I have noticed that my megnetic grey paint is prone to scratches. Is it just me or is the paint rather soft? FishHawk
Mine seems to chip awefully easily. I've only had it 6 months and it allready has quite a few chips in the front. Planning on picking up touch-up paint next time I'm at the dealer. The paint does seem pretty soft/thin to me.
I've noticed with all my Prii, 04, 05 Silver and now 08 Seaside Pearl that they DO tend to scratch easily. This is one reason I hesitat to take my Prius thru an auto carwash. I agree that the paint seems rather "soft"
Toyota uses an environmentally friendly paint system for the Prius, but the results are not as durable as the old high VOH type paints. Tom
Interesting----I still have 6 weeks wait to get my 2008 but I am thinking that maybe I should consider the paint protection the dealer offers. Or what are some good after market products?.. The more I look the more they all seem the same----- Any thoughts on this?
go4less, I wouldn't bother. I got talked into it by the 'hard sell', but it doesn't cover dings or scratches, just anything that sticks to the paint. IMHO, wash and wax, and you probably will never need it. We did have a problem with pine sap when we were living in Georgia, however, so I got talked into it....
I put a "clear bra" on it seems to help. I taken a couple of thousand mile trips when I first got my Prius. It stopped the chips and all the stuff I gathered during the trips.
The paint is not good at resisting scratches or rock chips. DO get the clear 3M-type bra installed after delivery. Many tint shops sell/install it. It will save the front of your Prius from looking like it took a blast from a shotgun. I would get the strip above the windshield done as well. I've not had any problems with the non-touchless car washes, but the one I go to is very new. And I don't trust the gas station car washes.