Roof clear coat deterioration

Hi all. I have a 2018 grey concrete Tacoma and I just noticed the roof clear coat has completely deteriorated and the paint is completely dry, cracked and ruined. It’s been a couple months since I’ve washed it so who knows when this started. The rest of the paint on the body is fine. I’ve never used any weird chemicals. I took it to the dealer and they were stumped too. It has 44k miles so the paint is beyond warranty but the service manager took pics and is contacting Toyota to get it resolved no cost. Has anyone else heard of this so I can have some input in case they deny my claim? Thanks!

 

Wow...not seen anything close to that level of deterioration on something as new as an '18. Good luck

 

Seen some issues for other color (mainly white) but that was more chipping / flaking. Haven't seen too much for cement

 

I bet if you had washed it once every two weeks and waxed it every two months it would still look good.

 

Holy crap! If you hadn't posted the year I would've said the truck is much older. I don't have any input, but wow. Did you purchase the truck used or new?

 

Damn, looks like concrete!

 

They probably skipped the sealant step when it was prepped by the dealer. They come with a big tube of product that is to be applied to the paint by the dealer.

 

There is another thread on here with the same issue. They had a blue one though I think.

But toyota told them to pound sand.


You have a few options, you can take it to a body shop and have it sanded and new clear applied (if the color is ok) or you can put a vinyl wrap on the roof to protect it whats left.


Here is the thread from the other person
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/is-that-bad-mgm-paint-faded-2018.693358/

 

That's besides the point. You shouldn't have to.

My 05 roof still looks new.

 

My 07 rav4 was never waxed by the last owner (my sister in law) never waxed by me, and probably never waxed by the person it was repo'ed from. Paint looked great still when I sold it in 2018.

Tacomas have super thin paint and clear, we all know it, toyota knows it. Im actually excited for when my truck starts to fade so I can have a nice paint job with real thick clear on it.

 

Having a "thick" clear job doesnt mean anything. Theres mill specifications for a reason, the clear needs to be flexible and durable at the same time. all while giving the required shine. Hosing on clear is going to cause just as many issues as not having enough clear.

Yes it seems toyota is on the cheap side when it comes to their paint jobs, its more noticeable working on them when you burn through alot faster than say dodge which dare i say has one of the best factory paint jobs.

Point is meticulously waxing and cleaning this wouldn't of prevented it. prolonged it sure. But the end result would be the same.

 

While that might be true it wouldn't guarantee that it didn't happen eventually.

You also shouldn't have to take that much care to prevent this from happening in three or four years. I'll let my roof look like this before I waste my time washing my truck every two weeks and waxing it every two months.

 

Wow, this disinformation in this thread. Wax or sealant is not going to prevent clearcoat failure. At most it will slightly delay it.

 

I test drove a MGM 2018 Sport DCLB right before I bought my new Taco on July 31. I was generally pretty pleased with the condition but just happened to stand on the door sill to look at the top and was met with an identical situation. The paint was absolutely fried. That caused me to further scrutinize the entire finish to find the hood had been repainted. By whom I don't know but I drove it back to the dealer and beat feet.

Toyota has to know about this.

 

Oh I agree that waxing and cleaning would not of helped here.

As for the thick clear I said. I should of clarified on that, I want to have the truck painted with the old style solvent clear coat that I was trained on in autobody school. The water based clear is a better product in the fact that the finish is better with less product(fewer coats) and less work. But I like my old solvent based thats thicker than the new water based.

 

never seen water based clear, maybe our paint systems are different in Canada, we use water based base coat but the clear is still solvent based.

if i could have it my way ide be spraying my truck with lacquer

 

No, that would not work. The clear coat has physically failed. Respray is the only fix here.

 

Thanks so much for the replies everyone, especially the reply with the link to the other thread with the same issue. The dealer initially told him to kick rocks but eventually Toyota agreed to fix it. That’s great precedence for me. Again, thank you!

 

So sorry OP! No wax would have prevented that. Hope Toyota can resolve this for you!

 

California ruined the paint industry in the US by banning solvent based paints. But toyota switched in 2006 I think it was. I went to autobody school in 2002, and worked in a body shop 2003-2007 as a body tech. So I got out just before water based started being the standard.

Here is there 1999 press release on it
https://global.toyota/en/detail/8079675

Then here is the 2006 "switch"
https://www.autoblog.com/2006/04/08/toyotas-water-based-car-paint-rollout-complete/