Dust Under Clear Coat

Use the OR feature of your truck. Get a few brush marks in the sides of the truck, and you'll never notice the hood again.

Don't want to be off road? Take a long trip on the interstate. Road rash and a windshield chip or two will ease your mind.

 

There are children starving in Ethiopia right now...

 

Well while we are on paint. Has anyone seen this issue anymore, with the mismatch paint? Saw this one on the MGM forum and the guy didnt notice when he posted it but I've seen people who have noticed on theirs.

 

Now that’s a problem to take back to the dealership.

But that has more to do with the angle that the doors are painted at. They need to be sprayed at a consistent angle so the metallic flake will settle the same way so that the light is reflected equally back to the eye.

It’s like messing with suede leather. You rub your hand one way it looks lighter, rub your hand the other it looks darker.

 

I bought a new 2018 TRD OR and have found a few things in the clear coat as well. This is my 10th Toyota 4x4 and I really haven't seen that in all the others. I suspect the quality control in Mexico is not the best. Really wish the Tacoma was made in Japan.

 

My truck was made in Texas.

 

My last two Tacoma's were made in California and Texas both had nice paint. Even the front trim around the grill is "thin" on color on my new one.

 

That spot was on the hood. I don't have a good protector. I had the dealer part for a body shop to wet sand and polish the few spots. The one on the hood is nearly impossible to see now. I know what to look for and I struggle to see it now. The one on the edge of the fender is only noticeable due to some discoloration, but it's the edge and I don't care too much. I'm happy with how it looks now as long as the paint holds up over time.

 

I found a very similar spot in the paint on my roof the first time I washed my truck. It’s sharp enough to get caught on my wash mit.

What is the safest option to knock the defect edge down a bit??

 

My buddy has a 2018 Ford Raptor in black. Has several noticeable imperfections and 1/4 of the passenger front door has foggy clear coat and swirl marks from factory.....they are still figuring it out, but three places need to be repainted so far. My point is it could be worse, but hope you can get it figured out.

 

My wife has an '18 RAV4 hybrid, produced in Japan. I've found at least 3 paint seeds in the finish as well as some thin base coat at the bottom of the interior B-pillar.

On the other hand...I have yet to find any seeds in the finish of my Mexican produced '15 Taco.

Both vehicles are 040 Super White

 

Paint dust is all it is.

 

Find a good body shop tech to tell/show you how. Painters frequently have to do it with repaints. The process involves careful wet sanding with very fine sand paper wrapped around small sanding blocks or speed up the process a bit with Meguiar's Unigrit Sanding blocks http://www.meguiars.com/en/professional/products/k1000-hi-tech-finesse-sanding-blocks-1000-grit/ followed my compounding, polishing and wax. You need to be super careful. Factory clear coat and base coat is very thin. However on my 2012 Ram, I used this process to remove 79 dust nibs in the factory paint. It took a long, long time. By the way, my 2018 TRD Sport has only one little nib in the hood and it is so hard to find, I think that I will leave it alone. I'll also not mess with the factory orange peel even though I know how lessen it. Sometimes "good enough" is "good enough" and "more" is not "better". I have learned that the hard way.

 

If that's the only blemish on the entire truck, I would let it go. Not worth losing the factory paint. Any local paint shop probably couldn't paint it any better.

 

If you do decide to knock it down a bit, you may find that you are left with a pinhole without paint. Then you will have to carefully touch up the pinhole. It never ends........