How delicate is the paint on these cars? My 22 all of a sudden has chips in the hood. I don't remember being behind any truck losidng it sand or rock load.
Most road debris comes in the form of dirt/ICE clods containing rocks falling off vehicles or being kicked up back on the road by vehicles drifting off/back on to the road surface. The closer the vehicle is to the ground the more likely it is to get hit by these small projectiles. Truckers, for example, rarely get windshield dings. Finally, softer paint due to environmental concerns/regs.
If you guys use salt on the roads in Pennsylvania, that doesn't help. My driver side fender sustained a small ding from a careless person opening their door and it hasn't peeled or anything at all. You can see the grey underneath. I'm still pissed about this after all these years because it happened before I even made the first payment.
pretty sensitive, a lot of complaints over the years. aero shape of the front doesn't help. a lot use clear bras
Mine came from the factory (or maybe the port in California) with a paint protection film on all the leading edges/surfaces. This stuff might even be self-healing since a while ago I had a pretty good gouge in the hood that I can't find anymore. Arizona is a pretty harsh state, very abrasive to things moving through its environment. Lots of rocks, sand, and gravel and plenty of pickup truck tires to fling that around. I've gone through three windshields since purchase. The vulnerability is assumed, and the insurance is compensatory.
Waterborne is probably as good as urethane base and top. In my experience the priming system that Toyota uses is not to bad. As long as you keep an eye on the chips that haven't penetrated the primer for oxidation the only other issue is appearance. Be aware, most body shops do not spray waterborne, even if they assure you they do, in case you're thinking of having the work done.
Black with the blue speckles. It is the nightshade edition. I understand that the car came with ceramic coating. Didn't have a choice with that. And I thought the ceramic would be a better protector. I guess not.
In my experience, the white paint is very delicate. Leaning my bike's handlebar - which is wrapped and has an end cap - took paint off of the side.
Is yours the pearlescent white? I have the flat white and seems to be very tough and only have a two very small chips on my front bumper and the car is coming up to 6 years old in March - I have only done just 20,000 miles though . It is doesn't seem to mark if bird droppings land on it either, unlike the metallic white paint I had on an Audi Q5.
It is, and I really didn't want it - I wanted the flat white. I didn't know - still don't know - if they made both in 2019.
Stopped at the dealer because I noticed pry marks where they replaced the door sill. It will be getting fixed in two weeks. So I asked about the ceramic coating and what the wty covers. Well it isn't paint chips. But the chips can be fixed for $30 which seems cheap and it wont be a touch up pen fix. We will see. The black paint has blue flecks in it.
Ceramic does not protect against rock chips. Think of it as longer last wax. With that being said, you will have to reapply it just like traditional wax. The only protection you can add for rock chips are PPFs and car bra.
Speaking of rock chips... my under 60k Prius's windshield has the sparkles (little chips/divots seen in the sunlight) in it as bad as many over 100k-mile cars I've had. I may have to change the windshield out at 75k miles just for my own sanity.
Environment certainly plays a role. In Florida I never had to replace a windshield. In Colorado I had too every year or so. In Kansas it seems to be less harsh than Colorado but I haven't going through a full super hot summer yet.. I do need to respray my car this Spring....hmm.
Were you in central or North Florida perhaps? The amount of sand and aggregate on our highways around here is what is causing the nicks in the windshield.
