"Please clarify clear-coating" an alternative view

The Show
1

The guys recommended that clear coating is always a scam. This is not strictly true and depends on the auto manufacturer and the paint on the vehicle. My wife and I both own Toyota Corollas CEs. I have a '03 metallic beige Corolla and she has a '08 white Corolla. While my car has arguably had a harder life, the paint is still like new. However, the paint on her car is ‘chalking’ off. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that the paint must be bad or they forgot the clear coat. A little bit of research showed that Toyota does not necessarily clear coat their matte or flat white paints in the 9th and 10th generation Corolla. So, I would suggest doing some research to see if your car actually has a clear coat. If it does not, you might weigh the cost of the clear coat against your feelings on chalky paint after 5 or 6 years.

2

I know of no ‘matte or flat’ paints on any Toyotas. Only in a few ultra expensive BMWs and Mercedes.

3

Perhaps ‘non-metallic’ would be more technically correct.

4

base coat/clear coat or 2 step process is standard on all cars now. or mass produced cars intended for the US market. chime in on any new cars that do not use it. rolls royce has 7000 colors they produce. you can request a flat paint from them if you want.

5

Your white Corolla had a clear coat, like @Stoveguyy said. So if it’s chalking, that’s the clear coat failing. No way they could forget it, all cars get it.

Edit - oops, looks like I’m wrong. Learn something every day…

6

From a detailer on another blog:

Could easily be SS [single-stage] paint, Toyota used a lot of SS paints, especially on white vehicles, most times I come across SS, it's on a Toyota. I even did a 2008ish FJ Cruiser a few months ago that was SS paint, not sure why they are still sending cars out like this when clear coats are on just about every other car out there.

Your description of the white residue on the clay sounds very familiar to what I’ve seen when claying SS paints. To make sure hit it with a some sort of compound by hand on a clean area and if you get paint residue coming off (applicator turns white) you’re most likely working with SS.