Prius Paintwork

[OllyOwl]

I bought a Prius 1.8 in September 2013, it is in Cabernet Red, anew paint released in 2013. I am finding this paint to be very soft and easily damaged. I have brought this up with the dealer who, as usual, wants to blame me! The car has lots of small scratches on the edge of the roof, I questioned whether these could have been caused by the roof cover which is in place on delivery, etc. Has anyone else found this coloour to be particularly soft and vunerable to marking? I also have lots of swirls which appear when the car is in direct sunlight, these have been caused by a mechanical buffer. In fairness to the dealer I believe this was done prior to delivery to them as the reason for the polisher to be used seems to be a large bird lime stain on this side of the car. Help please has anyone else encountered these sort of problems?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Presume you bought the car in 2012, and that the cabernet red was a new colour in 2012.

[sanzomat]

This colour wasn't an option on the "plus" but if it was I suspect my other half would have wanted it. As its a metallic colour won't it be a "two pack" with a clear laquer coat so the scratches must surely be in the laquer not the colour coat so the colour underneath shouldn't be an issue?

One thing I would be concerned about is that if there is evidence of some possible boywork repairs (the buffing marks) has the car had accident damage repaired between leaving the factory and delivery to you? I've always found that repaired paint is always softer than factory paint. I'm not an expert in such things so am willing to stand corrected but my belief is that factory applied paint is oven baked but re-spray paint dries at ambient temperature so I've always assumed this is why repaired paint is softer.

I bought a brand new renault in 2005 and after a few weeks I discovered evidence of repaired accident damage. There were pin holes showing through the paint on the side of the car that turned out to be poorly finished filler (thick enough for a magnet not to stick very well). Further investigation showed a paint edge around the door shut area and roof gutter line indicating where masking tape had been painted up to. Clearly I wasn't happy to discover that my brand new car had been damaged and repaired before being delivered to me. I complained to the dealer bu they said they hadn't repaired it. I showed them what I had found and they agreed that it looked like it had been repaired but they said it must have been done before it arrived at the dealer. Apparently it is quite common for cars to sustain damage in transit, on and off ships, on and off transporters etc and the trading body says that it is perfectly reasonable as long as the repair is to a good standard. In may case I claimed that if it was possible to find the repair then it can't have been done well enough. The dealer said it looked fine to them. I suggested an independant assessment but the dealer said I would have to pay for it. In the end they offered me a choice of having the repair re-repaired or two free services by way of compensation so as I was paying my own service costs at the time I went for the latter after being reassured that the repaired area would be covered by the same warranties as the rest of the car (so if it deteriorated I could claim).

So, in response to Olly Owl - check carefully to see if your car has had a repair done - its more common than you might think.

[OllyOwl]

Hi Frostyballs, yes sorry slip of the digit - it was a new colour in 2012 and from what I understand there have not been that many Prius sold in this colour. The dealer I bought mine from has not sold another in this colour. I have also phoned various dealers to get a response to any issues on this paint colour but no joy.

[OllyOwl]

Hi Sanzomat, thanks for your comment, I can't find any evidence of respray but I do think someone has tried to "buff out" the bird lime. Apart from all this it does seem to me the paint is really soft to the point that I have run my fingernail along (under the bonnet) and it appears to leave a definate mark.