Paint Problems_need others

[flylow_joe]

I own a red 00 gts. It has less than 15,000 miles on it and looks like someone has thrown rocks at it all day. I have read post after post about "thin paint" and I can attest to this statement. I cannot believe how bad it is getting. I write this story in hopes that others may know how to get toyota to do something about it. I spoke to my lawyer and he suggested that I put a post up and see if anyone has attempted to get his or hers fixed or has hit the end of the road as I have. It has taken me over 5 months of visits to get a Toyota rep to tell me it is not their fault. I had the dealer tell me it was because I must follow gravel trucks. They have done everything from canceled appointments on me once I get there to flat out lie and tell me I wrote the wrong day down. Then to beat it all the rep was a total jerk and said it appears to be normal wear and tear and I am out of luck. Then I see the dealers little b@#$@ service guy laughing as I pull away. The sad thing is I am just a guy wanting to play with the mods on my car, ride around happy in the car I paid 24k for. Now I am a guy needing to find people that will join a possible class action just to get what I feel is normal business practice. In my business I would have lost a customer and gotten sued. Why can't we do the same? And for any dealer or rep noising around this site. I will never buy a product from Toyota again. I am appalled at the absolute lack of care you really have. I am 31 years old and you most definitely have lost a customer for life. I shall rather drive a domestic than ever touch a car that makes you richer.

The reps name is Ron Gunder#$%, he is the Distric Parts and Service Operrations manager for the southeast. This big ugly c$%^suker had the nerve to tell me that it was unfortunate but he see nothing they could due since the rocks or road trash caused the damage. That the paint was fine before I drove off the lot.

However the customer service or lack of at Chatham Parkway, guys life is too short to be run around by a bunch of as#holes. That lexus my wife wanted. I looked at an Acura today.

So help if you can. Have anyone gotten their paint fixed? Has anyone attempted to legally take this to tuition? Are you having similar problems or am I looking for a fight I cannot win.

[X-EVIL-X]

sorry to hear about your paint man.
its happens to ALL of us trust me
there's not one person on here that didn't get rock chips on there hood or front bumper.
ive been wanting to get my hood repainted and will soon.
the dealer that i bought my car at will accept my car if it has a problem with the paint or something.
i got my front bumper repainted because the clear coat started peeling.
try to find a little problem with the actual paint and take it to a different dealer...
tell them you want it fixed(repainted) or you will give the car back.
be serious about it and tell them youve been threw enough.
dont blame the actual car.
its the paint, and the celica is a great car that im very attatched too.

[mirconrice]

yeah i agree, the front of my car is thrashed, there are so many chips from rocks and what not that my hood and bumper looks like a bunch of stars on a clear night. My car is black so you can notice the rock chips pretty good. well if you need anything from me such as info about my car and myself, i will happy to give it to ya. good luck. lates.

[flylow_joe]

Thanks guys. I agree evil. I love the car but man as many hours I have spent polishing, cleaning, making sure nothing hits it and all the damage comes from something out of my control.

I think if the dealer, or the rep for that matter would act like normal humans then maybe I woudn't take to heart as much.

I dropped it off at the Acura dealer today. Lets make a deal. The biggest problem I have is makeing a car look good that supports the practice of bad paint. Do I sell or trade it in just because I believe they screwed me? Yes I love the car(wish it had more power) and want to keep it. But I am not going to drive something that looks like it is breaking out in dots.

So this means I am going to have to paint it. Maybe I will go ahead at get my kit, or carbon fiber hood. This is my point though. I should have to repaint or put a cf hood on. The paint should be perfect.

[Raulvargs]

Just wondering, which colors are the best so that chips and other imperfections don't show as much

[2002SpectraBlueGT]

Have any of you bought the Toyota colour match touch-up paint? I've already got 4-5 chips on the front/hood (Only 5k miles). My car is spectra blue and the chips are actually not that bad. You can only really see them if you look closely. I was thinking about getting them professionally fixed (at cost to me) and then putting a bra on the car. I don't like the look of the bra but if it stops chips it's worth it.

Anyways, I know where you guys are coming from.:angry:

I would think silver would the best colour for not seeing the chips.

[flylow_joe]

I have not used the paint color match touch-up system. Just because the shear number and volume of chips I would have to paint.


and as far as color I think the silver would show the least.

red shows everything...........little white dots.

[Zorn]

Hello??!?!?! Black w white chips...

[NoCones]

I use the touch-up paint before every wax. It doesn't restore you to like-new or anything, but it's an improvement. I would definitely advise against using the little brush included...try a toothpick instead...much easier to get just the right amount into the chip.

I feel the pain of chips in the hood (I have absolutely red also), but I wouldn't put mcuh effort into chasing class action suits or anything. Unfortunately, for a car with a sloped nose like ours, this is normal wear and tear...it's not unique to Toyota and its not unique to red or any other paint. #$%^# flies around on roads and hits your car...the bigger pieces of #$%^ take paint off. The more slope on the nose of your car, the more #$%^ is going to hit it.

