Paint Defect - Bubbles on corner of liftgate

[s0ar]

I can't say this is the type of first post I wanted to make here, but I figured I should share this in case anyone else has the same issue on their 4Runner and hasn't noticed it yet.

The other day, I had my hand on the edge of the open liftgate and realized that the corner felt way sharper than it should. Upon closer inspection, I realized there were bubbles/craters in the clear coat and paint - clearly something went wrong when this panel was painted.

I've emailed Toyota so we'll see what comes of this. Has anyone else had any similar paint issues on their new 4Runner (or other Toyota vehicles)?

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[STAYFROSTY629]

Can you post a close up detailed photo of thay paint defect?

Back in 2022, I bought a brand new Toyota Tacoma Off-Road Premium in Lunar Rock color. After detailing it myself, I noticed paint defects on the Hood. The defects were pen sized solvent pops or "fish eyes" all along the front edge of the hood panel. There were about 50 of them and the size of the tip of a pen. Honestly you wouldn't even know they were there unless you knew about them.

But I took it to the Toyota Dealership I bought it from and the Service Manager inspected it and said he would contact Toyota Corporate to start their process. In a few days, a Toyota rep came out and inspected it and they ended up re-spraying the entire hood and both front fenders, all covered under warranty. I looked at the bill, it cost Toyota around $5000. And they used a high caliber auto body shop. I was impressed.

Long story short, if its a paint defect then Toyota will take care of you. Look at the bright side, if they re paint it, you'll have thicker paint on the rear hatch lol. (Toyota paint is pretty thin).

 

[STAYFROSTY629]

Also, I've had about 4 tacomas and one GR Corolla over the past 5 years. And I detail my own cars. Each time I detailed each brand new vehicle, every single one of them had some type of defect. EVERY Tacoma had multiple dust nibs and trash in the paint/clear coat. Actually, i can't think of any defects in the GR Corolla, but the GR Corolla was definitely in the best paint condition. I now have a 2025 4 runner ORP iforcemax, and I detailed and added a ceramic coating to it. The overall paint quality on the 4 runner is great. I was only able to find one little spec, looked like a tiny air bubble in the clear coat on the rear hatch. But overall the paint was great.

My theory: the cars built in Japan (4 Runner, GR COROLLA) produce way better quality vehicles. The paint has less defects and build quality is phenomenal. As for the Tacomas built in Mexico, based off my experience. The quality is less. Every Tacoma I had, had multiple defects in the paint. My last Tacoma's driver door wasn't aligned correctly. The tacoma was still a great truck, but just wasn't as good as quality as the vehicles I've personally owned that were built in Japan. Orange peel doesnt bother me so I dont consider that a defect.

With that being said, no vehicle is perfect and I believe almost every vehicle will have some imperfection.

 

[CO/ZA]

Paint has always been a shortcoming of the Japanese OEMs.

They all use inferior paint and inferior electrolysis processes compared to the Germans.

3-4th Gen Tacoma pickups suffered especially as they used a process the Germans phased out in the 1990s.

In fact they were using manually operated paint guns by humans as late as the mid-2010s, whereas everyone else in the world used robots.

 

[s0ar]

Can you post a close up detailed photo of thay paint defect?

Tried to get some better photos just now:

Long story short, if its a paint defect then Toyota will take care of you. Look at the bright side, if they re paint it, you'll have thicker paint on the rear hatch lol. (Toyota paint is pretty thin).

I took at look at the other doors and it looks like this is in fact isolated to the rear hatch. I'm sure they'll take care of it as you said, and lol good point about the respray being thicker.

Previously I had a 2021 Tacoma (mfg. Mexico) and a 2022 IS350 (mfg. Tahara, Japan) and honestly both had excellent paint from the factory so seeing this, along with the random interior rattles that I've been dealing with after less than 4000 miles, has been a little disappointing.

Will post an update here once I hear back from Toyota.

 

[s0ar]

Paint has always been a shortcoming of the Japanese OEMs.

They all use inferior paint and inferior electrolysis processes compared to the Germans.

3-4th Gen Tacoma pickups suffered especially as they used a process the Germans phased out in the 1990s.

In fact they were using manually operated paint guns by humans as late as the mid-2010s, whereas everyone else in the world used robots.

I've heard that typically German cars have the best paint processes, but the fact that Toyota is still using such an outdated process for the new Tacoma is baffling... My understanding is that clear coats have become less durable due to various environmental regulations, but surely there must be other technological improvements happening to compensate? I just googled "4th gen tacoma paint" and the amount of threads coming up about paint issues is wild ?

 

[CO/ZA]

I've heard that typically German cars have the best paint processes, but the fact that Toyota is still using such an outdated process for the new Tacoma is baffling... My understanding is that clear coats have become less durable due to various environmental regulations, but surely there must be other technological improvements happening to compensate? I just googled "4th gen tacoma paint" and the amount of threads coming up about paint issues is wild ?

I wouldn't say so, it's rather what the OEM will pay for.

E.g. BMW, Mercedes, etc. used nano ceramic paint as early as 2010.
These days they paint with BASF, tyco, or PPG's advanced coatings.

When I visited the BMW factory in Munich, the guide mentioned that paint is the biggest choke point in the entire assembly line. They invest so much money in the electro-dip processes, preparation of surfaces, and robots to ensure that they don't fall behind. A 3 series leaves the line every 51 seconds there.

Honda and Toyota still seem to use softer and weaker paint, in addition to less stringent assembly processing.

Compare the Tacoma:



to a VW Golf:

 

[David1435]

My driver and passenger door both have a tiny air bubble in the bottom corner that dried with exposed metal and the paint on the passenger door is chipped on places that are unlikely to be hit by road debris and too high up to be hit by somehow dinging another car

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