Army Green Paint

I’m having problems with the paint on my new Army Green Tacoma. It seems like I can just walk by it and scratch the paint. Just now I tapped it lightly with an air hose fitting and it left about a 2” scratch on the hood. Anyone else having this kind of problem?

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of water based automotive paints, these days.

 

Be thankful you don't have super white, the paint just jumps off

 

I was all over the Army green, but noticed two things on the first one I ever saw.

- It is a bit too dark. (I was expecting the old Land Rover shade of green). And I am done with dark colors that show all nicks etc.
- I noticed, as the salesman wiped his hand on the paint to remove a smudge, that it swirled super easily... And since the color is on the darker side, I did not look forward to the swirled look.

It is still a great color. - Tacos look amazing in this color. But I am happy with a lighter color to hide issues better.

 

Normal

black is brutal though

 

Honestly, mine is holding up fine.

 

Does it have a scoop? The green peels on all the ones with scoops.

Kidding. (Just 1/2 )

 

Is this covered under Warranty?

 

Some have had luck getting it repaired by Toyota and some have not.

 

That is why I covered 1/2 my truck in PPF and then had the whole thing ceramic coated. Cost a bunch of $$$$$ but I think it will be worth it in the end.

 

The dealership washed mine before delivery. I picked it up at night and in the rain. I’m not sure how they washed it but it looked like it had been through the car wash 20 times. I finally noticed a few days later when the sun came out. I wasn’t too happy about it but there was nothing I could do. From then on I suspected some sort of paint defect but there’s no way to prove it.

 

They asked me when mine arrived at the dealership off the truck if I wanted them to detail it, I told them to not touch it, don’t wash it, don’t put the front plate holder on, nothing.

 

I will chime in since I detail cars. From what I've noticed over the years Japanese automakers tend to use softer paint systems, scratch, and mar easier but tend to be easier to remove those scratches. I put a deposit down on an army green Tacoma yesterday but it's still two months out so I can't comment on that specific paint yet.

 

I had an army green and hated how delicate the paint was. By the time the dealer delivered it, the paint had swirls all over. The matte colors are cool, but they show everything. Green is even worse because of how dark it is. I went back to cement. The green looked great until it was in the sunlight and you could see every mark.

 

Would be a bit too early to jump to conclusions on the Tacoma's. Have you tried asking the FJ Cruiser forums because they had Army Green from 2010-2014?

 

Since the early 90's all vehicles have switched to water carrier paints because of the clean air act. Filtering the exhaust from the paint process would have been very costly.
The new paints will never be as tough as the 2 part epoxy's, Urethane's and Lacquers of yesteryear.
But they don't have things like lead, chromate and all these poisonous off gassing while they cure.

Buy yourself a few packages of Microfiber towels, Only ever use touch free car washes....

Best thing you can do for a new vehicle is what @Foozer said.

Don't let the dealership touch it besides unload it from the truck and check fluid levels.
No cloths from the dealership to touch the truck,
tell them you would rather have a greasy palm print than a big swirl mark left on the truck.

Then either take it to a detailing shop and have it ceramic coated (should be a LOT cheaper as they won't spend a day paint correcting it)

Or watch a few youtube videos on how to use an orbital polisher,
pick up a harbourfreight random DA polisher for $75 and some pads and compound.

Then apply the Ceramic coating yourself about $100.
Took me about 3hrs per coat to apply Cquartz UK 3.0 .
(more time than that to do the paint polishing first though)

Lol you Green guys ain't getting any sympathy from me!

I have 202 Black, not even metallic, just black.
As in if a fly farts on it you can see it from 10 paces.
As in after you have finished detailing it, then reach for the camera...
it's dirty again before you could take the lenscap off.

When I got this truck from the dealership,
It looked like porcupines had an orgy on it.

Little bit of YouBewb watching and a lot of elbow grease later it looks 100 times better even after 4 years than the day it came off the dealer's lot.
In fact there are a lot less swirl marks on it now as it approaches 4 years old that what I see in the dealer showrooms...

Plus with Ceramic coating not only does it take a lot more to scratch/swirl it than the factory paint but it stays cleaner too. (not dirt or scratch proof though lol )