Silver 2018 4Runner Off Road and I’ve got chips all over it and they are starting to rust. We have Jeep Wranglers that we take to the mountains and through the woods with lots of brush and they look better than my brand new 4Runner. I also hit a bird and it scraped the paint off all the way to the primer. I have talked to national customer service and they tell me they cant do anything because it is rock chips. I have more miles on all my other vehicles and drive the same route every day and this 4Runner looks likes its got 100,000 on it! There is also a spot under the clear coat that they tell me is sap! Not so! The paint is too thin and too soft. It is a flaw in the paint. Anyone had any luck with something like this with Toyota? I am not going down without a fight!
Rock and bug chips, tree sap, and bird strikes. None of those 3 are justifiable warranty issues.
Thin paint is becoming an epidemic. I suspect there are reasons. Part of it is cost saving. Thin paint means they pay for less paint. Part is fuel saving - thin paint technically shaves a little bit off of your fuel consumption due to weight reduction. If you pair that with a score of other weight-saving measures you might eek out another 1mpg on that EPA test.
You’re also not the first to talk about soft paint. Toyota owners have complained about that before. So have Tesla Model 3 drivers. I’m not sure what the reason is behind the softness.
But when you combine modern bare-minimum paint thickness with modern paint-all-the-way-to-the-ground front ends, you’re best advised to get a clear bra when you buy a new car, no matter who made it.