Blue smudge under the clearcoat

There is a blue smudge under the clearcoat of my new 4runner. The dealer fails to recognize this and correct this. I took it to a certified and insured detailer and he also confirmed it had to be from the manufacturer.

 

Welcome. Instead of burning the dealer's reputation to the ground with more than just your negative review, why not contact Toyota Corporate? Also, why did you accept delivery with the smudge?

 

I did contact toyota corp. The dealer refuses to work with me and i will take responsibility and say i didn’t expect the car to come with a defect. Burning their reputation i feel is the only solution for them to fix it.

 

If the smudge was not noted upon taking delivery of the vehicle it's highly unlikely that Toyota will have anything to do with it as it comes down to your word against the dealer's -- regardless of what a third-party detailer says.

As for crowd sourcing bad reviews, you might try a more successful tactic such as dropping it altogether or filing a lawsuit.

 

Welcome to the forum Frosty

But it’s hard for us to be part of burning down a person’s or business reputation just because

 

It'd be unethical to leave a review for a company the reviewer did not have a personal experience with.

File an official complaint with Toyota corporate and see if that gets things moving. Be the squeaky wheel.

Did the detailer say it could be corrected without needing to be repainted or is it too deep?

 

it’s too deep to remove. I wouldn’t be making a big deal of this if it was fixable. I made a case with corp now just waiting to hear back.

 

this :

and this:

 

That is not true at all.

Contact one or more senior members of Toyota USA management via LinkedIn and/or email.

That gets you to the executive customer service level, where stuff gets done.

How do I know? Because I’ve done it many times.

 

This may have been the answer i’m looking for. Appreciate it

 

That's unfortunate. Hopefully corporate comes through. I have an issue on one of my door edges that I noticed when I washed it for the first time that I didn't see upon delivery. I made a judgement call on what it would take to fix it (buffing/ wet sanding/ repainting (in my opinion) and the risk of paint not matching etc.) v.s just leaving it as it's not immediately noticeable. I chose to leave it.

 

One other tip: keep emphasizing with everyone that you are looking for a solution, and repeatedly utilize the “What would you do in my situation?” type approach.

 

Toyota Super White (Color Code 040) is single stage, not basecoat / clearcoat. (The clear is supposedly mixed with the white.) That said, your problem is under the white, not the clear. This also means that a good painter can fade in a fix relatively easily. You can't do that with BC / CC.

 

d

does this apply to icecap white too? How much would it run me?

 

I've heard Icecap White is actually just Super White, but have not verified it. As for how much, talk to some paint / collision shops near you.

 

Thats not the case anymore.
All colors have clearcoat.

 

Have you talked to a different dealership?

 

Toyota paint is fucking shit. Always has been. Welcome to the club.

 

Mine started eating it’s self on the hood

 

I have not. I thought it was supposed to be fixed by the dealer i purchased it from

 

Warranty work can be done by any dealer. If this one does not want to help find a better dealer.

 

Did the certified and insured detailer say it could be fixed?

 

He said it was something that would have to be done by the dealer since it was under the clear coat.

 

Man I think ya'll are being a litte harsh on new member Frosty. Maybe father time, as they say, has made me soft. I feel for this man as a fellow white Runner owner who bought brand new from dealer. Ya don't always notice defects upon receiving, you wish you did of course, hell I din know shit then compared to now.
So e great advice in here tho, don't get me wrong.
Goodluck OP

 

I am disappointed this made it out of the Takara Japan factory? This should be an easy QC issue to identify at the factory. I know nothing is perfect but this is easy to see with your eyes. It’s not like a more difficult quality issue to catch like torquing down fasteners correctly. This example just justifies a detailed inspection in the delivery process. Getting on my knees looking for shipping damage is tough on 65 yr old knees. But better to identify an issue before you write the check. I wonder if this issue would slip through on a Lexus? I read they test drive 100% of Lexus products out of that factory and 1 of 5 (20%) of the 4 Runners.

 

The worst part is the dealer is saying that the smudge was post delivery lol.

 

i have owned bmws, audis, jeeps, mustangs, mazdas and every car forum has users complaining about how cheap or soft the paint is. that being said i just got back from a round trip from the philly suburbs to ocala florida and put on 2400 miles in the process and yesterday washed the truck and i have zero paint issues, not a single chip or blemish. the paint seems pretty good to me.

 

The only real repair is to wet sand the whole bumper cover since it is one piece. And a paint shops color will not match the factory formula. One can match it pretty good but not perfectly and you will know because you own it. Blending is a dying art because of the chemicals involved are no longer available. Applying fresh wet paint on to a shiny un-sanded surface will not bring the results you seek. My advice is to wheel it on a rocky or wooded trail, get a good repairable scratch and have it repainted. It'll make for a good story.

Nothing was perfect in my world when I was 60+ years younger. Times haven't changed much.

 

Plain and simple, dealers suck.