mcgong

I bought my car CPO last November, 99GS3, and I have driven it about 7,000 miles. I do mostly freeway driving on the 105/405. My front end looks like cr@p right now. The bumper looks like it has a million rock chips on it, and the paint looks like it is flaking off. It looks like the dealer tried to touch it up before, but didn't do a good job. It is like when you drive at night an get a million little nats stuck on you front bumper, but in this case it is a million like chips. Does anyone else have this problem? Should I take it to the dealer, will they do anything about it? I don't think this is normal wear and tear.

NVMYGS3

I doubt the dealer will do anything but I do know a place in OC that will touch up the dings on your hood using a paint touch up gun and I hear they do a good job.

www.dingking.com. I believe the shop I hearda bout was in Costa Mesa

ap0718

I know exactly what you mean. Here in Florida we have LoveBugs that splatter over the entire front of your car even if you go 10mph. God, those things are nasty....on top of that, if you let them sit on the paint for a couple days, they will leave permanent stains on the bumper.

I do a lot of freeway driving as well and have rock chips up the @ss on my front bumper. Trust me, if I were a dealership, I would tell you to buy a bra from our parts department...so you can scratch the idea of getting help from them!!!!

My suggestions, either get the front bumper repainted or replace it with a new front bumper....Rod Millen, Veilside, etc.....

Just my two cents

biggie27

Im sorry to say but thats one of the problems that comes with this car, for some odd reason the piant just sucks, especially if you have a black car since they are not clearcoated, the only thing I can say is either repaint the front and add a thicker layer of clearcoat, or repaint the whole car wit a diffrent paint manufacturer ( mercedes paint is very good quality and will last )

///MDex

I bet the dealer will not help you since more than likely, it is considered normal wear and tear. Try calling Corporate first and see what kind of reply you get.



If you are considering repainting, my suggestion as well.

HTH

futuregs

your best bet is get it all repainted and then put some 3M Expel on the front.

mcgong

Yeah I was thinking about getting the front end repainted too. Just wanted to see what you guys thought about taking it to dealer. My roomate has a 92 LS 400 with about 120K miles on it and his frontend looks 5x better than mine. My has about 45k miles and front end looks like I drove through a sand storm. I thought Lexus Paint was suppose to be one of the best. Guess I should start looking around. Any suggestions?

lex430

I got my front hood, bumper repainted few months back, and got xpel installed, so far so good, no more chips to worry about. If you decide to go with repaint/xpel install, I have a really nice guy in OC that is willing to do group discounts for xpel, I think few other CL guy has also gone through him.

VVT-i

Yeah..that the way to go.
Future..are you talking about the clear/flim that if you not look real close you can't even see it..right.? I think that's a real good product and will get one soon.

mcnelson

Here is my chipped bumper, I am getting it painted soon hopefully.

mcgong

Hey lex,

Who did you go to to get the xpel put on in OC. How much did it cost you. My friend put it on his 2k2 M3, but he got Stone Guard Instead. It cost him around 700 dollars. I think he paid too much. If I may also ask, how much did it cost to get you front end repainted. I got a quote from a bodyshop for 825. That includes the hood and bumper and blending it in with the fenders. Is that good.

lex430

I went through insurance, and along with paint job, I had other things done. For the paint jobs, I had the entire right side of car, hood, bumper repainted at ~$2k. S. it's hard for me to estimate how much it cost just for bumper+hood.

I called all the xpel dealers off their website, and worked out a group deal with one of the guys, he's reall cool, and i had all 3 kits done, lights, hood, bumper, I have to dig up the final total i paid, but if you add up all the cost of the kits off their website, the total labor is basically ~$100 in addition. I got quotes at $1k+, $1500 from the other places.

email me if you want more info, I'll try to pull my invoice out.

Fa-suto

Speaking of chips. Is there any good product out there on the market to clean the glass lights and I'm not talking about Windex but more for the minor scratches and chips? I even notice my fog lights are somewhat murkey in the inside but it looks like you can't take them apart to clean them without stripping the sealant around them.

Fa-Suto

mcgong

Fa,

You could try Z14 by Zaino. Try doing a search on it. It is like a plastic cleaner. I tried it on mine, it helped a little, you just have to work at it, I was too lazy. Hope that helps.

garnet92

Unfortunately, this is apparently a weak spot for the GS. Mine, a Pearl White, has a front end that looks like mcnelsons, It’s not as noticeable on the white car but the chips are there. Touch-up isn’t an option, just a stop-gap at best. There have been other posts here about the front-end chipping problem. As good as the Lexus GS is in most areas, this is where it sucks. I doubt that 540’s and M5’s have this problem. I should say that I’ve owned over 30 cars, some driven over bad roads a lot, and none has chipped so easily.
My SC4 only had a few chips after 9 years??

I’m getting a hood/bumper paint estimate next week and I’ll decide what to do after I see what Sewell Lexus will do for a ten-year customer.

Fa-suto, I’ve used a Porter-Cable polisher and Blue Magic plastic & plexiglass cleaner to clear up my lights – works well. BTW, I tried 3 other plastic polishing products (including Zaino) and this was the best.