Paint Not Up To Scratch?

October 27, 2010

The Auris has now done 1100 miles and I looked carefully at the paint surface to find a good few swirls and scratches.

Following suggestions from the Supagard thread I had a detailer pop round for a look. He was not best impressed by the paint quality said he,especially compared with my traded-in A class which I think has tougher paint. He thought some manufacturers were happy to see substandard product leave the factory and rely on the customer to complain. Suggested I had a moan to the dealer. I won't do that as I reckon he's being hyper critical + he wants some business.Nevertheless I do feel the paint needs some TLC so next month he will be washing, claying, sealing with G-Techniq C1 crystal laquer (http://www.gtechniq.com/shop/3s-for-cars/exterior-coatings/c1-crystal-lacquer/) + waxing.

I guess this may be OTT but hey ho, I've never had a car detailed before, but I've never felt I needed to before either!!

Don't know if the Prius paint is better quality, coming from Japan unlike the Auris - maybe I'm just becoming a fuss -***** :rolleyes:

October 27, 2010

Hi the paint on the Prius is very prone to damage from external sources so watch out for bird lime it can and will eat through the top coat to the colour coat in under 36 hours and Toyota will not repair the damage .

October 27, 2010

Which colour did you go for? My metallic silver looks great. I didn't need to clay it before applying Meguiar's NXT.

October 27, 2010

It would be interesting to see if your detailer has a paint depth guage and took any readings. Some of the problems start with the dealers and the good old jetwash, bucket and tatty old sponge prior to delivery.

You won't regret it if your detailer is good, they can work miracles. Not the most exciting people to go for a beer with though :)

October 27, 2010

It's dark blue Ashpole-would have had the reddish colour but wasn't available on the hybrid.

The detailer said a scratch on the rear spoiler was probably down to the dealer using a dirty sponge as fluffmeister suggested. He did have a lamp of some type with him that may have measured paint depth. Will know more when I see him to do the work.

Dissapointing to read that bird lime can damage the paint so Quickly. Hopefully that won't be an issue when I have it laquered.

October 28, 2010

It's dark blue Ashpole-would have had the reddish colour but wasn't available on the hybrid.
The detailer said a scratch on the rear spoiler was probably down to the dealer using a dirty sponge as fluffmeister suggested. He did have a lamp of some type with him that may have measured paint depth. Will know more when I see him to do the work.
Dissapointing to read that bird lime can damage the paint so Quickly. Hopefully that won't be an issue when I have it laquered.

I was away in the channel islands working mate, mine was parked up at home whilst away and a bird dive bombed it. By the time I got back at the weekend it had chewed through the collinite wax, the sealent and etched it's way into the paint.

I had to use my G220 polisher to get rid of the mark left, and told the mrs that when I was away to keep an eye on the prius for bird poops and if she spot's any just to rinse it off for me.

Great cars, but very soft paint. The lamp would have been to look for fine swirls and sratches Monya.

October 29, 2010

It would be interesting to see if your detailer has a paint depth guage and took any readings.

When I got my new Gen3 (pearlescent white) detailed, the paint gauge showed 90-100 microns depth. That was much better than a old Porsche 911 the detailer had just worked on, where the paint depth was only 30 microns.

In my case the dealer had done a good job during preparation, the detailer didn't see any swirls but did find one tiny spot on the lower rear bumper where some of the protective wax had not been washed off.

As a matter of policy, I do wipe bird !Removed! off my car as soon as I spot it. I have done so for years. But the story about the bird !Removed! eating through Collinite :unsure: worries me as I had assumed the extra coat of Collinite superwax would adequately protect my car! Perhaps that particular bird had eaten an especially pungent brand of curry powder... :wacko: