Paint bubbling on 2004 Prius: What to do?

If you find a quality paint shop then it will be no different than going to a dealer. Most places do not have the equipment to bake the paint like they do at the factory so it's pretty much all the same unless you get a crappy painter.

I would suggest just taking the hood off and having the whole thing shot then apply the 3M or equivalent clear bra. This will help reduce the number of rock chips you get. Chips in the paint will allow chemicals to get between then paint and metal and then you have more bubbling, peeling etc..

Shooting just the hood shouldn't be too pricey. I would think it is less than a few hundred dollars.

 

My guess is that the front bumper cover has plenty of road rash and bug damage by now so that may be another candidate for repainting.

I doubt that any professional body shop would agree to only paint spots as it would be very difficult to match the original paint. If you are going to do it, plan to repaint the entire hood.

 

Patrick is right. If you want to really freshen up the car you can repaint the front bumper cover or if it is really torn up you can buy a new one for under $200 from RockAuto.com or a similar online source.

 

The hood won't rust. It's made of aluminum.

 

That's my thought also, or is the gen 1 a steel hood?
Aluminum does oxidize, if it's got air and water under the paint then a chip or crack should have been repaired, if it happened on it's own under the paint I'd bug Toyota for a repair, free.

 

The OP has a Gen II Prius...

 

Well the aluminum will oxidize, that's the problem with old airplanes. But I believe it's much easier to fix then regular rust on steel. By the way a few years ago I got my hood on my 05 Prius painted for $300 and that included taking out the dimples where the flying sheet of ice landed on it.

 

aluminum doesn't rust....the paint is bubbling because of either a chemical reaction with the paint and whatever primer is underneath that finally came to surface or the paint wasn't laid down properly to begin with.

Regardless I'd find a new hood and paint it to match. It will take more labor and material to sand the whole hood down and repaint it then it would be to source a new (or used) hood and paint to match

 

It all depends how fussy you are. While some would shudder at the thought of not repainting the whole car so it all matches perfectly, you don't necessarily have to spend several hundred dollars. If your prime motivation is to prevent further deterioration, and you don't mind a few little blemishes, then just pick off the worst of the bubbles, sand it smooth, and hit it with a spray bomb. You may as well choose the same colour, but that's just cosmetic. Keeping it from getting worse is the first priority.

 

Yeah, get a grip, will ya?

 

The rear hatch is also aluminum...

 

As stated above, the hood can't rust. It's aluminum.

I had a dealer's automatic car wash scratch-up the hood of my Sienna a few years ago. They took responsibility and sent me to their affiliated body shop to get the hood repainted. The cost (free to me) to strip, primer, paint and clear coat the entire hood was $385 for a hood much larger than the Prius's hood. It looked like a factory paint job, too.

 

wow...that does look like typical rust bubbling tho....

 

Edited out irrelevant content

 

Aluminium may not rust, but it does corrode, especially in the presence of salt. Unlike ferrous metals that fall apart, aluminium oxide corrosion tends to form a 'skin' that actually protects the metal. It does't look so good, especially under paint, but it's not in danger of rusting away.

I wonder if the road salt has gotten trapped between the metal edge of the hood and the rubber weather stripping. Is that strip where it's supposed to be? It looks like it's sticking out too much.

Another picture of the underside would help us see the problem area better.