Inferno paint fading

Same here, I am in Phoenix and never experienced anything like this

Glad I came across this thread with search.
My last truck, a 2010 Taco was garaged kept and traded in for my 2016 with 60K miles, paint was pristine.
Now for my 2016. It was treated exactly the same. I use a commercial car wash with sealants (I know, I know ). I have a monthly unlimited pass so I typically have it washed every week or two.
At the beginning of March I got a new car and the Taco was relegated to outdoor life. Over the last month I started to notice some dulling in the clear coat on the hoop behind the scoop. This last week I noticed some significant dulling along the front of the roof. Made the mistake of looking at the roof.
What gets my panties all twisted is my neighbor has a 2018? Taco and his paint looks fine. It has lived outdoors its entire life.
Eight months, just 8 months outdoors and my paint is trashed. The only other change was a switch in car washes to one that appeared to do a better job.
Not sure if it's even worth putting in a claim with Toyota. I know they historically tend to do nothing. I have a Toyota care extended warranty that most likely excludes paint.
Here are pics of mine and my neighbors trucks.







Neighbors truck...needs a bath

 

Is it parked outside in the sun all year? Do you live in a particularly sunny climate?

All red automotive paint will fade and degrade in the sun faster than any other color and to have any longevity the vehicle needs to be parked indoors. Black is a close second. I would never own either color if I had to park outside. But that picture looks like shit for only being four(?) years old. Kind of surprising.

 

Ours is doing the exact same thing! We’ve had many cars that were kept out and had same exposure but never had this happen. Ironic that the only one with an issue with sun/heat exposure is called Inferno.

I have a call into Toyota.

 

After making a phone call to Toyota and having a long conversation with the service manager at my dealership, I was able to get Toyota's factory rep to agree to look at my truck. If it wasn't for inside connections at my dealership, it was unlikely to get done. I brought the car to the dealerships body shop and was given an est. of about $4K to repaint the hood,roof and all 4 doors.
The factory rep agreed to the repairs after a short deliberation.
Their reasoning.... I have been a loyal Toyota customer for many years. This is my 4th Toyota and my families 8th going back to my Grandparents first purchase in the 1970s.
I'm supposed to drop it off on Friday.
Good luck, I hope you have just as much success. It really is a shame and Toyota knows there is a problem, they just don't want to issue a color wide recall at this time.

 

If you see how its fading in lines, I believe it to be from the sealer under the base coat. This is damage from both the neglect and I think its coming from the first layer of sealant under the base.

 

For some reason red just tends to fade once it's outdoors. I had a tan 1966 gto that I built as a C modified production class drag car that sat outside for years with little protection before I sold it. That tan color still looked great after it was cleaned up.

 

Yep. For some reason it tends to be something with red cars. Growing up in the 80's it seemed every red car looked like crap.

I'll never buy a red car....

 

I Googled why do red cars fade. Here is the answer that popped up....

It's because wavelengths associated with red are the lowest energy of visible light, so to appear red it's absorbing much more energetic wavelengths, which causes more aggressive degradation of the paint's molecular bonds. This is in addition to what UV rays are doing.

Interesting....

 

That commercial car wash you use twice a week is probably the reason why. It’s pretty well known washes like those use very harsh alkaline chemicals to break down dirt which is horrible for your clear coat. Touchless washes even more so. I bet that “sealant” they use is a mix of .5oz liquid wax mixed in a giant 32 gallon vat of water with some fragrance. The 2016 probably didn’t have as durable of a clear coat as your 2010.

 

I never go to any car wash if you plan to keep your vehicle long term.

 

Were they red?

 

^ This. Its been known for so long I assumed everyone knew that UV and red is a problem even if they didn't understand the science.

 

My 2010 was garaged kept the entire time. I used the same car wash for that truck also. Paint was pristine when I traded it in. The 2017 was garage kept until 8 months before the damage was noted. It degraded in 8 months. This should never happen. Toyota knows there is an issue with the clear coat. There is a recall on the Blue. The damage pattern is exactly the same....Hood, roof and doors below the window. They just haven't issued a recall yet, though according to the factory rep, they may be re-evaluating that decision in the future. It's impossible to live in AZ and not have your car washed frequently. The combination of sandy soil and dust storms gets any outdoor vehicle filthy. Car washes are everywhere. I have 6 within a 5 mile radius of my house. If they were so damaging, you would see vehicles all over the place with damaged paint and the car washes would be out of business. Hundreds of cars go through them every day. As long as you keep other sealants on the cars intermittently, it should protect the clear coat. I have 5 vehicles so there is just not enough time in the day to hand wash them all. The truck, due to its size, is low man on the totem pole. The dealership had no issue with me using car washes and never tried to blame them the accelerated damage. The dealership itself has a car wash.
I could accept my paint starting to degrade at 8-10 years of being outdoors 24/7 but not buying it at 8 months. Many of my neighbors have outdoor trucks and their paint is not doing what the Toyota paint is.

We are not talking about the underlying color. We are talking strictly about clear coat. This is occurring because of a defect in the clear. I had a 77 Red Chevy Nova back in the day in NY. The car was outside 24/7 all year around. When the car was sold, the paint had faded some, but the clear coat was pristine.

 

Was a bit taken back when the dealer told me the washer fluid I was using from Canadas color climate ruined the clear coat finish on my tundras roof, and hood after 18 years. I still think thats bs.

 

WATER BORN PAINT IT SUCKS

 

I have owned many Toyota red vehicles. The older ones of the 80's-90's faded a bit.
My 2014 Venza Barcelona Red metallic sat outside year round and never faded. I think it has to do with the paint finish as most of mine where non metallic paint not like the newer one. This could be the difference between the non metallic and the metallic paint finish. My 2021 Sport is Barcelona Metallic red too and no fading yet. just saying

 

The fading usually results after 5-6 years outside.

 

Well I will find out some day as a friend of mine bought my Venza and that makes the car 8 years still no fading. So I still say it has to do with the paint finish. See if we get any other replies from members here. just saying

 

I would be curious to know if you all used any non-automotive soaps to clean the car with. When I was young I made the mistake of using something that cleaned really well... and also removed all protectants likes waxes and such. Simple green will eat through most things on a cars paint and look clean... My paint did exactly what yours is doing.