Paint Condition after 2+ Years of Ownership

[Idriveft86]

I live in east coast. Which means 4 seasons, occasional bird, has bathed in salt, it's a DD, it goes through car wash twice a month (called soft cloth LOL), never waxed since I got it. So far the paint seems ok if you get close you'll notice swirl marks, 2years of ownership.

[Kamakanani0]

2 years 36k miles . For some reason my passenger door above the handle paint on the body line actually came off already. Not even sure how I detail my own car but I've only polished it once and used a Dual action polisher so it would be impossible to burn through the paint but somehow that area was probably not painted right lmao. But here it stands still beautiful.. I've used chemical guys jetseal blacklight and butter wet wax. Also used sonax polymer net shield , meguirs 26 yellow wax, garry deans infinite use detail juice, juice boost and his washing method.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[funwheeldrive]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Haven't had for 2 years but 6 months and 20,000 miles I hope I am qualified to comment on the subject.
I read all the time about how bad the paint chips but have not really found that with the Lava colour. About 98% of my time is spent on the highway and part of that is down a stretch near some gravel pits. This means there is a pile of rocks that get thrown up by other vehicles. So far I have taken more high velocity hits then I care to think of. Of this only three have actually chipped the paint and they also all left dime sized dents. When I detail I can see small specks in the clear coat where others obviously bounced off but a quick buff removes all sign of the.
I even got hit on the top of my bumper with a tail light lens that flew off a car in front of me and it left a fairly deep grove about 4 inches long but the paint did not crack or chip at all.
Wonder if the Lava paint is more flexible and able to take hits better or something along that line.
Be interesting to know if there are one or two colours that are worse then others when it comes to damage.

Hot Lava is the only color available (aside from silver ignition and yellow) that wasn't created by Subaru right? Maybe that makes a difference.

I've had my car for 1 year, and it has some chips, but it's still in acceptable condition. I knew what to expect when buying the car though.

[Hydaral]

Maybe I got different paint to everyone else... I've only had it a year though, it's a 2014 MY. Different paint formulation?

I clayed, polished and sealed (2 coats) with Autoglym products about 2 weeks after I got it, since then, monthly washes with about 6 weekly Mother's carnauba waxes.

My paint is still flawless. Even after being hit with some small quarry stones that fell off the back of a truck I was behind.

[Choco]

Had mine for 2 and half years, almost 30k miles and my paint has bunch of swirls. It's mostly because I used to wash my car the wrong way. I do have quite a bit rock chips. Used to have a huge bird crap mark etched into paint, I clay barred that and its gone now.
Surprisedly, it does look very nice a far though.

[AJPG]

Mine is white, and I buy at soon it release, so summer 2012...
If it wasn't for my bad driving habits the paint would continue like new. The front bumper have scratches on both sides (cones at practice) also have a chip on front (highway driving)... Thanks to my coworker it have dings on both doors.

I do care about the car, so is garage keep, 2 clay so far and zymol one every month.

But I do really would like to paint the car complete with a little more pear on the white.

[FReSh]

I bought mine in March 2013 and have ~14000 miles on it now. Opti-coated when new (within the first few hundred miles) and I think it has made a difference. I only hand wash it with microfibre sponges and drying towels. There isn't any noticable swirling, only the occasional really light linear scratch mark from things flying past or over the paint near the fenders. The front bumper gets plastered with bugs, but I haven't noticed any nasty chips. The rear quarter (fender bulge area) seems to be an area where rock chips can occur more easily. I've got one or two small ones there. Otherwise the car is pretty flawless except for a spot by the license plate where I hit it with a screw driver by accident.

[Tcoat]

Hey @FRSupra thanks for the poll! Even though it is still early it is very interesting that the results show that the vast majority are fine with the paint. Not the results I expected to tell you the truth.

[meeskee2]

My front bumper and hood are pretty beat up. However nothing out of the normal for the amount of highway driving I do(128 miles/day) and where I live(NH). I do drive it year round so it sees quite a bit of salt being thrown from trucks.

[Black Tire]

I have seen normal wear and tear after 40k miles and 2.5 years. That being said, there are parallel scratches in the finish that are either from a dealer car wash or my snow brush in the winter. I plan to rectify this in the spring.

Now what really bothers me is my parents car. They bought a Kia Soul, and the paint and clear coat on that car is much better and harder than the paint on our cars. My parents had run it through car washes all the time before I detailed it this fall. It didn't even need an correction, as there were no detectable scratches or swirl marks in the paint (??? No I don't have a "special" light, but still, What? Why?). I think the clear coat on this car is super hard. I quickly clayed it a and used CarPro Reload and it looked fantastic.

[FRSupra]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

but have not really found that with the Lava colour.
Wonder if the Lava paint is more flexible and able to take hits better or something along that line.

My car is Hot Lava

Originally Posted by Kamakanani0

2 years 36k miles . For some reason my passenger door above the handle paint on the body line actually came off already. Not even sure how I detail my own car but I've only polished it once and used a Dual action polisher so it would be impossible to burn through the paintAttachment 100529

Not quite. I have also burnt through the clear, and believe it or not it was on the passenger door.

Originally Posted by funwheeldrive

Hot Lava is the only color available (aside from silver ignition and yellow) that wasn't created by Subaru right? Maybe that makes a difference.

It's still a FHI based product however, even if it's a Toyota exclusive color. The Hot Lava found on the IQ is actually a different paint code (4R8)

Originally Posted by Hydaral

I clayed, polished and sealed (2 coats) with Autoglym products about 2 weeks after I got it, since then, monthly washes with about 6 weekly Mother's carnauba waxes.
My paint is still flawless. Even after being hit with some small quarry stones that fell off the back of a truck I was behind.

I've actually not had any experience with Autoglym. I'll have to check it out.

Originally Posted by Black Tire

Now what really bothers me is my parents car. They bought a Kia Soul, and the paint and clear coat on that car is much better and harder than the paint on our cars.

^This. Not something I'd expect. Not Toyota.

Clearly FHI.

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Not the results I expected to tell you the truth.

Well, if you read some of these replies, it's like: "Well other than x, x, and x my paint is good... LOL

Thanks everyone who's responded so far.

[FRStock]

Only damage is underneath the fog light where I hit a cone, the paint cracked.

I run a spray-on 3M clear bra and after 12 months, 4k miles in road trips, track days, & 2 winters the front still looks new.

[brandonblt2]

The paint is pretty shitty I've had my car for about a year with 18,000 miles a few paint chips on the front im going to have to touch up later. In 2 years I will probably have the front end repainted due to all the bird crap eating through my clear and I wax pretty regularly.

[Kamakanani0]

Might be off topic but lol I met one of my friends to pickup my Jordans and he put the box on my trunk @_@ Omg my mind was going nuts lmao and when he left I took the box off and it left a deep scratch that's still there


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk