waxed new lexus and now its chipping

[jcrowe85]

I recently purchased a lexus is250 and decided to wax it using a orbital buffer with mequiars 3 step kit including; wax cleaner, polisher and carnuba wax. About a week following i noticed the paint started to chip away down to the primer and metal of the vehicle. It's severe and I have no idea what to do, I cant even drive the car to the store without noticing new chips on the hood, fenders, roof and bumper. Please Please HELP.

[Matt]

Some photos would be helpful, although from the sound of the issue it seems like a paint adhesion issue.

Is this a factory paint job (that you know off) or has it been repainted at some stage?

[KneeDragr]

Its gotta be a factory paint issue. Take it back to the dealer.

[toycar18]

or some dumb ass who re-painted it.

[FastZR1]

Is this a new to you car or a new car from the dealer where you are the first owner?

Sounds like a new to you car and the car has some repaint. Post some pictures and a few details on the car like year and milage. Any prior accidents?

[embolism]

it's got nothing to do with the wax

is it mainly on the hood?

this is a known issue with the new formulation paints being regulated into use. Most people on the club lexus forum highly recommend getting a clear bra installed.

You'll probably want to fix the chips first (dr. colourchip) then wait a week and get a clearbra

If it's on the front bumper then there's not much you can do. That area gets blasted driving on the highway

[RFulmer]

Our Lexus paint (pearl white) chipped easier than any other paint I have ever seen. After just a couple of weeks of ownership (bought new) it had several bad chips on the front and top of hood. I repaired the chips and had a clear bra installed.

It's been on for 4 years with great success. There are a few chips here and there where there is no clear bra but I'd highly recommend getting one for the brittle Lexus paint.

I'm having one put on my Mini soon.

[jcrowe85]

First, I'd like to thank all that are offering up help, I've been losing sleep over this. The car was purchased USED from a family friend I know and trust, its a 2007. It, without a doubt, is factory paint and ONLY started chipping after the mequiars three step kit with an orbital buffer. It's so brittel, I can toss a small stone at any section of the vehicle and it chips... I will upload pictures tomorrow. Thank you all again.

[jcrowe85]

Some photos would be helpful, although from the sound of the issue it seems like a paint adhesion issue.

Is this a factory paint job (that you know off) or has it been repainted at some stage?

definitely a factory paint job.

[jcrowe85]

it's got nothing to do with the wax

is it mainly on the hood?

this is a known issue with the new formulation paints being regulated into use. Most people on the club lexus forum highly recommend getting a clear bra installed.

You'll probably want to fix the chips first (dr. colourchip) then wait a week and get a clearbra

If it's on the front bumper then there's not much you can do. That area gets blasted driving on the highway
Its affecting every panel of the car I cleaned, polished and waxed; fenders, hood, roof, sideskirts, rear fenders ect. It scratches incredibly easy as well, all of which was never an issue for the past 8 months of ownership up until the past few weeks.

[PPLd]

does it looks like the top layer is peeling off?
what does it look like under the peel off layer?

There is a quarter panel on my car that has a similar "paint peel off" issue. The paint that peel off is very thin and looks like crispy chips of micro thickness. I can see there is another layer of silver paint underneath. My mechanic told me it is due to poor repaint prep work. He showed me another car that repainted from red to blue and the blue layer of paint can be gradually pushed off like a skin layer and expose the red paint layer.

Regarding your car, if it has been repainted, it may peel off in 1 year if you dont wax it, and probably the act of polishing paint speed up the peel off.

[BobbyG]

Sorry for your dilemma...

No wax or car care product that I'm aware of will cause delamination of the paint from the primer.

Paint bonds to the primer through both mechanical and chemical adhesion. Poor surface preparation will cause the paint to sort of sit on top of the surface rather than bond to it making separation very easy.

An addition way this can happen is through thermal expansion of two dissimilar materials. As the temperature rises all materiel's expand but at different rates. If the paint expands at a rate different from the rate of a repair then cracks can / will appear over time as the delamination process continues.

Is it possible that the chips were there and now those voids are filled with polish making them noticeable?

There is a solution for some of those unsightly chips that seem to work out well...

Dr. Colorchip (http://www.autogeek.net/dr-colorchip-paint-chip-repair.html)

[Robert8194]

Lexus and paint chips? Every Lexus I have done has chips on bumper and front portion of hood. Unbelievable for such a nice (and rather expensive) vehicle. IMO everything but the paint is top notch on the Lexus.

[BobbyG]

Lexus and paint chips? Every Lexus I have done has chips on bumper and front portion of hood. Unbelievable for such a nice (and rather expensive) vehicle. IMO everything but the paint is top notch on the Lexus.

Since Toyota and Lexus are close kin I suspect the paint issues are a systemic problem that plagues both.

My wife and I have had many makes of cars and trucks through the years and the paint on both Toyota's are by far the worst of any make we've owned...

[jcrowe85]

I have noticed the paint on the inside of the door jams in much stronger than the body which ive applied the cleaner, polish and wax to. The dealership took a look and could not come up with an explanation or solution and suggested I speak to a body shop. The body shop said they have no explanation, and that i should speak with meguiars, although they mentioned they use the product and have never seen this problem. I do know the meguiars product has been sitting in my garage for nearly five years, but after speaking with meguiars I found out the shelve life is 5-6 years. After driving today, I noticed more and more knicks and chips, they are EVERYWHERE including the doors except for the trunk and rear bumper. I will upload the photos of the vehicle, wax, and orbital buffer used. Thanks again.