Having a weird issue. Brand new car; only had it for a month. Walked out of work a few nights ago and spotted some paint damage on the right front bumper. Almost looks like I hit a curb, but I haven't done that, so I'm figuring someone took the corner too close coming out of a parking space and clipped me. Of course, no note. Makes me mad, but sometimes things just happen and people aren't always honest. Insurance will pay for it as a hit and run (after the deductible).

Last night, I noticed a large/deep scratch on the back bumper (maybe a shopping cart?). You can see the black base under the scratch, so it's substantial. But again, I didn't see it before and that's hard to imagine it was there because I'm pretty attentive when it comes to cars.

So I know sometimes we just have bad luck....but it seems odd to me that I was able to drive my 2004 RX for 190,000+ miles with nothing more than normal wear and tear and here I have a brand new car with two substantial scratches within a month. Is the paint on these vehicles known to be particularly soft?

 

I've read posts that from people who believe that the paint that Lexus uses, because of a change to using water-based paint, is softer than that used years ago, but my experience with both recent and older Lexus vehicles leads me to conclude that there is not a significant difference with regard to propensity to scratching.

Several years ago, Lexus did begin using a self-healing paint on its vehicles. Supposedly, minor surface scratches in the clear coat will, over time and when heated by the sun, heal themselves. That self-healing ability is the result of the fact that the clear coat evidently never fully hardens/cures, which allows the clear coat to fill in those surface scratches. But that only applies to the clear coat, and there shouldn't be any difference in the hardness/curing of the color coat below the clear coat.