New car syndrome (first chip)

Lol. So my buddy calls it “new car syndrome.” First damage. First chip. First scratch. Life is over. I used to think that.

So, my friend. French. F**ck the French. They like to f* with us, right?? Smartest man I ever met. Has owned some very costly m3’s, multiple Porsches (including multiple GT3’s…..two that I know of…I can’t keep track). I got a good little bump on my brand new FRS and he set me straight straight very quickly.

Brian, it’s “new car syndrome”. It’s perfect when you buy it. The first chip is always the worst. You freak out. But how many used cars do you look over having the same “damage” or worse?

Funny how much that simple conversation slapped me back into reality. Just not important. My girlfriend was shocked tonight when she saw it, she freaked out and I just dried it off and said I would touch it up tomorrow (only because it’s metal)

My “new car syndrome”. And here is to a TON more over the years of enjoying her!! Fantastic SUV. ZERO complaints.

 

Congrats on your new ride. Yeah it happened to me, and my first chip was a big one caused by a flying bird. Now I have more and I don't care anymore... LOL

 

this is my third new vehicle. First chips are always horrible. After that???? Meh. Normal day. Lol

And thank you!!! I love this vehicle

 

I know the pain, trust me. My ORP has less than 3K kms and I already mucked up by A) getting it in black, b) making mistakes when washing it leading to swirl city, and c) hazing the paint trying to correct it myself.

Now I need to find a good professional paint correction place to sort this out otherwise I'll feel like I'm making new car payments on a used vehicle and that's pretty vexing. If the paint correction guy can't make it look like new my OCD will probably make me trade it in... lol.

 

Paint correction can hopefully fix that. I’ve seen them do some pretty crazy things! Post pics when it’s fixed

 

Trust me, you have nothing to worry about if you go to a reputable detailer. Hazing like that is relatively easy to fix. I could have that looking drop dead gorgeous in no time if you were closer to me. Your bigger problem will be keeping it looking good. Black is just a royal PITA. If you want my 2 cents, have them do a full correction and ceramic coating. That will maximize your chances of it looking great for longer.

 

To give you a bit more hope, I dug into my detailing pics to find some good before and after shots. Here's a RAV4 that I swear somebody washed with a rake:



Same car after proper polishing. Note, there is no wax, sealant or coating on this yet.



Then there's this one. A one year old Camry with some of the absolute worst collision shop paint work I've ever seen. And yes, it's black.



After. Not perfect by any means, but waaaay better. Again, no wax or sealant yet.



Feel better now?

 

Definitely getting a coating of some kind, ceramic or just a sealant and have them wash/wax/redo it every 3-4 months. I'm not skilled enough to maintain black paint lol.

Probably ceramic and then next stop is rustproofing with un underbody coating.

 

That's why a ceramic coating is so much better for you. Professionally applied coatings can last years.

 

Wow!!!! Huge difference!!!

 

are touchless washes or self-serve pressure washes still safe with ceramic?

 

That black sedan looks amazing! Wow mine is no where near as bad!

 

I live in the heart of the rust belt and hand wash both of my ceramic coated vehicles approximately every other day from April thru November, When it gets too cold I activate my "Unlimited Plan" on both of them at the local touchless car wash chain. While they're dumping road salt, I wash each of them literally every day. Here's a relatively recent picture of my daily driver 2006 Scion xB with 145,000 miles on the clock. I'd say the coating and the paint is holding up just fine.

 

i had a neighbor with two XB’s one was slammed and the other lifted. Fantastic cars

 

Absolutely hands down flat out the best / most reliable vehicle I've ever owned, period.

 

before we got a Kia Soul for my daughter, i looked for xB, but found out they don't make them anymore. I have read a lot of great reviews on those cars. I hope Toyota makes them again.

 

New car syndrome seemed to ease up for me a bit by middle age. Maybe as a function of how much else you have to worry about in life. I used to be completely obsessed. Now, eh… not so much

I got my dream 4runner TRD OR in Feb. Fell absolutely in love, more than I was expecting. By spring time, I had it buried in mud bog past the axles (not on purpose), and I seriously thought for a minute that it was going to become a permanent feature of the landscape. No fury, anger, or other strong emotions. Just a little sad at the thought of possibly losing the 4runner. Anyway, a buddy and me successfully winched it out after we dug the wheels out. Shovels bumping against the paint just trying to cut into the bog I was stuck in. Later, I noticed I ended up denting the corner of front plastic bumper in that escapade. Again, I was oddly detached emotionally when I noticed the bumper (payed 120 bucks to have it fixed at the local dent removal place, so no big deal).







Then I started taking trail rides in national forest, thanks to the bad influence of some forum members here. That means lots of trees…brushing up against your paint like nails on chalkboard…. Ugh. The pinstripes suck, but dammit I went wheelin in a national forest!!! How cool is that?





This weekend, Im cutting into my bumper to fit a new warn/winch bumper. No F’s given (knock wood, shouldnt temp fate lol).




Now Im firmy viewing my 4runner as an adventure machine, as corny as that sounds. I used to ride motorcycles, and this is my replacement for that. The paint will suffer for it, but Im at peace

Dont ask me how I feel about keeping rust off my frame. I’ll freely admit I am obsessed over that.

 

Are those stock tires ?

 

KO2’s, but they were about as effective as stock in that bog lol. It didnt help that the 4runner was completely bottomed out.

 

How much lift?

 

Zero lift. Bone stock other than tires and sliders.

However, that shortcoming has been recently addresses courtesy of Dobinsons.



Not that lift would have helped in that bog situation. It was basically 18 inches of peaty bog, under which was nothing but water. Looking back, if we hadnt had pulled it out when we did, I think it would have eventually sunk much deeper.

 

went by and said hello to my old neighbor. This is is lifted one

 

ha!! I found a pic I took of both

 

/me laughing in white paint...