Paint chips

I heard they purchase their paint wholesale from a guy named Oleg in Belarus who makes the pigments from ground up Nazi tanks destroyed on the eastern front.

Or maybe rocks tend to chip paint when they get flung into it

 

My Fender Flares are chewed up like that but the paint is fine other than a couple chips down from the gas door.

 

I had this issue with an older car. It was caused by the rubbing of an acordian style vacuum hose on the paint

 

I was asked by the OP to read this thread to get my opinion as a former paint and body guy. I will say IMHO that this is not and issue of the crappy paint that Toyota uses. Yes, improper door alignment could cause this area to stick out a little allowing debris to strike it. If the door is misaligned then I would have Toyota correct that but I would not expect them to repaint any of this for free. That being said, you should do something to prevent rust in these areas whether it be touch up paint or a blend by a competent shop, it just depends on how nice you want it and how much your willing to spend. Once again, this is just my opinion which was solicited by the OP, not looking to get into a debate with anyone on here.

 

Wheel spacers with no mudflaps. I drive nasty coliche roads all the time often too fast. Factory wheels with no offset and a set of weather tech mud flaps, and here’s mine after 37k miles of fun. I’ve got a set of rock steps installed too that catch a ton of it.

 

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That is insane. I dont have one chip in those areas. I've been on ton of dirt and rocky trails. 24k miles on my truck as well..

 

Like everyone has said, Toyota doesn’t sound like they will do anything about it. I have A buddy who purchased a 2017 Tacoma double cab and this is the identical spot on his quicksand truck and it hasn’t been hardly touched. He has no running boards, factory mud flaps, factory rims, and aftermarket tires. Drives the same roads as I do, has 20,000 miles and 70% of those miles he drove on gravel.

 

I stand by my original comment. It seriously might be a rodent/ varmint of some sort. Set up a trap next to the truck, or maybe a trail cam.

 

Oh crap. I sure hope the rodents haven’t moved from the wiring to the paint. If so there goes another couple of grand.

 

Bringing this baby back from the dead. That is definitely from gravel. In Oregon we use red rock on our mountain passes for traction. Stuff is nasty. It gets beaten down by chains and turns it into 100 grit sand paper as it slams your rig. I have only taken my truck once over the pass this winter and it has chips in the same spot now. Plus my rear fenders got chewed up and there are some nice gouges in the rock guard a few feet behind the front wheels. Lots of them actually. I have stock tires and Rek Gen mudflaps FYI when washing today the nicks were deep enough to pull fibers out of my wash mitt lol

I plan on touching up the door area with some paint. My question is what clear clear bra should I use to put over it after? What Toyota installed from factory is chewed up really good now (in front of rear fender area at least). Super rough when you run your hand over it. Is 3m my best bet? You can get them in 6” wide strips which would be perfect for a small area.

*I have driven hundreds of miles on regular gravel without hardly any scratches/chips. It must be smaller rough gravel that does the damage. Only that red volcanic rock has caused me any chips really so far.

 

I live in Oregon also and the cinder sand blasted my truck the first 3 months I had it driving all over the state and up and down 97 (bought in Jan ‘17)

These are from that spring, and a picture of the clear bra or whatever is on my Subaru that looks like dirt, but are pits in the plastic.

https://imgur.com/a/AkQpM2A

 

Yup, that’s how mine is starting to look. My fender flairs are painted and the black plastic under the paint kind of stands out. Doesn’t really bother me but it would be nice to slow it down.

I think my silver hides the pits in the clear bra so so. I may just do the door area with it and call it good. Would only be a small piece and I’d double it up.

 

My 2017 Tacoma has the exact same issue. It started as just around the door and then tonight I noticed chipping around the fender flare. I have aftermarket tires, nothing crazy though, and the stock mud flaps.

 

Damn, thats rough. I checked mine and luckily it still fine. Did some offroading quite a few times. My paint is black too, so shows everything. I got ko2s and sema wheels, stock mudflaps.

Good luck man!

 

Yeah, just bought some running boards tonight to try and help and I’ll get some touch up paint. Pennsylvania puts some nasty cinders on the roads which is what’s causing it I guess.

 

It does look like your rear doors are sitting in past flush like the other poster stated as a possible cause. I have 270k on my Tacoma and off road for work every day and my paint doesn't look as bad in the areas shown on here. Down low in front of rear wheels is paintless however.

In western Canada I know they sand the roads a lot in the winter which basically sand blasts the paint on vehicles, I'm guessing that's what you're referring to as cinders?

 

Not sure about gbake, but here in Oregon we use red cinder stone not sand for our mountain passes. Think of very small rocks the size of a pea and smaller. Enough of it that the roads turn red and the ground 20yrds off the road as well due to the snow plows launching it. It’s shitty stuff.

 

If I didn't love snowmobiling I would move away from areas with winter. Salt, brine, beat juice, sand, cinder, all stuff that seems to ruin our vehicles. I'm good with slowing down and using 4x4

 

Rock chip protector is the black piece of plastic.

 

Do you still have your factory mudflaps on ?