New 200 owner - What preventative things to do while it is still brand new? (1 Viewer)

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Can you elaborate on this? What exactly is paint correction?

Lots of YouTube videos on the process. LOTS of labor involved. I did a friend's new GMC pickup a couple of years ago, took me most of 2 days, I was exhausted at the end. I was surprised at the scratches I had to get rid of. But once you put the coating on, there's no fixing it.
 
Paint correction is the fancy new term for polishing or "buffing" paint. Something that was done for decades. Of course over time the process got improved with emphasis on better prep (chemical iron removers, claybar).

And polishing means removal of a thin layer of top coat of the paint to remove light surface defects such as swirls and light scratches.

Instead of applying just a wax or sealant, more durable coatings are now available. They are nice and I use them - like Opti-Gloss Coat. But even the old school sealants like Klasse Glaze were long lasting (1 year plus).
 
I believe the Rust prevention is a worthwhile investment, since I expect this vehicle to last 30+ years.

Noxudol products look like a great solution, however the nearest application center is 3 hours away. So Line-X it is, they are 20 minutes away - Appointment next week for a 2 day undercoating /body cavity treatment... Good reviews from a couple car dealer friends.

I'll skip the ceramic coating for now - my vehicle is never pristine anyway (did I mention I live out a 2 mile gravel road)
 
I finally bit the bullet and purchased a '21 Heritage last week. I have a couple of 100 series, and there are some things I wish their prior owners had done early in their ownership to prevent future issues from cropping up.

(i.e.: on the 100 series, there is an electrical connection on the power brake pump that always corrodes, and the issue can be prevented with liberal application of dielectric grease to the connection before it gets bad)

I've scanned through the 200 series forum, and the only thing that I can find so far is Corrosion protection for the KDSS valves. What other things can you point me to?


(finally, if anyone is looking for a well maintained LX470 - check out the ad in the classifieds for my 03 model)

Thanks
Interesting comment on the 100. Mine just turned 445k miles after 23 years of ownership. Never knew there was an electrical connector issue. Starters and the coolant T, sure, but nothing else. As for the 200, id just drive it.
 
Remove and ditch the hitch cover. Over time the vibration makes it scratch paint on the bumper cover around it, at least it did on my 2015 I bought used.

I expect the same from the mudflaps - they will probably rub off paint on the bumper cover in the rear, but I imagine this may be more serious in the front where they are against fender sheet metal. Haven't inspected them on my 2015 to be honest, but it did happen on my Taco, at least on it both front and rear are against plastic overfenders.

If you don't want to remove them permanently putting some clear protective tape in that area might be the ticket .
The mud flaps do not rub the paint off anything, at least in the 5 years and 100k miles i have owned my 200.
 
Interesting comment on the 100. Mine just turned 445k miles after 23 years of ownership. Never knew there was an electrical connector issue.


See Post # 807 -
 
Picked her up from Line-X yesterday. Complete rust proofing/ frame treatment. Was told to not wash her or drive in downpours for a week or so to allow full curing time.

Clear 3M bra to be added this week.

any other ideas to get her prepared for a long life?
 
Picked her up from Line-X yesterday. Complete rust proofing/ frame treatment. Was told to not wash her or drive in downpours for a week or so to allow full curing time.

Clear 3M bra to be added this week.

any other ideas to get her prepared for a long life?
Not so much long life related, but I’ve got the grom car play unit and slee sliders ready to go as soon as ours gets here...
 
not to be paranoid, but i'd also do something about that rear fender inner surface, the folded metal lip that forms the arch of the wheel well. The LX and LC rolled/folded fender lip collects grime and tar and salt at the frontal end (at the rear end of the stepping board), it was the main reason I didn't buy a 100 series a few years ago, that little corner is rusted out. The inner surface of the fender lip only has base paint, no body color and no clear coat. I sprayed a layer of clear coat upon rinsing it best I can, then fluid film before winter. Since the pandemic and not caring, I just noticed a thick chunk of tar in there. I'm gonna use tar remover, degreaser and even USD Fldui/Strong Arm, to clear it out, then perhaps spray COSMOLine, but not sure if Cosmoline can spray over semi-prainted surface.
 
