John U

Best investment I've made. I went with Ventureshield (owned by 3M) does not "yellow" as even the 3M is said to do. I put it on another vehicle since then. Carnuba wax is said to be the best treatment on it. I can see from the scars it has saved both cars from serious chips. My van took a stone that ripped it and left a tiny dent but not paint scrape. Both cars live on the freeway where pebbles fly at you at 60 mph+

smarty666

So this is not the paint protection film Lexus itself offers as an option extra correct? This Ventureshield you did at an outside shop?

patgilm

Yes the paint protection film Lexus uses is very similar but the coverage they put on their cars are not very good and they charge too much. You should be able to go to a dealer and see an example on some of the cars on the showroom floor. You can't really see the film from far away but when you get close you can see the line. You treat it the same way as paint (wash, wax, etc.).

Personally, I always have the film put on my cars. I am picky so I go a little overboard but I get the front bumper, hood, headlights, foglights, side mirror and sometimes the rear bumper covered.

smarty666

Question to you all. My car is a little over a year old and within the last month, I've gotten a tremendous amount of rock chips on the front end and hood. It's gotten to the point, they have gone down to the primer, showing a whitish base to it and its really starting to look crappy and noticeable.

I'm really thinking about making a big stink to Lexus on this and demanding they repaint my front end. At this point, pointing scotchguard or ventureshield on will do nothing as the damage is done.

I been wanting to make a stink about this in addition of having to have my intelligent key batteries replaced 4 times in the last year, so something going on there as well.

I've never had a car chipped this badly, this quickly and I have had cars from Infiniti, Acura, Nissan, Mercedes, and GM.

Does anybody know if a class action lawsuit was ever brought to Lexus regarding this?

John U

I just saw your question: Yes, this was done by an outside shop ....who claims to do the work for the two local Lexus shops. I did get that impression elsewhere that the dealers contract locally for this service and of course add a "little" markup!

John U

I had some existing chips when I purchased mine (1yr old, red color) The film did "coverup" the chips under it. If I did not know where to look it would be hard to find without looking hard for them. Have a shop place a piece of film over the hood and look at it.

I would caution against a repaint......It will chip even easier!

jcat_350

I can say with confidence that Lexus will not repaint your front end for you, nor has there or will there ever be a lawsuit brought against Lexus for paint chipping. If it were bubbling/failing that's one thing, but not road damage.

The thing about Lexus paint, as well as some others I've seen like Subarus, is that they obtain their exceptional finish when new by using a softer paint than most. This doesn't mean it's poor quality or that it's more prone to fail, it's just that you need to care for it differently.

As for the chips that are there, the film will do little more than highlight them if applied now. The kind of thing you need to do to prevent superficial scratching and damage is get a good, heavy sealant on your paint during a detail. I'd recommend Wolfgang HardBody. You apply it and let it cure on the paint for 3hrs. Follow that up with a good grade of yellow Carnauba wax and let that sit and cure for an hour. This will aid in preventing scratching and swirling. The chips are a different story. It's a hazard of the job for a car. If you were concerned about it (i'm sure you would have read about soft paint in your pre-purchase research) you would have had the film installed right away.

SW17LS

Take it to a professional and have the chips touched up, it'll look much better.

You say this has happened recently, are they doing construction around you at all? Driving behind any dumptrucks on the highway?

scotish1

I finally got a great detail er in Wakefield , ma to fix the paint issue and have been trouble free since!!

SW17LS

There ya go...glad it worked out.

frankbcnt

Scotish1 what did they do wet sand? My wife car looks like crap I'm so irritated. My Toyota tundra would prob look the same if it didn't put 3m shield on it. The Lexus is 2 yrs old and tundra 1 yr.

scotish1

No,
Wet sanding would of been to expensive, they stripped the car of all wax's and buffed out as many of the scratches that they could , then re-clear coated the entire car twice. I had a real professional outfit do the job, he said the paint was as hard as Mercedes and took twice as long to do!! So, really seek out someone that does just high end cars!! If you are in Mass. I have the name of a guy.

SW17LS

Um...if the guy told you he re-clearcoated the car and that wetsanding was too expensive he sold you a bag of crap. MUCH less cost and labor in wetsanding than painting, and on top of that you HAVE to wetsand after a final clearcoat. Had he clearcoated it and not wetsanded it it would have looked awful and you never would have accepted it...

He probably just compounded the car.