2024 Tacoma, Paint defects! Look before you buy…

My last Tacoma was built in Mexico, it went 211k miles and only needed the blower motor replaced at 187k miles.

 

A paint meter will tell you if it's been resprayed.

 

I firmly believe that quality, in almost every industry, has gone downhill…sharply. Boeing, anyone?
While our expectations (thanks to the past 4 years of inflation) has skyrocketed bc we want value for our dollar. if they’re going to take this much from us, relative to our salaries, at least make it halfway decent.

 

Corporate greed still getting a full blown pass I see.

 

Im guessing it is, hard to believe it was repainted but who knows.
Ill further look at door jams when I pick her up in the morning.

I like the idea of nobody's monitoring anything & filter arent being changed as they should, just debris in the room for whatever reason...

 

Is there any known difference between the two Mexican facilities?

I believe Baja has been around quite a bit longer. Mexican assembly plants keep coming up in this thread.

Also, the color White is coming up, but I’m not sure trashy paint is color specific. Other issues with white not withstanding…

 

Dunno what a "paint meter" is, but I'm sure if the port or dealer tried to conceal a complete respray Toyota will catch it.

 

I think it's something that measures the thickness of the paint. Like when detailers do a cut/polish they measure the paint thickness so they know about how far they can go before getting too far

 

It's called a paint thickness gauge. I still have one I bought for a couple bucks decades ago. It's just a tube with a magnet inside with a scale on it. You place it on a painted panel and the strength of the pull required to release the magnet determines the thickness of the paint. I don't know if they still make that simple cheap device anymore. I just did a search and as with everything else, someone felt a need to Rube Goldberg-ize even this and make a complicated expensive digital computerized whiz bang device now. But if you can find the old magnetic style it will give you a close enough reading to determine if a panel was repainted or has bondo. Update, I found the magnetic ones online for $10. The digital are anywhere from $60-$400.

 

A paint meter.
A device which measures the thickness of a coating on metal.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=paint+meter&crid=3MQGN0TA4T9C6&sprefix=paint+meter%2Caps%2C192&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

An excellent tool for detecting post-factory paintwork.
Electronic units work on aluminum and stainless panels. Also able to measure in finer increments, which is helpful when doing restoration work on old paint.

 

Good point about the aluminum panels. I hadn't thought about them. Lots of vehicles with at least some aluminum panels these days. Thanks.

 

I just got my hands on a magnetic paint thickness gauge from my previous employer body shop manager that lives down the street.
Also texted my neighbor who is paint anal in regards to his Chevy so he may have a digital.
Waiting to hear back…
compare roof paint thickness in the 2 white instock units to mine.
Nothing to lose… Just more information.

 

Something to point out about aluminum panels is corrosion. If they are not prepped correctly then you will have issues. Just had all 4 doors and hinges on my Jeep replaced due to this. Replacing the doors was cheaper than the body work to fix it. Jeep paid out $8k for the work. I sure hope we don't see this on Toyotas.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2023/MC-10234468-9999.pdf

 

Why do you think that is?

 

Thats nothing. Just wait til your white paint starts peeling off in a few years OP.

 

Let’s be realistic, you don’t think they fixed that problem along the way…
They can’t be that stupid…

 

No, I really doubt they fixed the white paint issue. Thats why I face palm for every white 4th gen Tacoma I see. It could have been avoided if the buyer did research on white Tacomas. Its a huge well known issue. I would choose any color but white. Ive been dealing with white peeling and its a pain in my ass. Every few months I find a new spot where its peeling from. It sucks because I really took care of this trucks maintenance under the hood and waxed it etc every now and then.

 

Theres a recall now where Toyota is taking care of the issue & paying to have the white tacomas resprayed with a 10 year warranty from what my writer explained to me.....
He explained the warranty, I was aware of the paint recall...
Generally when theyre paying out of pocket for an issue, they correct the issue.........
Just saying...

 

No, they haven't...

 

Hopefully they corrected it as they should. Hopefully the new white Tacomas dont peel but im very doubtful.