Toyota paint and clear coat is thin, there’s no getting around that fact. Ceramic coatings are basically a liquid clear coat that cures into a hard shell. Wax is dead.

You’ll thank yourself down the road if you get the paint corrected and ceramic coated, especially when it’s brand spankin new. It sounds expensive initially, but will save you money down the road. You won’t have to have the car cleaned/detailed nearly as often, it will look (and will be) cleaner longer, and if you do live down a gravel road, the hard ceramic shell will protect your paint better than any other product out there [edit: other than a PPF].
 
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Toyota paint and clear coat is thin, there’s no getting around that fact. Ceramic coatings are basically a liquid clear coat that cures into a hard shell. Wax is dead.

You’ll thank yourself down the road if you get the paint corrected and ceramic coated, especially when it’s brand spankin new. It sounds expensive initially, but will save you money down the road. You won’t have to have the car cleaned/detailed nearly as often, it will look (and will be) cleaner longer, and if you do live down a gravel road, the hard ceramic shell will protect your paint better than any other product out there.

Have any data or evidence to back up the claim that a ceramic coating will protect from rock chips better than a high quality film? Seems pretty hard to believe given the huge difference in thickness.
 
Have any data or evidence to back up the claim that a ceramic coating will protect from rock chips better than a high quality film? Seems pretty hard to believe given the huge difference in thickness.
I should reword how I wrote that. Paint will still chip with a ceramic coating, it's not PPF.
 
Have any data or evidence to back up the claim that a ceramic coating will protect from rock chips better than a high quality film? Seems pretty hard to believe given the huge difference in thickness.
Lol. Yeah that makes no sense.
 
not to be paranoid, but i'd also do something about that rear fender inner surface, the folded metal lip that forms the arch of the wheel well. The LX and LC rolled/folded fender lip collects grime and tar and salt at the frontal end (at the rear end of the stepping board), it was the main reason I didn't buy a 100 series a few years ago, that little corner is rusted out. The inner surface of the fender lip only has base paint, no body color and no clear coat. I sprayed a layer of clear coat upon rinsing it best I can, then fluid film before winter. Since the pandemic and not caring, I just noticed a thick chunk of tar in there. I'm gonna use tar remover, degreaser and even USD Fldui/Strong Arm, to clear it out, then perhaps spray COSMOLine, but not sure if Cosmoline can spray over semi-prainted surface.
I agree. As well the rear brake backing plate should be "cleaned and painted from time to time. But with a new truck you would be looking at this at 80-100k miles IMO. You got time.
 
I should reword how I wrote that. Paint will still chip with a ceramic coating, it's not PPF.
I got the front end of my cruiser XPEL coated. Immediately got brush scratches on both sides when I went off road in the Sierra Nevadas. Getting paint correction done, then XPEL on the rest of the sides. THEN, getting the whole thing ceramic coated.

Going to be expensive, but worth it in my opinion, especially since my cruiser is black
 
I should reword how I wrote that. Paint will still chip with a ceramic coating, it's not PPF.
Thanks for the correction.
 
TLDR- I'm a coating fanboy.

I'm a fan of the coatings as my experience is that cleaning the cars is so very much easier each time and over time, and in turn actually prompts me to clean it a bit more often because its so easy and results are so great. And on my black 2020 HE even just a good rain often gets it clean enough. I've had 3 cars with OptiCoat Pro and another Si02 based one. The last two OptiCoat were OptiCoat Pro Plus, which is SiCarbide base, with Si02 on top of that, supposedly the best of both protection and gloss.

All these coatings really work by filling in the microscopic valleys inherent in paint and providing a smoother surface for things to not stick as well. In some cases like wax- they provide a sacrificial layer to be removed with the dirt on the next cleaning. Some also add hydrophobic or better yet mild oleophobic properties (although hard to have high degrees of both without pretty expensive fluorine/flourinated coatings like camera lenses. Cheaper (teflon) ones are usually cloudy).

