My 09 ES has by far some of the worse looking paint I've ever laid eyes on, the paint chips very easily and scratches are all over it and the paint also looks dirty (up close) right after I wash it, the paint looks stained and I wash my car very frequently the longest its been driven without being washed was only 3 weeks. My Smokey Granite Micah paint colored ES looks like TRASH and I can't stand it. I recently washed it today (went over the entire car 6 times) but to no avail. I might as well stop washing it because it looks terrible either way clean or dirty...I've had the car waxed tons of times and once again to no avail would it get rid of this stained look, Im about to have the paint completely polished,corrected, and ceramic coated etc. and if that doesn't work Im getting rid of this car....I love our ES but to have the paint look like trash when I keep my vehicles in pristine condition is stressful for me, my Audi nor my BMW have any paint issues at all....And once again if this final step to having my paint look pristine fails Im getting rid of it because to have this paint look like this up close is very upsetting for me.

 

 

My 2010 looks just like the day I bought off of the dealer showroom. The only flaws are a few stone ships on the hood but unless you look closely you don't see them. The car is washed maybe once every 1 or 2 weeks at a non-contact car wash . The color doesn't seem to show dirt and if looked at closely there is no scratches . Oh never hand washed or hand dried.

 

Mine only looks bad in direct sunlight when your close up (especially the front bumper it's looks to have more white spots than the front bumper is grey). Along with my driver side headlight continuously being full of condensation after whenever water gets near it. Our car is just in terrible condition right now and I don't even want to bring it out of the garage because I don't want anyone looking at my paint (not that most would notice) but at this point our ES should just become a "beater"....but I could never do that..

 

My car has stone chips everywhere even on the door's and roof. My car has only been to 1 or 2 touch less car washes since I've owned it. Normally my car is hand washed with a 2 bucket method by me or I take it to our detail guy and he also does a 2 bucket method and he waxes the paint (still has swirl marks) but normally he just washes/waxes it nothing to crazy until I take it to him next week to do the whole 9 yards on the car's paint.

 

 

I'm picky about colors and I still get great pleasure fussing over Matador Red.

 

 

Thanks,
My favorite "sealant" is Zaino All-in-One used bimonthly. I use Blackfire SI02 as a "topper" in between. Both products are outstanding for long lasting protection and very slick finish.. The car is always garaged and stored 6 months a year while in AZ for winters.

 

 

Your car does look beautiful! I may need you to detail mine. How many miles does your car have, looks like it only has 150 miles on it. When you trade it or sell it I know you hope the next owner takes care of it like you.

 

 

I have 106k miles and the exterior looks like 300k+ (because of the rock chips...my car has ZERO dents just rock chips). The interior looks like 20k miles because I take extreme care of it interior wise.

 

Try a "bra" on your next car. I'm a big believer after putting 300,000 on two vehicles and having "sand-blasted" hoods. My current minivan has 200,000 with a bra and only 3 marks from.....Big rocks!!!!