It had to happen sooner or later.... Paint Chip Damage on hood =/

So yeah it happened... small rock chip on my hood. It's deep enough to see metal.

My greatest concern is rust, so I'm doing research now on how to repair. My preference is a DIY solution, but if needed, i'll go professional. Never did anything like this before.

After the repair, I'm considering the 3M clear bra protectant.

If anyone has any recommendations or suggestion, I'm all ears...

 

it's going to be along ownership if you sweat every single paint chip. I'd suggest, tape it off, a good ipa wipe down, get some touch up primer and paint color and clear and be done. once it dries. hit the area with a couple coats of wax and call it good. it's a truck... not an investment.

 

once you've had any chips you can't really add the clear bra as it'll bubble where any chips were... unless you filled it completely and wet sanded it perfectly...

 

Use a touch-up paint pen. Takes 2 minutes, no prep needed. I do this annually every fall to about 12-15 spots where my paint has chipped off. Holds up pretty well, but will need to reapply every 1-3 years as it wears off faster then the factory paint. Looks great though, can't even tell.

I put a front hood "bug deflector" on mine. Easy DIY install. Your hood already has screw holes for them. They are just a strip of hard plastic bolted to your hood edge. They seem to do a great job deflecting rocks from hitting my hood.

Now those rocks cause chips in my front window glass and long streaking scratches into the paint on my cab roof.

Of course, if I didn't drive so close behind people I'd probably have less issues with these airborne rocks I guess.

 

If you want it to look near perfect again I'd take it to a reputable detailer. They should know how to tackle it. It really depends on how good you want it to look...

If you want to do it yourself you can get some touch up paint and a toothpick and dab a tiny droplet to fill in the hole. That should protect it but the paint won't be exactly smooth again where you applied touchup. If you want it to be smooth, get some really fine grit sandpaper, a hole puncher, and a pencil with an eraser. Punch a hole out of the sandpaper with the hole punch, glue it to the pencil eraser, and after you apply the touchup, wetsand it down to the level of the factory paint. Then polish and wax to make it blend in.

Here's a video of the process:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xi3xmeO6C4

 

Who is making Bug Deflectors for the Tacoma?

I suggest the OP learn how to use the Dr Colorchip touch up system. We will all get chips if we drive the truck. Its not a show car.

But learning how to properly repair chips is a good thing to know and so to decrease the anxiety of the probable

 

If you can get the Proform rather then the 3M. Better quality.

 

Yeah, if anyone has put a bug deflector on the 2016, would like to see pictures. Checked Weathertech, but not showing any for the 2016 yet. Was considering one, but wasn't sure of how it would look on the new front. Used to put these on all of our trucks, but didn't on the last one and didn't have any issues. It was black though, this one is white. Have a white car and the chips seem to show up worse on it.

 

I've not seen a deflector for a '16 yet.

 

True. Wether Tech does not yet have the 2016 bug/rock deflector out. Their website has ability to request it though. Just search for the 2016 Toyota Tacoma and it'll tell you it's not available yet and has a link to be notified when it is.

http://www.weathertech.com/toyota/2016/tacoma/stone-and-bug-deflector/

 

I had the clear bra installed at delivery. You can barely tell it is there. We had one installed on the wife's SUV, and not a single rock chip in over two years.

 

I live in Denver and you have to have a clear bra on your truck here. On my 14 Tacoma I had a huge paint chip that went right to the metal. My grandpa owns an auto body shop so we matched the paint and touched up the chip and then buffed the chip. After that the clear bra came on. Couldn't tell I had such a bad chip after that

 

Op hasn't been in since op.

 

Ok, didn't think any rules were broken but you go ahead on law man.

 

In all seriousness 90% of the threads end up like this. Hell, some started just for trolling purposes. Didn't know it was a no-no?

 

http://www.langka.com/

Now that you've got that over with.......relax. The rest will be easier to swallow!