what it needs.

 

Would you need to strip what's left first??

 

Last spring the clearcoat began peeling off my roof. A lot is off there by now, but none elsewhere. Base is "Blue Ribbon Metallic."

 

Paint Society - YouTube
This resource has given me much good information and the confidence to be able to DIY.

 

Yes absolutely. Even If you want your car wrapped which also costs $2,000 but lasts 3 years..... the difference in layers would be very visible. Clear coat can be wet sanded off. It is just labor intensive. Best to do compete panels sections. My car is so bad it is my only option.

 

My Car is Blizzard white, I'm anal about all my cars. The car sees covered parking for 5 of 7 days a week. As described by others the paint suddenly started peeling just below the seal of the passenger window last month and now suddenly the driver's door. This is clearly poor paint quality, and not a lack of maintenance. The pisser is that three months ago I noticed the nose was getting a bit of wear from my daily commute. I hate repaints over old parts so I purchased a new factory nose, headlamps, marker lights, emblems, and grille assembly from Toyota. Now my simple freshen up is turning into a mightmare, did I mention the rear spoiler finish just started failing as well.
I own my own lift and do all my own service far ahead of Toyota's recommended scheduling. As a commuter car. I never expected to keep this car past the use of the green sticker, but it hasn't let me down until now.... Likely another $2500 to paint the nose and now both doors plus replace the rear spoiler, only to sell it off.....

 

As an FYI, no wax or any other coating will prevent an inferior paint job from peeling. The paint flaking off the car is so thin, it's ridiculous. My car has never ever seen a car wash, gets washed with a new microfiber and dried with new microfiber towels with each weekly washing. No chemicals other than wax, and I'm the original owner.

 

Toyota charged extra (still does, I wouldn’t doubt) for this colour.

 

I agree 100%, paint is my Kryptonite. No matter what the car will never be the same as a factory paint job in terms of quality (I’ll be able to detect that it’s not perfect and it’s blended). Yes a proper repaint could easily top 15k