as the other topic is now getting,full of people finding paint defects/chips,i think we should get a census of the state of the problem

there a 3 poll questions,yes,yes and send a letter,and no i am not suffering

if you have problems,please say where and to what extent,please make it brief and to the point.........no waffle

Loads of paint chips on my bonnet - no rust though cos it's galvanised

New car only 2 days old and 2 chips. 1 front spoiler and 1 bonnet.

This has got to softest paint ever sprayed onto a car !

Well - I've been raving on about my bubbling and rusting for donkeys years! :sniff:

I take mine in tomorrow morning - but yes, lets get a letter out and let them know how many people are being affected... :mad:

yes paint bubbling and rusting chips

Paint chips on bonnet, boot lid and driver's door. Boot lid chip was rusting.

[color=Blue]Several chips on the bonnet
at least two of them happened within 48 hours of picking the car up new from the dealer[/color]

Im on my second IS200. My First was an SE Auto in Aztec Fire...the paint on that seemed so soft!! I had no rusting or bubbleing but it seemed like every time i looked at the bonnet there was a new stone chip!! It drove me mad!! Ive now got a sport in charcoal grey & not a single chip on it?? I think they had a faulty batch like the gearboxes...what age are your cars?? the auto I had was a V reg..I did contact lexus head office & complained & they said 'have you ever had a car with metalic paint before sir?':flaming:

OK - at last! I went into the dealer about 45 minutes ago, and the body shop manager came out straight away. I pointed him in the direction of the bubbling, and said that this was what I was angry about and the reson I wrote to Lexus GB. He asked me to open the bonnet so that he could have a good look and....

COVERED UNDER WARRANTY. Booked in on the 20th of MAy, collection on the 22nd of May - FULL Respray of the whole bonnet (so chips will go too) worth £290 plus VAT.

I asked him if this was a common problem - and he said it was rare but in instances like this it is covered under warranty. He was fair enough about it, its just a shame it took so long via Lexus GB....

Chip on bonnet and front off-side fender, no rust.

Mine has a few stone chips, none rusted but.... eveytime I look at it there seem to be more scratches from inconsiderate oiks knocking against it...

Sorry I've taken so long to post my views here, I've been at uni for exams and am back for the weekend.

The best I've gotten out of Lexus Stockport is a free touchup stick (which still hasn't arrived after more than 2 weeks, I'm told its still on order :mad: ), and it should have come with the car in any case.

To be fair to Lexus though, I've gone around seeing a few other cars of similar age that friends have... some of the BMWs have rusting chips but none of the MBs I've seen do, then again MB cars come with something like a 30 year anti-corrosion warranty!

I am with any action we decide to take as a group and a letter sounds like a great idea.

Lost paint on from bumper and read bumper when had the slightest contact with parked cars.

Chips all over the front and bonnet.

It's SOOO soft, the car is a Sept/OCt 2001 facelifted car.

we need more than 8 ppl on the list,my beer list for bar-b-q's are larger than this.......

get a move on...........

sorry, just like to point out that it looks like the majority of you with problems have cars from yr 2000, I really think it was problem with cars in a chassis no range...the one i had probs with was a 2000 & the paint was much more brittle on it!

I have a few stone chips but no more than I would expect from a 52,000 mile motorway car, and none of the chips are rusting.

The only bad chip I have is the drivers side wiper arm. The paint has come off and has a rust spot on it.

Numerous chips on bonnet and one large one on A pillar. BMW 5 series does same journeys (alternate cars with wife) and does not have a single chip.
2001 sapphire blue IS200

2001 IS200 Sport - Sapphire Blue
Stone chips on the bonnet and loads of small scratches - worst than any car I've ever had and still doing similar miles under similar conditions.

Got my brand new IS200SE (Strathcaron Blue) on 8 March this year and within a week had one stone chip on the bonnet. Took it to local dealer who touched it up with a cocktail stick. Now 3 months old and have approx 6 chips on the bonnet. Last week decide to try the cocktail stick touch-up myself using the tin of paint I got with the car. When I applied it, it looked a lot darker shade, but I assumed when it dried it'd be fine. Not so!! So I now had some nice dark spots on my bonnet! Got the T-Cut out to remove the darker spots and then had to do a good bit of polishing to get my bonnet looking good again - but still with the 6 chips of course.

Prior to this car, I had an 96 Ford Escort for 5 years and it didn't have the number of bonnet chips my Lexus now has after 3 months. Also most of my driving is in town, so its not like I'm doing much high speed driving where one might expect to be more prone to flying stones etc.

