I’m considering an IS, but know that for the next three years I won’t have covered parking. My current car is a 97 Silver 4Runner and has always been garaged (holding on to it for a while longer is a possibility if exposure will kill the new paint), so my questions are as follows:

1) How will the hot Texas sun, along with the hole in the ozone layer , affect the exterior and interior on the IS300? I imagine that the millennium silver would hold up okay, but what about the graphite color?
2) How badly do scratches on the graphite color show up as compared to the silver?
3) In general, how well does Lexus paint hold up?
4) Is factory-installed tint available on the IS?

Many thanks in advance!

 

i actually had a silver IS300 before i got this graphite grey one, however it was only outside when i was at school so maybe about 6-7 hours of exposure to the sun every day for like 2 years. and i didnt notice any difference in the paint from day one to when i sold it. and for the scratches... i could barely see them unless i am trying to find em. my graphite grey is stays outside the same amount of time the silver one did and i dont notice a difference in paint (had it since late october).. but scratches.. oh i can see them pretty easily. i was eating at denny's late one night and these skater boys thought it would be tight to write GAY on my car with taco bell sauce and scratch the side of my car. i noticed the scratch before i even got to my car... Little did they know, my friend had some paintballs (not with a paintball gun, just the ***** themself)... maybe you can figure the rest out.

 

I can tell you in general the paint seems to be good quality, when I get a car wash my es looks brand new
it's black, so I can't speak with any expierence about the graphite. Lexus just dropped a few new colors for the new IS sport design, you should check them out, I found an offer online, that said that I could get a free subscription to media week magazine for test driving the car, here's the link
http://www.mediaweek.com/mediaweek/index.jsp

 

the paint on the IS is a bit brittle...you WILL get MANY chips on your hood and front bumper. supposedly the paint used is safer for the environment. as for the scratches, you won't notice as many on a silver car...i suggest getting invinca-shield (or Xpel, but invinca-shield has a larger hood coverage) for your car...well worth the $400....

 

I agree with Cleo, paint chips on the front end and hood are a major problem on my car.

 

There are a couple of decently big paint chips on my car,not just in the front but on the side door........ im not impressed wit the lexus paint job

 

IMO the paint goes on our Lexus's is very low quality.. I know of many members here who have nuff chips and dings in thier paint.. As for me I have them all over the front of my car and it's so bad that I need the whole front resprayed... And also my car isn't even a year old.....