It's this smooth finish more than the hardness that helps the car stay clean as well as reflects light with less scatter, more gloss. It results in less (much less actually) surface area for dirt to stick to without all the microscopic valleys, as well as less mechanical stickiness (think velcro) with a smooth regular surface for things like bird doo and tree sap that harden in place. So a well coated car can stay much cleaner, and the less grit on there when you go to wash/rub it off- the better. The more easily removed with just a rinse the better, as with every wash at some level you're just rubbing the remaining dirt around to get it off. They'll even help soaps work as there's less rough surface for the soap to get underneath a dirt particle as it emulsifies it up an provides a lubrication layer between surface and dirt. Washing a coatied car feels fun for me to do because it feels so productive. And that so smooth (almost feels soft) showroom finish to me is addictive.

As to the thread- the hardness can help in terms of how well the coating stays on the paint long term. While the Si02 coatings provide better clarity and color pop when fresh, they are really just Si02 suspended in a resin that adheres (not bonds) to the clearcoat (there is a lot of progress being made in the resins lately though). The Silicon Carbide coatings chemically bond to the paint clearcoat as well as fill in the micro cracks, they are a bit more reflective and while still shiny, supposedly have more mirror type finish, less color passing through. It depends on the underlying color and to me they're all pretty glossy looking, certainly enough.

SI02 coatings can wear off more quickly (it's really the resin that wears, even then still can be years for the best ones) and the resin even sublimates (albeit very slowly). Silcone carbides for automotive purposes could be considered permanent for a car lifespan- even on our LCs. But it still all depends on how much rubbing the paint gets- with enough washing, polishing and wearing down they'll be rubbed off along with some clear coat. My guess would be weekly commercial touch washes would probably wear into the clear coat in a handful of years. Since my driveway seems more convenient, I hand wash- and 10 years into my first OptiCoat I'm very satisfied. Has saved dozens and dozens of hours of detail effort and the car is still showroom for paint. ( I also note here how disappointed I was in the factory paint finish quality on my black 20 HE, WAY too many swirls and orange peel, the prep alone made a massive difference before the Opticoat. I'm confident parked next to a brand new one you'd think mine was the newer.)

As for rock chips, it's the underlying paint hardness, elasticity and tensile strength that matter more vs coatings, coatings aren't flexible for impacts big enough and just pass the energy thru to the paint to chip, but their hardness might help the paint a bit to deal with tiny ones, and keep gravel dust and such at bay with the less stickiness. The polyurethane wraps over top provide much more impact absorption in addition to the supposed self healing. Not having removed one yet though, I wonder if they also mask some damage, holding it in place until the film is removed.

I do think there's fair debates about which to do as the first bottom layer- ceramic or PPF. If you ceramic coat, the urethane has less to adhere too, so the film may peel more easily. But if you're planning to replace the film later...maybe that's a good thing. If you ceramic coat on top or the urethane, you get the more color pop, gloss and hardness on top of the film. Thus that's what the installers recommend- but they care about the initial look more than your 10+ year plans or low long term maintenance effort My first Xpel has Opticoat on top on a 6 year old white car. Still looks perfect, no yellowing or anything such- so I don't yet know what may be in store if I ever need to remove the Xpel.

There's competing interests between permanence, maintenance, gloss, use cases. Certainly for a rough enough use case one could say LineX the whole thing or just don't bother in the first place. It's those more typical uses where everyone is unique in their own optimal cleanliness/ shininess metric.

All this said, I too often feel my LC is too nice and shiny to suffer getting scratches on....and that's a sad state of affairs. Give me time.... I still think my garage qualifies as "off road".
 
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TLDR- I'm a coating fanboy.

I'm a fan of the coatings as my experience is that cleaning the cars is so very much easier each time and over time, and in turn actually prompts me to clean it a bit more often because its so easy and results are so great. And on my black 2020 HE even just a good rain often gets it clean enough. I've had 3 cars with OptiCoat Pro and another Si02 based one. The last two OptiCoat were OptiCoat Pro Plus, which is SiCarbide base, with Si02 on top of that, supposedly the best of both protection and gloss.