So, bottom line is, I adore my Lexus, but I am very disappointed that a car of this quality apparently has such a poor standard of paint finish. I'm therefore very much in favour of this being officially raised with Lexus UK.

(By the way, should I be able to vote in this poll, as I cant see how to?)

What a load of crap... :mad:

They're right ...
The bubbly finish along the sides is anti chip.

It's not on the front or bonnet etc.

[quote][i]Originally posted by guitareth[/i]
Last week decide to try the cocktail stick touch-up myself using the tin of paint I got with the car. When I applied it, it looked a lot darker shade, but I assumed when it dried it'd be fine. Not so!! So I now had some nice dark spots on my bonnet! Got the T-Cut out to remove the darker spots and then had to do a good bit of polishing to get my bonnet looking good again - but still with the 6 chips of course.[/quote]

I was warned that you have to REALLY mix the paint if it's going to be anywhere near a match - one guy had to have his bonnet resprayed after a DIY touch-up

I've now got at least ten chips along the edge of my bonnet, a couple are quite large. The paint seems very brittle and easy to chip. After seeing those links posted by Gordon, I am thinking of going down to the dealer and seeing what they have to say, quoting from the link "This slightly elastic surface shrugs off damage from stones and gravel". If we all go to our dealers quoting that and showing then our stone chips we might get a reaction for Lexus GB, what do you think?

[Edited on 13-6-2002 by JOHNNY-BOY]

Hi guys this is my first post, so lets hope I get it right.
I too have numerous chips on the front of the car which is less than a year old and I have to say it is the worst car I have owed for such a problem.
I have seen comments about the touch up paint etc, but I came across a company in the US who supply touch up paint in what can only be described as large felt tip type pens. I have just recieved mine and it is a whole lot easier to apply. All you need to order is the paint code.
Check out www.autosharppen.com.

Hi Blue Thunder & welcome to the club. I have had a look at that site, the product looks very good. Have you used it yet? if so are you happy with the results? Where are you from? as I am wondering about shipping and method of payment you used.

This definately HAS to be raised with Lexus GB.

We need someone to send a well written email to them, with a list of names and email addresses of everyone who has this problem.

This seems to be a problem with the IS200 only, and if this is not sorted, then it could affect their sales particularly from personal buyers who might want to keep their Lexus for more than 3 years.

Admin,

Is it possible to setup a page where we could list our names and refer to it in the email?

Matt the Boss,

Do we not have enough votes to pursue this?

Hi JOHNNY- BOY
The car lives in Basingstoke.
I ordered with my credit card, and the pen arrived by good old Post Office, in a padded envelope. Cant fault the service.
On a deep scratch or chip they say it needs a number of applications but so far so good. The colour match is good, and the pen is soooooooooooooo easy to use.
Its better that using the coctail stick method. I will be reapplying this week end and will post an update next week.

Just got a major stone chip on the roof just above the windscreen and was gutted. What I found more disturbing was that it rusted within a week !
Took the car back to Lexus Aberdeen and was told that this is covered under the warranty so the car goes in next week to get the chip repaired at the Lexus approved body shop.

Just thought I'd share this info as I see some of you have had problems with other dealerships taking the stone chip problem seriously.

I have just ordered one of those paint pens from the States, the woman I spoke to said that the Lexus colours were in stock as they are very popular. So it seems our friends in the States have paint problems too :tumble:

[quote][i]Originally posted by Stitcher[/i]
Just got a major stone chip on the roof just above the windscreen and was gutted. What I found more disturbing was that it rusted within a week !
Took the car back to Lexus Aberdeen and was told that this is covered under the warranty so the car goes in next week to get the chip repaired at the Lexus approved body shop.

Just thought I'd share this info as I see some of you have had problems with other dealerships taking the stone chip problem seriously.[/quote]

Apparently the car is galavanised, except the roof - so it would rust pretty quick.
I think you are very fortunate to get a chip repaired under warranty - it's usually regarded as "wear & tear".

Apparently the car is galavanised, except the roof - so it would rust pretty quick.
I think you are very fortunate to get a chip repaired under warranty - it's usually regarded as "wear & tear". [/quote]

Is this true about the roof, if so why. Surely they must dip / spray the whole body shell ?
I think I'm only getting it under warranty as the cars only 3 months old and the salesman's jaw hit the floor when he saw the rust !

