Is gen3 Prius prone to stone/paint chips?

In my experience, my Prius does not exhibit more stone chips than any other car I have owned over the past 42 years. You should have seen my new 73 Pontiac Lemans after one year and it had a chrome bumper! Because the whole front of the car is painted without any chrome or metal work, you will get alot of stone chips, especially if you drive your car in the northeast in the winter. I touch them up. Getting the 3m paint protecor may not be a bad idea if you drive in the Canadian winters.

 

Stop tailgating those SUVs to gain mpg .

 

This is what I get all of my chips from.

 

After four months, the first small stone chip appeared on the hood of my Prius. Blizzard Pearl is really hard to touch-up using the Toyota paint stick, but after several light coats followed with clear-coat and a lot of hand buffing, the repair is hard to find. Based on several German cars previously owned, Toyota paint is much thinner, but the finish is harder. A small stone will actually make an indentation in the paint on a BMW that has copious clear-coat.

Overall, it appears that Toyota paint is very durable. A friend of mine was a Toyota quality engineer at a manufacturing facility. He said that Toyota had complaints for chipped paint and made formulation changes several years ago. It's really difficult navigating a four lane highway on a daily basis without experiencing occasional road rash. Dodging semi's, SUV's and trucks with bubba tires is difficult.

Interesting enough, paint protection film was considered, but my dealership said it's very difficult to install. Further, the paint chip was high on the hood beyond the area that's covered by the paint film. Unless your Prius is enclosed in a protective bubble, road rash will happen sooner or later. It's the first chip that you dread.

 

I recently washed my car and notice tons of chip paint... on my black prius it really stands out...

 

The bumper does not get many chips, from my experience. You are better off doing a full wrap of the hood since this is where all of the chips will be.

I have a full hood wrap with xpel ultimate, which is a self-healing film with a 10 yr warranty. Do note that most films scratch and swirl much more easily than paint, so the self-healing clear coat of the xpel ultimate is critical.


iPhone ?

 

My 2011 is holding up much better in the front than my 2004 did - the paint must have been improved. One thing that I'm very pleased with is that the sides of the car had NO road tar on them this past summer after I put on the euro-style mudflaps. There are also no stone chips. They were a good investment.

 

No. I had a clear film from 3M on the 2004 but it held up poorly. I decided to let the 2011 fend for itself and it has done fine with 21000 mi. So far.

 

If they spread gravel/sand in your area during the winter, I would suggest something. My bumper skin is so full of pits, it looks like it has black freckles. Hood is fine. If I were to start over, I would completely cover the front bumper skin with 3M stuff.

 

A lot of it depends on where you drive & the traffic. My route runs along a construction zone so I probably see more dump trucks than the average. If you wait until the paint is chipped a good installer won't do the job as you'll end up with bubbles over the chips. I'd look for an indy shop & get as much of the car covered as you can afford.

 

We are having some unrelated body work done on our 2010 Prius, and asked the shop owner about a full hood wrap. He said the Prius "clear bra" only covers the first foot or so of the hood, and since most of our "road rash" damage is above that, he did not recommend it. Is the "full hood wrap" you mention an available Prius part, or do you have to custom make it from a larger sheet of this xpel stuff? Thanks -

 

Get the rear curve of each wheel well done. I got the "Full" 3M kit installed but it doesn't include the rear edge of the wheel wells and I have some chips there. We haven't even started Winter driving which is snow and gravel. I turn it in in 28 months and I'll argue that is "normal wear and tear" especially since I got the dealer recommended "Paint Protection Kit".

 

I put about 36,000 miles on my car a year. A few months after I purchased it, I had the Llumar clear bra installed. I can say that it's done it's job. There are very small areas that aren't covered, under the bumper, fog light housing, and a very small sliver of area between panels. The fog light housing surround is pitted to hell.

I've driven past a construction area where a dump truck pulled out ahead of me a few hundred feet. As it was pulling into the highway, it started seeding the highway with acorn size rocks. The bumper took a few hits and everything was fine .

I hit some tire tread in the road and the paint was fine, the clear bra has a faint print mark from the rubber. My passenger turn signal broke.

I would definitely buy a clear bra again. While it comes at a cost of a bumper repaint. It leaves your front bumper looking pristine clean without the need to have it repainted later.

 

I have a 2012 Prius II and and it is the worst when it comes to paint chipping. I have paint chipped off the roof that is now rusting!

 

same here