Something different about the paint?

This may not be new so bear with me. I was at the dealer yesterday picking up my 2021 Limited and, while looking it over, noticed the that the area along the lower sides of the truck had what I thought was a horrible "orange peel" paint job. The salesman quickly told me that it was "rubberized" primer in that area to help prevent paint chipping from road debris. (I don't believe everything a car salesman tells me so I'm a little suspect.) I'll try to add a picture of it later today.

 

Yup, keeps rock chips down, Toyota has been doing this for years.

 

Been common on various marquee models since at least the '90's.

My '96 Miata had it, my '13 Tacoma has it.

 

Good to know. I hadn't noticed it on my 2019 TRD Sport of the same color.

 

We love pictures.......

 

Well, alrighty then..... I was gonna post picture of my wife but decided not to. I like you guys too much to do that to you. (Today's our 49th anniversary!)

 

Congratulations

 

That avatar...

Happy Anniversary!

 

Happy Anniversary, way to go.

 

Wow, 49 years! Devotion is in such short supply these days; it is good to hear about couples who actually took their vows seriously! Congrats OP. And yeah, don't sweat the paint thing!

 

The orange peel is the same with my 2016. Haven’t had any problems with it. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it on different cars and trucks as well.

 

Painter here. Rocker Texture down low of body panels. Prevents chipping etc.

 

I honestly think that rubberized texture is the best thing they could do to the rockers. Works great.

 

49 Years!!!! Awesome!!!!

My wife and I just celebrated 24 on May 3rd.

 

Happy Anniversary!!! Wife and I are at 31 yrs

 

Happy anniversary! Me and she who must be obeyed just hit 43 years in March.

 

37th in a few weeks.

 

As others have written, that's a rocker panel antichip coating, meant to reduce stone damage to steel body panels. It's applied after the body goes through e-coat/uniprime. It's typically applied after the e-coat is baked, and used to be made of a PVC plastisol (very tiny particles of PVC mixed with an oily "plasticizer", some fillers, and other additives). The coating is usually baked before the body goes down the paint line for topcoating.

Some manufacturers also used to apply a urethane antichip coating to the leading edge of the hood, again before topcoating.

Been there, done that...in my past career, I was an engineer for a large manufacturer of PVC plastisols, and got the opportunity to visit assembly plants in the US, Canada, and Japan.

 

Congratulations...........

Mom and Dad and my Aunt and Uncle both made 72 years. Good ones. Not just hash marks.

Hang in there.

 

Thanks guys. We appreciate the words of congratulations almost as much as we do money.