Hi. This must be the WORST car I've ever seen for paint problems. I love my IS200 and Lexus have been fantastic about swapping the corroding alloys. But when I showed them the incredibly stonechipped bonnet they told me to call Lexus HQ. This I did and was told that they would take advice from my dealer. After calling my dealer (Reading) Lexus HQ told me that it was fair wear and tear and not covered under warranty.

My bonnet is COVERED in stone chips - mostly tiny ones but it looks awful and they go right up to the windscreen. In addition the paintwork fails to fight off ANYTHING which might cause a scratch - it is now covered in cat scratches and others which I cannot get rid of. My IS200 is sapphire blue and still 6 months within warranty.

I am livid that a car of this age has such poor paintwork, worse than cars 10 years old! I will happily support any attempt to get Lexus to rethink.

Chris Starke

My car is also a Sapphire Blue IS200 and a real pain where the paintwork is concerned. It's terrible battling to polish out scratches and trying to touch up stone chips all the time. If Lexus GB doesn't think there's an issue, maybe those of us with newer models can raise this in future JD Powers questionnaires....

scarlatti red is200se
brought new sept 2002
came with :
scratch on door
rippled paint on boot lid
scuffed bumper and front wing (with badly coat of touch up)
faded paint on roof

spent week in dealers and came back with door scratched still !
although stone chip on bonnet (within 1 week and the size of half pence) was gone
and the two front scuffed wheels (my fault) now replaced with new

My 99 Aztec gold IS200 seemed to be immune from piant chips until the other day. I now have two on the leading edge of the bonnet. Both occured when I'd been driving in heavy rain recently.

I wonder if the water based paint softens a tado in really bad rain ??? this in turn makes it easily chipped ???

My only other chip on the rear wheel arch alo occurred in heavy rain..........

Just a thought

im glad you posted in this one dave,i forgot about this post,i think we should get it active again,i see a few ppl have placed a vote now...................

but we need the voice of the masses before we can do anything,any legal beagles in here yet

i suffered from chips and got annoyed at having to keep doing touch ups, so i got an xpel kit and in 2.5 years i have had one chip on the front of the bonnet - but that went thru the xpel and the other was about a week ago and about 1/2 way up the bonnet

rob.

Can you tell me any more about this xpel kit, is it something I can do, or has it to be done by professionals. Also how much does it cost. My mate had his IS200 done in Supagard before he picked his car up and hasn't one stonechip in 13500 miles. I picked my IS200 Sports last Tuesday and had the same treatment, do you know if xpel would affect the Supagard treatment?

[quote name='Steve B' date='Nov 25 2002, 12:47 PM']Can you tell me any more about this xpel kit, is it something I can do, or has it to be done by professionals. Also how much does it cost. My mate had his IS200 done in Supagard before he picked his car up and hasn't one stonechip in 13500 miles. I picked my IS200 Sports last Tuesday and had the same treatment, do you know if xpel would affect the Supagard treatment?[/quote]
The SupaGard treatment will do nothing to prevent stone chips; your mate must just be very lucky. I think the xpel treatment is a barrier treatment, i.e. a thin clear film is stuck to the paintwork. This will not affect the SupaGard treatment. There are discounts available in the Gold section for this type of paint protection.

I was examining the bonnet of my Lexus whilst parked in the garage. I was just thinking that my 2.5 yr old IS200SE only had a small number of paint chips when a small fixture attachment to a ladder came loose and toppled onto the bonnet. I now have a small dent and will get the entire bonnet resprayed. Thats life!

sorry Brian,had to chuckle at that,however when the bonnets repainted now,at least they will use 2 Pac and not water based paint

I think we have a better chance of Lexus doing something if the letter (not email) comes officially from the Lexus Owners Club on letterheaded paper.

My car was new this year - I also have many chips and I do not drive close to the vehicle in front! In fact where I live, there very rarely is a vehicle in front!

well when we actually get some decent responses to the letter request,it will be sent on letter headed paper,would be good to find a lawyer aswell.

strange thing is,i actually think the white is a stable paint,ive only got 3 chips in over 20,000 miles and most of that was on Autobahn...so 130mph +

I think a lawer would be overkill at this stage, and I would not mention the numbers involved either - the letter should actually be pointing out something that I would be surprised if it was news to them - but coming from the owners club, and pointing out the bad PR this could generate and keeping Club members happy is a good thing....... especially as the IS is entry level and the aim for Lexus is that it builds brand loyalty and the current IS owners move up the range as they get older, tubbier and greyer ........