GR86 GR86 paint seems very thin

[SJR202]

Hi All
I gave the 86 a wash this morning as its been a few weeks however I was a little concerned how weak/thin the paint is on the car, making it more obvious is the undercoat to the silver seems to be dark grey/black making every mark stand out more. Inspecting the paint chips closer the depth of the paint is the thinnest Ive ever seen, I compared the stone chips to our other cars and by comparison the 'colour' coat on the other cars are noticeably thicker to the naked eye.
It also seems to be as tough as chocolate on a warm day...

While the roads are a mess and pot holes = stones then its to be expected to pick them up, just worried after 1700 miles the front end will need a respray in another 20k.

Anyone else had similar experience with Silver or other colours?

 

[Hicko]

When I took my 86 to AR detailing for a gtechnic ceramic coating, my detailer said it was the thinnest paint he'd ever seen on a car and I quote "I thought mx-5's were bad but wow"

 

[SJR202]

When I took my 86 to AR detailing for a gtechnic ceramic coating, my detailer said it was the thinnest paint he'd ever seen on a car and I quote "I thought mx-5's were bad but wow"

Thanks, glad Im not imagining it. One way to keep costs and weight down I guess... Pretty sure I'd pay another few hundred £ on the list price for another coat of paint ;-)

 

[86GR]

When I checked with a paint thickness gauge it wasn’t too bad, around 120um. The issue is the paint is very soft and will scratch if you just look at it.

 

[cuddles]

My brother in law worked in car workshop all his life and taught it. He explained that when the finish of the old panels was poor they put on thicker paint. Today, car panels are stamped much better and thus the primer, colour and clear is much thinner as it isn't needed to be used as a filler / flattener. New cars tend to be a total thickness of between 65 and 200 microns which isn't much considering 200 is one fifth of a milimeter. so 65 is nothing when you consider that consists of 3 layers. Some cars will have more but they are the very top end. More than about 200 and it may have been resprayed. When I bought my used Celica he brought along a thickness reader and said it all apeared to be original.
I would think most car owners will have this conversation about new cars. The water based mixes probably don't help as they will be softer but required by most governments. For me I would be happy with a thin colour coat as long as they put on a bullet proof clear coat on. That would be one option I would pay for if offered.

 

[Hicko]

Yeah now that I think of it he might have said soft not thin lol

 

[TigerJim]

It’s no surprise to me, it’s like it was on the GT86. I used PB Black Hole and Natty’s Paste on my silver GR, which looks great until you see it ‘fill’ the larger chips!

 

[BOOSTFAN]

Biggest rip off is charging nearly a grand extra for Ignition Red Pearl. Its not even metallic never mind pearl!

 

[KobayashiMaru86]

It's very soft paint and a trait my detailer said is with a lot of Japanese paints, especially non metallic ones. Lot like black R35 GT-R's. Took him 3x as long to correct it as his padwan did on an Audi for example. Paint marks even if you breathe on it and noticed this when I got the ducktail early. I'm careful when I clean it down, even dry it with an air dryer so it's minimal contact. The PPF bits self heal but the unprotected bits I can see small marks already.

 

[ZN8]

Not really uncommon nowadays but appears to be worse on Japanese cars, its certainly on a similar level to Honda which to me seems to have incredibly soft paint, Toyotas aren't usually that bad but then its not Toyota paint, it's Subaru.

The front end will always suffer with it being such a low car, PPF is the answer!

 

[PVGR]

I had a thought about this - what if you got it corrected, rubbed down then a whole bunch of clear on top?

Would this improve it? I have a whole bunch of chips at 4k

 

[Dal3D]

Not really uncommon nowadays but appears to be worse on Japanese cars, its certainly on a similar level to Honda which to me seems to have incredibly soft paint, Toyotas aren't usually that bad but then its not Toyota paint, it's Subaru.

The front end will always suffer with it being such a low car, PPF is the answer!

Full coverage PPF is your answer.

#Smug
#KnewThisWouldBeTheCase
#HistoryRepeating
#WhatElseDidYouExpect

 

[PVGR]

Full coverage PPF is your answer.

#Smug
#KnewThisWouldBeTheCase
#HistoryRepeating
#WhatElseDidYouExpect

And at least it's a cheap solution to this problem right?

 

[Dal3D]

And at least it's a cheap solution to this problem right?

Yeah - s'only money ain't it!

Way I approached it - if the car had been £35k then I'd have still bought it. So the PPF was free!

#CarManMaths

 

[jb1750]

Yeah - s'only money ain't it!

Way I approached it - if the car had been £35k then I'd have still bought it. So the PPF was free!

#CarManMaths

 

[beorg]

I had a thought about this - what if you got it corrected, rubbed down then a whole bunch of clear on top?

Would this improve it? I have a whole bunch of chips at 4k

You wouldn't normally correct the clear coat before sanding it down, as you don't want the surface to be extra smooth when applying it.

The issue with re-applying clear coat without redoing the base colour coat is that it may not bond properly. It's also quite a tricky job to get right and has to be done in a pretty sterile environment, so you'd probably end up paying close to what a full respray would be anyhow.

The good thing is that due to the paint not being anything special, colour matching a respray should be easy if required in the future.

I'll be doing my own paint correction, including filling in stone chips, and if it gets bad, I'll just look into doing a partial respray of the affected panel. Or do the whole car in a more unique colour.

 

[SJR202]

Has anyone come across GR86 Ice Silver touch up paint yet? Im getting front end PPF before it looks like a 20 year old car, the fitter said he'd remove the stone chips if i provide a touch up. I'd contact Toyota dealer but quite frankly I've given up with any form of info or call back from any of them in a 30 mile radius!

 

[sim61]

Has anyone come across GR86 Ice Silver touch up paint yet? Im getting front end PPF before it looks like a 20 year old car, the fitter said he'd remove the stone chips if i provide a touch up. I'd contact Toyota dealer but quite frankly I've given up with any form of info or call back from any of them in a 30 mile radius!

Try Chipex. I just did a search on their site. They seem to be listing the correct colour codes. I have used them for a Peugeot and a Land Rover with perfect match. I think some other members have used Chipex too. No idea if your detailer will be happy to use Chipex though, so best check.

 

[SJR202]

Try Chipex. I just did a search on their site. They seem to be listing the correct colour codes. I have used them for a Peugeot and a Land Rover with perfect match. I think some other members have used Chipex too. No idea if your detailer will be happy to use Chipex though, so best check.

Thank you sim61 - I hadnt considered them! I'll check but hopefully that will be a lot easier than dealing with Toyota

 

[SJR202]

Sometimes you ask a question before you look - sorry! Didnt expect Toyota to have touch up online https://toyotadirectparts.co.uk/parts/toyota-universal-accessories/toyota-touch-up-stick-g1u/ for Silver, paint code on the VIN plate inside door jam.
Chipex does have the full kit including brushes etc