Toyota white paint problem

Toyota has run into the same problem as Honda - paint failure on white cars due to UV destroying the paint adhesion. The thin coating of white paint they use on their cars which is not very UV resistant is to blame and Toyota, like Honda is going to be doing a lot of re-painting. Other paint colors are much more UV resistant and so are not really a problem. This seems to becoming a widespread problem in the car business where everyone is thinning down the paint and then running in to this, especially with white cars.

The one lesson you can learn from this is - never buy a white car. Not from any manufacturer at the moment.

 

I still speculate that it all has more to do with the total composition including clear coat, and the move to using more eco-friendly chemical components.

I think the clear coat on all newer paint jobs is much softer than in the past.

Not that I deny specific problems with white, but I don't expect any recent paint job, on nearly any vehicle to be as durable as paint jobs from 10-15 even 20 years ago.

 

And white is the best selling color for new cars.

 

Looks like all these efforts to become eco-something always comes with some side effect nowadays. Example includes the move to thinner 0w20 oils to better lubricate the global number crunching desire to showcase eco-friendliness to regulatory bodies/agencies. Same goes to crash ratings ... with increasing numbers of cases involving light crashes ending up in complete write offs due to irreparable "unibody" "super" structures and such. And the list continues.... including these "eco" sensitive injectors that the fit comes with. No wonder they called the new platform ... "earth dreams". Back in the day everything was heavier duty which resulted in relatively speaking problem free ... worry free ownership. Alas ... synthetic meat is now available too nowadays. Call it "progress".

 

Where do you come up with this? Can you post some links to articles from publications, not just other forums? Are you talking US / North American assembly plants or vehicles coming from plants located off shore? Do you work in the auto industry in the OEM level? Have you ever even been in an US auto assembly plant or Canadian auto plant?

First off auto manufactures are not purposely doing anything. They don't want warranty claims. Those are expensive and eat into profits. Small cars like the Fit are very low profit margin vehicles. The WANT the paint tp hold up since it's part of the vehicle corrosion protection that they warranty.

Car manufactures make changes based on equipment meeting the end to their life cycle or EPA compliance. Robots wear out and start breaking down. Downtime is a loss of money. I was at the start of the system. Downtime by me was $800 a minute. Towards the end of the assembly process it was $9000 per minute. Do the math for 10 minutes of downtime. OEM Manufacturing Engineers don't design systems from scratch. They work with automation integrators who specialize in automotive such as ABB, Utica or others. They usually buy the latest technology that the integrator has to offer. The auto manufacturer I worked for put in a new body shop where the body in white (raw metal body) is welded together. It was a $800-900M investment depending on who you talked to. I was there from launch. Four integrators worked on the install, because the Manufacturing Engineers choose different systems that various integrators offered. We had four different robot brands in the body shop. Example they wanted to laser braze the roof on the car. At the time Kuca was the only one who offered the technology. We had the first of its kind Auto Panel Line. At the time most plants in North America doors and fenders were installed by about 8 people using a manipulator assist arm and hand fitted (adjusted) for quality. Auto Panel replaced those with a flexible measuring system that would for ease of explantation would take photos of the vehicle and then convert those into algorithms and communicate with robots that installed the door for where to place the door. Sounds simple, but was highly complex when you figure parts are stamped off two sets of dies because they require upkeep, manufacturing variance and tolerance stack up. It was a constantly moving target. Anyway the integrator who offered the technology who ask to bring in our competitors to demonstrate the equipment for possible sales. We let that happen because I'm sure my employer had been in our competitors plants prior to choosing what systems were installed That's how the auto industry works.

Lastly the paint might be more translucent, but probably not thinner? We had to write on the bodies with a water soluble marker because permeant would show through the E-Coat, powder prime, base coat and obviously clear coat. Yes every 100# weight savings usually translates into 1mpg increase in fuel economy. But again that warranty thing. A certain number of mill thickness is required for the corrosion protection. They'll look to save weight redesigning components, not usually the paint. It's allot easier to redesign a part of the floor or sunroof support, build 12 cars and crash test them then. That's transparent to the customer. Paint falling off isn't

 

After isocyanate hardener had been banned (and so the urethane paint!) be prepared to live with waterbased acrylic...

 

My 2015 Fit was in modern steel metallic (aka gray) and it already had a couple half-penny sized rust spots on the roof near the windshield. A bit of WD40 to keep it from spreading ... but really ... in less than 3 years of ownership. I am complaining, but when I saw what another fit freak showcasing his crazy peeling off white paint (I think if you scroll down the page will show you the related thread) ... man that must have been nerve wrecking for the owner.