All these coatings really work by filling in the microscopic valleys inherent in paint and providing a smoother surface for things to not stick as well. In some cases like wax- they provide a sacrificial layer to be removed with the dirt on the next cleaning. Some also add hydrophobic or better yet mild oleophobic properties (although hard to have high degrees of both without pretty expensive fluorine/flourinated coatings like camera lenses. Cheaper (teflon) ones are usually cloudy).

It's this smooth finish more than the hardness that helps the car stay clean as well as reflects light with less scatter, more gloss. It results in less (much less actually) surface area for dirt to stick to without all the microscopic valleys, as well as less mechanical stickiness (think velcro) with a smooth regular surface for things like bird doo and tree sap that harden in place. So a well coated car can stay much cleaner, and the less grit on there when you go to wash/rub it off- the better. The more easily removed with just a rinse the better, as with every wash at some level you're just rubbing the remaining dirt around to get it off. They'll even help soaps work as there's less rough surface for the soap to get underneath a dirt particle as it emulsifies it up an provides a lubicration layer between surface and dirt. Washing a coatied car feels fun for me to do because it feels so productive. And that so smooth (almost feels soft) showroom finish to me is addictive.

As to the thread- the hardness can help in terms of how well the coating stays on the paint long term. While the Si02 coatings provide better clarity and color pop when fresh, they are really just Si02 suspended in a resin that adheres (not bonds) to the clearcoat (there is a lot of progress being made in the resins lately though). The Silicon Carbide coatings chemically bond to the paint as well as fill in the micro cracks, they are a bit more reflective and while still shiny, supposedly have more mirror type finish, less color passing through. It depends on the underlying color and to me they're all pretty glossy looking, certainly enough.

SI02 coatings can wear off more quickly (it's really the resin that is the wears, even then still can be years for the best ones) and the resin even sublimates (albeit very slowly). Silcone carbides for automotive purposes could be considered permanent for a car lifespan- even on our LCs. But it still all depends on how much rubbing the paint gets- with enough washing, polishing and wearing down they'll be rubbed off along with some clear coat. My guess would be weekly auto washes would probably wear into the clear coat in just a handful of years. Since my driveway seems more convenient, I hand wash- and 10 years into my first OptiCoat I'm very satisfied. Has saved dozens and dozens of hours of detail effort and the car is still showroom for paint. ( I also note here how disappointed I was in the factory paint finish quality on my black 20 HE, WAY too many swirls and orange peel, the prep alone made a massive difference before the Opticoat. I'm confident parked next to a brand new one you'd think mine was the newer.)

As for rock chips, it's the underlying paint hardness, elasticity and tensile strength that matter more vs coatings, coatings aren't flexible for impacts big enough and just pass the energy thru to the paint to chip, but their hardness might help the paint a bit to deal with tiny ones, and keep gravel dust and such at bay with the less stickiness. The polyurethane wraps over top provide much more impact absorption in addition to the supposed self healing. Not having removed one yet though, I wonder if they also mask some damage, holding it in place until the film is removed.

I do think there's fair debates about which to do as the first bottom layer- ceramic or PPF. If you ceramic coat, the urethane has less to adhere too, so the film may peel more easily. But if you're planning to replace the film later...maybe that's a good thing. If you ceramic coat on top or the urethane, you get the more color pop, gloss and hardness on top of the film. Thus that's what the installers recommend- but they care about the initial look more than your 10+ year plans or low long term maintenance effort My first Xpel has Opticoat on top on a 6 year old white car. Still looks perfect, no yellowing or anything such- so I don't yet know what may be in store if I ever need to remove the Xpel.

There's competing interests between permanence, maintenance, gloss, use cases. Certainly for a rough enough use case one could say LineX the whole thing or just don't bother in the first place. It's those more typical uses where everyone is unique in their own optimal cleanliness/ shininess metric.

All this said, I too often feel my LC is too nice and shiny to suffer getting scratches on....and that's a sad state of affairs. Give me time.... I still think my garage qualifies as "off road".
Wow - great response. So what’s your go-to DIY detailing setup assuming I have a 6” and 3” DA polisher from Griots.
 

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