5th & 6th Generation (2002-2006 & 2007-2011)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 2002-2006 & 2007-2011
Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving America's favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
I've got an 07 in the silver color and it seems like the paint on my car is just garbage. In the drivers side rear door area the paint is worn off down to the primer in two areas, the edges of the inner and outer door sill I guess would be the best way to explain it. On the back of the door sill area, not the bottom where you'd expect the most wear to be. I've maybe had three passengers and a couple cardboard boxes in and out of there, theres no reason for the paint to be worn off in a 12 inch long strip.
I've also got a lot of flaking on the front bumper and hood. Presumably its due to contact with rocks/sand but there are 20 major chips (all the way through the paint and down to a black surface) in only 7500 miles, and it looks like there are little chips in the clear coat, too numerous to count. I don't drive on gravel ever and rarely even drive on the highway. Is this car going to have 150 paint chips on the front end at 50k miles? That doesn't seem right.
The dealership told me to go suck an egg, that it was normal and the only thing that wouldn't be normal is if it was flaking off on its own. If a completely impervious paintjob is a 10 and a paintjob that completely flakes off on its own is a 1, then I'd say most cars I've owned are 7s or 8s and I'd say this car is a 2 or a 3. So Toyota thinks that a paintjob that rates a 2 on the durability scale is acceptable? I traded in an 05 Subaru with 25k miles on it and it had a grand total of TWO chips on the car. Over three times as many miles, 1/10th the paint chips. My driving habits haven't changed a single iota, the only thing thats changed is the car.
I contacted Toyotas corporate office and they're supposed to contact me back and one of their reps is supposed to inspect the car, but the dealership told me they've already had the rep inspect another Toyota with less than 2000 miles on it and 12-13 chips on the hood and the rep said tough crap, so I can't see why he'd say anything different to me.
I've seen 3 or so people with silver cars and 1 with the desert sand on Edmunds complaining about paint integrity, plus the anonymous person the dealership told me about. Is anyone else noticing a completely out of line amount of chips/flakes off their hood?
I've got an 07 in the silver color and it seems like the paint on my car is just garbage. In the drivers side rear door area the paint is worn off down to the primer in two areas, the edges of the inner and outer door sill I guess would be the best way to explain it. On the back of the door sill area, not the bottom where you'd expect the most wear to be. I've maybe had three passengers and a couple cardboard boxes in and out of there, theres no reason for the paint to be worn off in a 12 inch long strip.
I've also got a lot of flaking on the front bumper and hood. Presumably its due to contact with rocks/sand but there are 20 major chips (all the way through the paint and down to a black surface) in only 7500 miles, and it looks like there are little chips in the clear coat, too numerous to count. I don't drive on gravel ever and rarely even drive on the highway. Is this car going to have 150 paint chips on the front end at 50k miles? That doesn't seem right.
The dealership told me to go suck an egg, that it was normal and the only thing that wouldn't be normal is if it was flaking off on its own. If a completely impervious paintjob is a 10 and a paintjob that completely flakes off on its own is a 1, then I'd say most cars I've owned are 7s or 8s and I'd say this car is a 2 or a 3. So Toyota thinks that a paintjob that rates a 2 on the durability scale is acceptable? I traded in an 05 Subaru with 25k miles on it and it had a grand total of TWO chips on the car. Over three times as many miles, 1/10th the paint chips. My driving habits haven't changed a single iota, the only thing thats changed is the car.
I contacted Toyotas corporate office and they're supposed to contact me back and one of their reps is supposed to inspect the car, but the dealership told me they've already had the rep inspect another Toyota with less than 2000 miles on it and 12-13 chips on the hood and the rep said tough crap, so I can't see why he'd say anything different to me.
I've seen 3 or so people with silver cars and 1 with the desert sand on Edmunds complaining about paint integrity, plus the anonymous person the dealership told me about. Is anyone else noticing a completely out of line amount of chips/flakes off their hood?
The front of my Camry at 7,500 miles looks exactly like the front of my 300M....that is there are chips in the paint from road debris all over the front end.
If, when I'd bought the car, they'd said "hey, these cars chip like a mofo, better get that stonegaurd crap on the hood" I'd have said okay and spent the 200 bucks or whatever and I'd be happy as a clam. Now my car has 7500 miles on it, rock chips everywhere, looks like crap, and its way too late. And from what I've seen Toyota will just tell me its normal for their cars to chip 10 or 20 times as much as any other car I've ever owned and for the paint to completely wear off the edges of a door sill despite the door hardly being used at all for anything.
The dealership already told me to stick it, and they told me that the Toyota rep will just tell me to stick it, so I'm fully prepared for it to happen, but it'll be a pretty stupid move on their part from pretty much every aspect. I'm relatively young, have a decent income, and tend to buy new cars way too frequently. I'll probably purchase about 20 more new cars in my lifetime, this was my first new Toyota and the way things have gone so far (paint problem, two different tranny issues, high beams not working correctly, plus the dealers just been jerks about everything) it looks like it'll probably be my last. Plus I like to bitch a lot on internet forums and I have a big family that buys new cars pretty frequently too.
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2007 LE V6 Magnetic Gray, JBL, Moonroof, Toyota Leather Shift Knob, Toyota All Weather Mats, SE Grille, Wheelskins cover
2007 Odyssey EX (traded in 05 XLE I4 Lunar Mist)
Is anyone else noticing a completely out of line amount of chips/flakes off their hood?
Not here, not at all. Though, I'd say the amount of highway/freeway driving I have done has been much less than I would usually do during the time I've had my Blue Ribbon XLE, mainly due to the price of gas, and, well, all of the highway/freeway driving I've done over the past few years. Gettin' tired of that, I guess.
Rock chips, though, really can only be caused by one thing: Rocks. And other junk that hits your car as you drive along. One encounter with one vehicle dropping stuff, or one encounter in one nasty spot, can make more chips than hundreds or thousands of miles driven without encountering such a situation. And that's why any dealer would probably respond somewhere in the spectrum between falling on the floor laughing hysterically and telling the customer to "go suck eggs" when asked if they would do anything about it.
In the end, I suppose njerald's response is right on the money: Rock chips happen.
Beyond that, I'd just recommend protecting your paint as much as you can -- for instance, I have waxed the holy bejeezus out of the front of my car, as if that might help protect the paint from chips by having a strong layer of wax on top of it. I'm not sure if wax helps that much, but I'm sure gonna keep on doing it.
Also, you might try Dupli-Color's "Shield" product before you head out on the open road -- I expect that would help whole bunches, though I'm not sure how much of a hassle it might be to get it on and off the car:
Oh, finally -- no, I sure haven't had anything like what you've described regarding the rear door sill. Now, that's something that I'd expect a dealer to maybe do something about!
In the end, I suppose njerald's response is right on the money: Rock chips happen.
Sure they do, but an incorrectly applied or just plain substandard paintjob could sure make them happen a lot more, couldn't it? The fact that I've never owned a car that chipped this easily and that the paint wore off in that doorjam makes me think thats exactly what the situation is, not that I think I've got a chance in hell of getting Toyota to admit it.
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