[kabal57]

I'd have to agree with the post above, I honestly dont see how it is toyota's fault for stuff hitting your car. I'm sure there are several layers of paint on this car like every other one on the road. As for the sloped nose thing, he is right, I had an 85 mr2 and that thing has a nose similar to the celi, and it had the same problem just as bad. Not a whole lot you can do about it i'm afraid, but get a bra, or get them all repaired at the same time. Sorry to hear about the problems you had with the ****s at the dealership, but I just look at paint chips as the hazards of owning a car and driving it on the road. :( Unfortunately there is alot of crap out there on the roads just waiting for out beautiful cars :(

[Raw Iron 1]

Hello.

Silver is the weakest of all auto paints even with the latest technology other colors still hold up better and for longer. Has something to do with sun light and how it reacts with silver colored paints.

Jason

[rocket celica]

see KAbal! you don't see chips happening on corvettes porches.
there is definitely a thin paint problem with Celica.

besides this. It's obvious they did a shoddy job w/ our cars.
look at the number of defects.

sunroof squeaks/rattle
belt tensioner/belt
clutch pedal squeak
body frame squeak
interior plastic squeak

[flylow_joe]

Thank you rocket...

I can't see how you can produce something and not fix the problems.

I have a dropped civic same age. Hood same distance from ground, drives the same road everyday.

Chips, yes, enough to waste my time at a dealership getting jerked around... nope

[X-EVIL-X]

Originally posted by rocket celica
see KAbal! you don't see chips happening on corvettes porches.
there is definitely a thin paint problem with Celica.

besides this. It's obvious they did a shoddy job w/ our cars.
look at the number of defects.

sunroof squeaks/rattle
belt tensioner/belt
clutch pedal squeak
body frame squeak
interior plastic squeak
the angle of the front of those cars is totally different.
our slants down and there's is more straight(at least the corvette).
i dont think we have that many problems for a brand new car.
the paint is a normal toyota paint and its the angle of what our hood is at that rock hits it hard and chips the hell out of it.
i got my hood repainted and it still happened...

[Need4Spd]

for the love of god.. don't compare the celica to cars twice it's price. There IS a reason that those cars cost so much more.. more quality, more power, etc etc. Think the dealer is laughing? Try that line on him.. He'll probably go tell you to buy a porsche then. :rolling:

Sorry to be so harsh.. but being a person who used to agonize over rock chips and such.. it just isn't worth it. Take a walk through a parking lot and check out other people's cars.. rock chips on the front? Sure. But do you REALLY notice them unless you look closely? No. Fact is, any slight imperfection on your car will bother you because YOU Know it is there. If you don't want rock chips, don't drive the car. On a more realistic level, get your bumper repainted and invest in the 3M invisible bra.

As for the celica having so many "problems" compared to other cars.. I think you are wrong. Yes, the interior may be a bit on the cheap plastic side.. but you knew this when you purchased the car.. and they used materials that were light to save weight. If you wanted a quiet and supple ride.. why didn't you buy a lexus or a benz? And How do you know that the celica has more problems than other cars? Do you think all other cars are perfect and maintenance free? A car is a machine.. of course things are going to go wrong from time to time. Ever care to check out other car forums? Someone is always complaining about something being wrong with their car... unfortunately, that's life.

sorry for the rambling..

[kabal57]

hey not to flame or anything like that , I was just putting my opinion :)
I'd gladly put up with a few squeaks and rattles, compared to the problems i had with my steenkin mitsubishi eclipse. If you want a problem car, get one of those :(
After about a year of the headaches one of those cause, celica will seem like a godsend

[kocheroni]

The Celica paint is horrible. I have 6700 miles on my car, and it looks horrible. That is from normal driving w/ a bit of tailgating. HOwever, everyone I know has chips covering the front of their car. I'm already setting funds up for a repainting when I get out of college to fix any dents, and repaint it w/ a nice thick coat and nice clear coat. The clear coat they have on it is thin, and so is the paint. I have a black car...but the white chips make it black and white. Silver is the best color to get to avoid seeing chips, or white I suppose. The underpaint or whatever is white.

[XYRCNCP]

This is what I dont get, I have a 2k celi with 17000 miles on it, and my paint is NOT to the extent that several posts here refer to. True I have some rock chips but that's because I tailgate often, I asked one time if it was were you lived but apparently that is not an issue, so how can it be happening so terribly to some people and not to my car or some of my friends'?

just my .02

[Wraith]

Hey . . . . you can throw my name on that list . . . I have chips galore on my front end and even on some of the side panels. The paint sucsk . . . the car rocks, but the paint seriously sucks.