2006 blue Prius clear coat paint problem

Lack of waxing has caused this, combined with heavy sun

My 2005 has checking on the roof, it is black.

 

"Paint isn't as durable as it used to be"

Well, I guess it depends on the manufacturer. My experience with two BMWs is that the clearcoat peeling problem got much better between my 1975 BMW 2002 and my 1987 BMW 325i.

The 1975 car started losing bits of clear coat after just four years of California (Sunnyvale specifically) sun, and by age eight had huge areas which had lost all clear coat. By contrast the 1987 model faced considerably stronger UV, as it lived in New Mexico, yet it made it well past ten years before the first clear coat loss showed up. My daughter currently drives it in New England, and at age 28 years it has lost clear coat on most horizontal surfaces and some elsewhere.

So I think BMW clear coat got much, much tougher to this problem in the twelve years in question.

I've seen lots of other cars with clearcoat loss. But here in New Mexico lots of pretty old cars are on the road, and lots of cars get parked outside and get high UV dose per year.

 

OSHA & the EPA had a lot of influence, especially in the late 70's & early 80's. Formulations had to be changed when toxic metals and carcinogens were banned. Manufacturers also changed their processes so they use less paint. Tiny scratches that would stay in the pigment now go down to the primer.

 

My 2007 blue Prius is having the exact same problem (and I don’t live by the sea). Very frustrating since I love the car but paint quotes are very high. I wonder if there’s a heavy duty wax that would improve the look now that half the car has its clear coat and half doesn’t. I’ve seen this on a couple of other blue Priuses. Very disappointed with Toyota on this. My local body shop suggested I could go to a cheaper, mid-quality body shop that doesn’t have to follow the very high standards insurance companies require for paint jobs, but I should be careful to avoid the cheapest shops, like Earl Scheib, because they’re a rip off and the paint job won’t last.

 

On my silver 2007 only one area on the eight inch deep rear roof just ahead of the rear hatch is a problem. The rest of the car is fine. In fact I just used a light cleaner and wax on it and it looks new except for the few small highway rock hits. I can’t figure out why this roof area’s clear coat degraded and now the base paint is wearing. The good news is that that area is plastic not metal so it won’t rust. There are numerous self repair videos for remediation of clear coat on YouTube. In my case on my list of ‘whenever’ projects is to just sand down the remaining clear coat on that small area to eliminate edges and cover it with vinyl wrap. 3M makes a good one. Doing that on a whole car would be beyond my ability and vinyl wrap does have a limited life. Many shops will do it however.

 

Happening to my 2006, to a significant extent on the rear spoiler. The paint color is Barcelona Red. I’m in the San Fernando valley, so heat, but no salt or humidity. Lifetime has been a mix of covered and exposed. Admittedly, haven’t washed and waxed it as often as I should have.