New Prius, rock chip, about to cry!

[spamalicious]

Well, I have not had my Prius more than a few weeks, put about 300 miles on her. I bought the big warranty, and got the clear coat, and already the paint is chipping from rocks. I am .... disturbed enough to cry, which will bring me to the crying only once a year quota... I just wanted to vent. I am upset, never had a new car have the paint crap out that quick, she is only about two weeks old!
Sara

[wstander]

I feel your pain.

For most of my driving life I had wanted a Porsche. In 1986, I finally got one; a shiny new Garnet Red 944!

It was delivered to my house and after preliminaries, we drove it exactly 7 miles to the store. Came out of the store to find 2 dings in the front fender caused by a shopping cart! The alarm was sounding, etc...So, within literally 10 minutes in my possession, I now have a $450 set of dings.

Sigh...I vowed then to never, ever care THAT much about a machine..

[htmlspinnr]

There's alot of rock's out here. My hood has quite a few battle scars, as does my windshield (though thankfully no cracks yet). I've also gone through a fog lamp assembly thanks to a stray stone.

I've opted to put mesh chicken-wire "guards" (home-made) over my fog lamps to help protect them. Sooner or later I'll be adding a mesh to the lower grille too to help protect the A/C condenser from stone damage as well.

I do feel your pain though.

[rocketman7]

I had my car for only a day before the cat climbed on it and scratched the hood. I guess we all have our horror stories.

[Rowan]

My car was three days old and a truck pulling a trailer passed me and a few rocks and put a crack in my windshield. I almost dies and felt sick to my stomach. Insurance paid to have the chip fixed before the crack got too big. It is not fun to see you new baby take such abuse.

[spamalicious]

Thank you for sharing your stories, I feel a bit better now. I did call the service department (the paint, and my alarm seems to have started doing its own thing), so we will see what they say/do tomorrow. She has to go in anyway to get the alarm taken care of. Incidentally, today she drove a 300 mile round trip on the highway, and I did not notice any driving problems, problems I had heard about. She didn't get blown around like the Civic...

Off to purchase mud flaps...
Sara

[Speedracer]

Don't feel bad.
My Prius went through enough.
1. Someone scrape my front bumper
2. Stone chip of hell during winter commute.
3. Passenger side was lightly hit by on coming vehicle.
4. Front winsheild rock chip which just repaired.
5. I was waiting to enter the parking garage and idiot couldn't manage
narrow street in Japan. That idiot hit my driver side mirror which
leave scratch.

[tochatihu]

2001 Prius, 78 k miles, many paint chips on the hood etc. What I have done is purchased touchup paint at the dealer. Remove wax and dirt from the hood with paint thinner, let it evaporate. Apply paint with a toothpick or even a piece of wire, because the supplied brush is too large. If this is carefully done, the new paint will flow into and fill the divot. Wait at least a day before rewaxing the hood, or driving in the rain.

Now, not all of my paint spots have been carefully done. If one looks closely, aqua ice opalescent zits can be seen. But from a distance the appearance is adequate, and I suppose that the potential for metal rusting has been minimized.

Things may be different now, with Prius hoods made from aluminum. Have not seen painting tips for this in particular.

Speculation from the 'old Prius days' was that Toyota uses a 'low volatiles emissions' paint which is relatively susceptible to chipping.