Noticed tiny bubble in factory paint on new truck

There’s been several documented instances on here with 3rd gens having some of those in the paint. My previous 3rd Gen had a few. And I bet if people corrected/polished/sealed/waxed their paint they would notice them. Meaning if you’ve touched every square inch of paint you’re bound to notice imperfections.

 

A lot of vehicles get swirls from the dealership “delivery prep”

 

I am gonna try to sand out the bubble and then use the Dr colorchip to correct it. The whole truck will need paint correction before I can apply a ceramic coating. Opting to fix myself because who knows what kind of tomfoolery the dealership would do to fix it. Given that it's approaching winter here in PA and I don't have a heated garage I will probably wait until spring because of the low temps. If it starts rusting over winter then that might change my decision. Thanks so much for everyone's input on this!

 

oh I know, they butchered the duck out of it. They also had to align the door, sun room and some other stuff.

 

I'm a little late to the party here, but let me offer my opinions and advice for what it's worth. What you have - as much as I can tell from the not close enough pics - is a blister in the paint. I would guess that it's probably a blister in either the basecoat or the clear coat, but not the primer. (Can you see base metal?) Blisters are caused by many different things, but basically you have something that was on the surface before it was painted. The paint was then applied and the contaminate prevented the applied paint from adhering. Then the paint was oven cured and the blister formed and in some cases popped.

If the blister was in the top two layers of paint, you have a couple of choices because you do have Electro Deposition Primer at least protecting the bare metal. The best "home remedy" would be to touch it up with any number of color matched touch up paints. You won't have the same level of corrosion resistance as a correct factory finish, but it will be better than primer alone. A ceramic coating over the top will help though. If the blister has not popped, you can try just leaving it alone.

As for having a dealer sand and repaint the area, be very careful! No dealer or collision shop can match the process and thus the results of a correct factory finish. This is especially true where it comes to properties like corrosion resistance. (And since you live in a state where they use road salt …) Sure, they can usually cosmetically repair an area, the long term performance of that repair is highly suspect. Add to that the fact that when you trade or sell the vehicle down the line, somebody's going to spot the repair and question if the vehicle was wrecked. Trust me on this one. No matter what they say, aftermarket paint just isn't as well controlled or applied. If you saw what the factory does in prep work before any paint even touches you vehicle, you'd be amazed. In a collision shop, you might get a solvent wipe followed by a tack rag.

So what should you do? Without seeing your defect in person, it's hard for me to say. But generally speaking, a touch up / repaint is the last thing I'd recommend for a brand new vehicle.

 

Well. Not so worried about that tiny bubble after coming out to this today.

 

Wait your truck came with a sun room? Mine has a sun roof but a whole sun room sounds awesome. Was that an aftermarket upgrade?

 

when I ordered my truck I had a sun room installed in the bed for my mobile tanning business. It holds 2 sun beds. When they installed it it wasn’t level so I had to go back at the same time I noticed the bubble.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muEFD_odvUg

 

That will probably buff out with a little work and a DA polisher.

 

That is my hope... But my finger nail just barely catches on it so we shall see... Still disappointing when the truck is less than 30 days off the lot.

 

Is the clear coat thick on the 3rd gens? Is it harder than other clear coats?

 

That stinks. Keyed?

 

Possibly. Seems like a non go to spot to key a car... Just in front of the rear wheel well and down low. I live in an apartment complex who knows what someone was up to...

 

Speaking as one who has done more than my share of detailing, that's an issue. My general rule is that if you can feel it with a fingernail, it's time for paint. Even if you can polish it out, you risk taking so much clear coat off that you have future issues. Bummer. Good luck though.

 

Is it possible to add just clear coat?

 

Soft and it seems the newer the vehicle the thinner the clear no matter what brand.

No, essentially it would be a repaint to add layers.

 

I think it's right on the cusp between buff fix and repaint fix because my nail barely catches... Are those clear coat touch up pens/bottles junk? I am new to paint care so I genuinely don't know much about what works and what doesn't. It doesn't help that the internet is flooded with people trying to sell their magic products.

 

im sure if you go into a reputable detailing shop they’ll be able to tell if it needs to be painted or can be buffed. You seem to have such a lovely personality I wonder why someone would want to key your truck.

 

Adding paint to the car without a lot of work and prep and rework is going to be noticeable or even look worse than if you hadn't. It's also a nice time to make a small blemish like you've got or a rock chip look worse. Systems like Dr Colorchip are nice but you will always be able to find where you've done the touchup. Will someone else at several feet away notice, probably not. But does that matter, or would it be better to get paint on there and prevent it from getting worse which will eventually lead to rust. Now having said that I've got a Dr Colorship kit for the rock chips I've caught and will catch in the future.

As for buffing out your new scratches, that's just something you're going to have to experiment with. Can you remove the scratch nearly 100% that's a firm likely. However the real issue is you're going to have to level a lot of clear coat around it at the cost of making the scratch go away or just a lot less noticeable. So you've gotten rid of the scratch today, but you've left that area with a lot less clear coat for the future. As with anything buffing related, try a light approach first. Just hitting it with a polish may hide it enough.