Roof paint clear coat faded, how bad is the damage?

Hey guys.

I have a 2015 Tacoma, magnetic gray, that I have had parked outside for the 5 years I have been living/using it in San Diego. I like to think I've done a good job of taking care of it but after going through it today I realized I may have neglected my roof just a tad bit.

I always thought the discoloration was some sort of palm tree resin that I could clean off but now I'm realizing the paint might actually be completely gone

I travel for work a lot in a different vehicle and this one sits outside baking in the sun when I'm not using it (and on days that I use it as well) so I wouldn't be shocked to find out it's completely sun faded. I've been so focused on using a sun blocker on the windshield when I'm away I never bothered to think about the roof sitting in the sun all day.

Is there any way to restore this? Am I looking at a huge bill from a paint shop to re-spray it? I only have 55k miles on this truck and would like to keep it for a long time.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you all

 

I have a similar situation, I bought my 2013 uses about 6 months ago and it must have been outside. I’ve tried to polish and wax but it’s past that. I bet it would be at least $1,000 or more to paint. I talked to my body shop guy and he said it would be less if you just went with black so they don’t have to color match, he also suggested getting a vinyl wrap on the roof which would be less yet. Hope that helps.

 

Hey JB. That actually helps alot, I never even thought about vinyl wrapping the roof. Is that what you plan on doing with yours? I'm looking at some pictures of Tacoma's with a vinyl wrap and it doesn't look half bad. I actually may end up going that route... Thanks for the reply.

 

Happy to help! I haven’t done anything yet, mine is not quite as bad as yours, but I like to make my stuff as nice as I can, the vinyl would last for quite a while. Best of luck. JB

 

Damn

 

Put a white wrap to reflect back most of that SD sun to keep the heat down in the cab

 

This is very common with toyotas that are not protected with a paint sealant, ceramic coating, or even a carnauba wax. Live in socal too and see it all the time due to the heat. I would suggest you get it wrapped.
I would also suggest you go see a professional car detailer and get your car detailed and protected before more damage occurs to the rest of the vehicle.

 

Wrap it and call it day or paint it and take better care of it.

 

Well, for anyone that is curious I went back and forth between wrapping it and paying more for getting it repainted and I just decided to get it repainted. Part of the reason I decided to get it repainted was because after further inspection I found the tops of the doors on the right side had some fading as well, so wrapping the roof would have only fixed 80% of the problem. Definitely cost a little more but I think it came out great and the paint has a lifetime warranty, so I'm happy with it. Going to be parking it in the shade when I can from now on...

 

Sweeeeet

 

The roof is looking good OP! Did you find any wrap shops in San Diego though? I am thinking of wrapping my roof before installing a roof rack. Thanks in advance

 

Wrapping requires a good base so if the clearcoat is chalking and starting to peel it will not hold and many shops will not do it. Have a shop look at it for a quote.
If you try to do it yourself the wrap will not move around as you try to position it without pulling the clearcoat up/off and it makes more of a mess.
Painting costs vary greatly by shop and warranty so again get a few quotes as the whole truck could run up to 5-6k or much lower quality for much less.
Roof, hood, above doors on roof and then below windows all have problems (all horizonal surfaces).
If you paint yourself buy a paint gun as spray cans do a crappy job especially on applying clearcoat.
Been there on all above and if I had to do it again would have taken it to a paint shop.

 

looks good!

If you don’t mind me asking, what did the paint job set you back?

Did they paint more than the roof?

 

I would like to know as well!

 

Now that it's painted, it maybe a good idea to put a ceramic coating on to protect it from UV damage. Even having PPF install on the roof will help.

You just have wait for the paint to cure, outgas.

 

Hey all, saw some of you wanted the details, apologies for the late reply.

I got it done at Lloyd's collision & Paint Center in Santee CA. Price was ~1700. It was a little on the higher side because we found some fading on the tops of both the left and right rear doors, where they meet at the roof, which required them to remove more stuff on the door to paint. So if you only had to do the roof it would probably be cheaper. Overall it came out great and I was very happy with it, the total turn around time was about 5 days.

 

I feel like I'm looking at my truck. 2015 with 90k here. Actually just bought it in Jan 2019. I'm so sad and so mad at the same time. I don't have re-paint money lying around. When are they going to put MGM on the recall list work the white Tacomas.

 

Man I'm glad I'm not the only person with this problem thank you for posting this. I'm got a appointment for a quote to fix mines. The damage on my truck isn't as bad as yours but it's getting there.

 

I have a 2018 TRD Sport, just starting to fade already. It’s outside all the time, but routinely washed and waxed. The rest of the truck looks immaculate!
Interesting that it’s only half the roof, with a clear line delineation showing up on the area that is turning white.
Has anyone had any luck getting Toyota to fix this common problem?

 

No. If it's not a safety issue they are not required to fix it so they don't care. It can't hurt to call the customer service number though, just so they have a record of the complaint.