Just went outside to let the dog out, glanced at my wife's 2013 ES 350 and I noticed what looked like a paintless spot on the edge of her hood, at the top, near the windshield. Sure enough - the paint there has been shipped away - it was just above the main join in the driver's side windshield wiper. Looked across the hood of the car - WTF? - another, although smaller, portion of the edge of the hood with no paint - also above the main joint in the windshield wiper!!!

Anyone else experience this? Go look at your hoods - closely - now? Holy moly!

 

nope. no issues.

 

If the wipers are lifted too high to facilitate windshield washing or ice scraping, they can nick the paint on the edge of the hood. Maybe thats what happened to your ES.

 

Although mine was a 2008 I had a similar issue. My wipers were fine then at about 4K miles I noticed a slight clicking type noise as the wipers cleared the window while driving in the rain one day.

I looked and noticed that the top edge of the hoods paint was rubbed off slightly from the wiper hitting it. I called service and was told to stop by whenever I could.

If I recall correctly the SA had said that the wiper arm needed to be adjusted, and that sometimes it will loosen. It's not a common problem, but it happens. They even touched up the paint and gave me the bottle.

Had the car 2 1/2 more years and never had the problem again..

 

The wipers can only damage the hood edge if they are lifted when in the 'summer" or lowered position. When they are in the "winter" or raised position, they may be extended (and left) outward to facilitate windshield washing or ice/snow clearing. Sounds like they were pulled out when in the lowered position and scraped the edges. With both sides being damaged, I'm wondering if the car was washed or detailed recently, the wipers lifted, and the hood raised.

 

Hmm, when my car was about 4 mos. old I noted a chip at the same location you described. The wipers may have done it but I'm not sure. I touched it up and haven't thought about it till now. I'll report further on it if it recurs.

 

Do you bring your car to a car wash? They could have lifted them too far and caused the damage.

 

I'll second that.

Look at your wiper arms, and the clearance from the hood, while they are in their normal "summer" stowed position. There is at least an inch of clearance. But, as you lift the arms "up" away from the glass, the arms approach the hood, and will touch the edge of the hood before the arm reaches the 90-degree stable position.

Car-wash companies do not hire people with degrees in mechanical engineering, or even trade-school in auto-anything...

 

I agree with this theory. I can just see these guys trying to dry the windscreen really quick and not thinking.