Rusty Tacomas-Coincidence? I think not....

I have seen literally dozens of 2nd gen. Tacomas with their hoods and roofs rusted. The clear coat hazes, cracks, and within a month there is a rust spot. I've come across frame rust issues in my research, but not much about this issue, which is very prevalent from what I've seen and people that I've talked too. I pulled my truck up next to this parked Tacoma last week that was nearly identical to my truck, including the rust.

Are there many other Tacomas showing this trend in other areas? I'm in Hawai'i, so we have sun and salt, but this is ridiculous! I'm a long time toyota owner, and rusted bumpers, yes, rusty hoods and roof on a newer gen. Toyota?...sucks! This seems to be an obvious clear coat/paint issue. I'm pissed that I have a 7 year old truck that is rusty, and I have to spend thousands to get repainted

 

I hear you Girl!

 

Neglected paint will do that, no matter who manufactures the vehicle.

 

+1

Maintenance makes all the difference in the life of anything.

 

never seen that issues here and im on the west coast. we get a ton of rain and are on the ocean. ive never even washed the roof of my truck in the 6 years ive had it and have no issues. has your roof been repainted? maybe being that its an island theres not a ton of bodyshops and someone is doing a shit job with cheap materials?

 

Not just tacomas.

I see a ton of late model cars with blown clear on the roof, hood and trunk lid.

Don't know if it is maintenance (either too much/incorrect or not enough), or it is the new water based paints just not being as durable as older paintjobs.

Worst ones I see around here are Nissan Altimas and Maximas. Pretty much all of them I see on the road have blown clear coat. Honda Accords run a close second. I am talking current gen ones, not 20 year old beaters.
Have seen a few Tacomas like that too.

 

My 07 Tacoma just had a 4" strip of clear coat shatter off the drivers side of the hood. It freaked me out!

I have always taken top care of the paint. Clay bar treatment annually, silicone waxing/buffing. Treated all the rust spots and filled with tough-up paint from dealer. It always looked great.

Anyway, good news is that Toyota is repainting my hood and DS front quarter panel for no cost. It is in their body shop now.

I just hope they pain the entire hood??? I have rust on it in several areas along the edges and would appreciate a complete repaint. Unsure what they are actually going to do beyond repainting the damaged area.

I live in the wet Northwest and so rock chips and deep scratches rust up if left untreated. "Par for the course" I guess. I've diligently tried to stay up on it.

I can say, my last Toyota was the 1988 4WD pickup. Probably the best vehicle I have ever owned, go 22RE!!! But what a rust bucket. My entire bed rusted off the truck, literally. My floorboards in the cab rusted through and I used to have to put sheets of plywood inside the front cab area so body parts didn't fall through the floor. Geez!

So, Toyota seems to have a rust problem that extends back many decades. And although the current situation is much improved (in my opinion) there is still room for much needed improvement in this area.

Maybe they'll switch to an all-aluminum body like the new F150? Then we'll just have our frames rust out, ha ha.

 

What color is your truck? I ask because I seem to notice the rust issue on darker paint, so maybe something about the sun heating up the paint? How did you get Toyota to repaint your truck when it is out of warranty?!

I got a quote for $2500 to repaint my hood and roof, and another guy quoted me $1000. I also got a quote to Line-X my entire truck and shell for $1500. I'm liking the idea of line-x so I can 4x4 and not worry about scratches, which I already have plenty of from the kiawe trees around here. But if Toyota will repaint for free.....

 

Where was your truck built?
Could be a bad batch of trucks that the paint wasn't right - either prep, curing, or whatever.

I have an 07 and I don't have any issues. My truck lives outside 24/7.
My truck was built in Fremont, Ca.

 

I have a white '06 and I have a few dings on the roof that I treated but no major rust. I do see the rust and paint fade on the darker trucks a lot in Hilo.

 

My truck is white. The problem is the clear coat bubbling and peeling off of the hood.

How did I get it repainted for free. I am generally pretty persuasive... and when that fails I file a lawsuit. This time I was pretty persuasive, I wrote a letter to Toyota and cc'd my local dealership owner. This letter is called a "demand to bargain" and is a legal letter often sent prior to filing a lawsuit.

My argument was that the factory paint job was defective and that my clear coat was not to industry specifications. There are typically 4 layers to your paint. "Film thickness" is a measurement of each of these layers and is a criteria used by the auto industry to ensure durability. Each of the 4 layers must be at the proper film thickness specification. If any of the individual layers is below specification then the vehicle would be considered a factory paint defect. Some visible manifestations of low film thickness are paint peeling, body rusting, or stone chipping. Here are two good articles about this industry-wide problem:

http://www.mmdnewswire.com/auto-industry-6716.html

http://www.mmdnewswire.com/vehicle-paint-quality-6280.html

 

As far as I know, Toyota's white is different from the other colors. It's only a single stage paint with the paint and clear "combined."

Matt

 

Wasn't sure this was so common... damn, I gotta ask about this at the dealer

 

I've been seeing this on 1st and 2nd gen Tacomas for years. Almost altered my decision to go Toyota. Even my '91 Tercel experienced this after 10yrs. I've learned allot about paint care over the years, my >12.5 year Altima below has not one spot of clear coat failure. Paint looks magnificent. I guess I'm gonna chalk it up to paint care and hope for the best.

 

Try having a black early '05- the paint chips pretty easily and every place it does it starts rusting. My hood has little paint marks all over the leading edges (and various other spots) where I touch them up with the Toyota paint pen when I notice them.

It gets washed and waxed with Meguiar's products when I'm around (and it looks pretty nice afterwards) but it sits for a good part of the year.

 

I was shocked to see my paint chipping and having rust beneath it, among other crappy paint issues.

I can be quite a squeaky wheel, so I'm going to contact Toyota and give it a try. I pm'd you...

 

And, I honestly do not baby my truck or wash/wax it regularly. It sits in the sun all day, gets scratched up while 4x4ing often, gets muddy and salty and dirt-y. Having said that, I also do not neglect it and my level of care has been better for this truck than my previous Toyotas, and they never chipped paint or rusted like this truck has.

 

I see this a lot, even in Northern California (Although not rusty parts) seems like it only the black sand color. Roof and hood always faded and or peeling. I specifically avoided getting a black Tacoma for this reason, and there was one on a lot the dealer was really motivated to move.

But I will echo what has been said about regular maintenance, as far as waxing and sealing the paint.

 

You are correct. While there are still multiple treatment layers under the paint, the paint itself on white Tacoma's is a single stage paint and clear coat "combined". I'm sure Toyota just decided mountainwolfpup was going to cost them more in court than he would in paint so they caved. Good for him.

*Edit* Wouldn't coating a truck in plastic risks sealing in some water or cracking which could exasperate the rust problem?

 

I live in South Carolina and I don't think I've every seen a 2nd Gen Tacoma with a paint problem? I think it may be more likely in certain parts of the country.