exterior factory paint - anyone experiencing issues, fading, or very easily scratched?

[chorky]

As the title suggests. If anyone has read post numbers 18,069, 18,280, and 18,212 of the following thread.

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...r-gladiator-today.23705/page-1219#post-966600

I am curious if anyone has noticed any issues with their paint. Just after the second week of owning my jeep I noticed that the bottom of the door sil was already scratched from a couple times my foot hit against it hard when getting in (bad joints/back). Now.... I wouldn't be surprised with worn down paint with repeated boot strikes. But it happened quick, with only one or two light strikes.

To further this concern/question, after a couple light brushing against some deciduous leaves out in the woods, and a couple times with Douglas-fir needles of new growth (so soft stuff) I already have noticed scratches in the paint. Deep enough to catch on my finger nail. Entirely too deep to seem normal. My old TJ (and my old OBS 7.3) has plenty of pin striping from rubbing against bare sticks in the winter - as to be expected. But the paint of the Gladiator seems SUPDER DUPER soft. I cleaned a few portions, and ran my fingers across just the paint, and it even feels extremely soft. It has me wondering if there is even a clear coat on this darn thing. Another poster in the link above also expressed concern. I have not gone up against any tough woody branches at all.... and am at this point concerned that if I even breathe on it wrong it will scratch. So something really does not seem right to me at all.

I am going to run by a body shop this weekend if possible and have them take a look since I know nothing of vehicle paint. But just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this - if this is normal, or not. It doesn't seem like it should be. The paint on my 06 TJ has held up well against plenty of really really bad scrapes. The Gladiator just seems all kidnds of bad. I'll try and get some pics up here soon if I get a couple rain free days to give it a good hand wash.

For reference, it is a 2022 rubi Sarge green.

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[jac04]

Mine is white, so scratches are tough to see, but I don't think my paint is really much different than any of my other recent vehicles, or even my white 2014 JK. In the summer, I almost always use waterless spray-on car wash instead of a 'real' 2-bucket wash and my paint looks just like new. If the paint was 'soft' I would expect to see small scratches from this wash method.

Some paint colors are just going to show scratches more that others. The door sills are going to get beat up if you are not careful, that's just the way it is. I put XPel film on mine, and I would suggest that you do the same.

I really don't see what good taking it to a body shop is going to do. Plus, what is it that you want Jeep to do about your perception of the paint? Are you just looking for someone to tell you everything is OK? Are you looking for a re-paint?

If you want to confirm that there is clearcoat on it, just use a little Meguiar's 105 or 205 on a clean white cotton t-shirt wrapped around your finger. If there is no clearcoat, then the t-shirt will turn color fairly quickly, especially with sarge green.

 

[Newlife]

I’ll tell you the paint on mine sting grey is freakin bullet proof compared to my three previous Toyotas. If you want soft paint check those out.
That being said any high traffic areas are going to get more wear then others. The best thing to do is like mentioned above get some ppf installed in those areas. Being relatively new at two weeks old it shouldn’t have any issue going on and shouldn’t need major work (cut and polish, claybar etc). They may still want to clay it so as not to trap any contaminants in the paint. But that would be your best option. A body shop isn’t going to do anything different than your factory paint.

 

[chorky]

Mine is white, so scratches are tough to see, but I don't think my paint is really much different than any of my other recent vehicles, or even my white 2014 JK. In the summer, I almost always use waterless spray-on car wash instead of a 'real' 2-bucket wash and my paint looks just like new. If the paint was 'soft' I would expect to see small scratches from this wash method.

Some paint colors are just going to show scratches more that others. The door sills are going to get beat up if you are not careful, that's just the way it is. I put XPel film on mine, and I would suggest that you do the same.

I really don't see what good taking it to a body shop is going to do. Plus, what is it that you want Jeep to do about your perception of the paint? Are you just looking for someone to tell you everything is OK? Are you looking for a re-paint?

If you want to confirm that there is clearcoat on it, just use a little Meguiar's 105 or 205 on a clean white cotton t-shirt wrapped around your finger. If there is no clearcoat, then the t-shirt will turn color fairly quickly, especially with sarge green.

i am wanting to confirm this rig actually has a clear coat and there wasnt some flaw from the manufacturer On the paint or clear coat.

I’ll tell you the paint on mine sting grey is freakin bullet proof compared to my three previous Toyotas. If you want soft paint check those out.
That being said any high traffic areas are going to get more wear then others. The best thing to do is like mentioned above get some ppf installed in those areas. Being relatively new at two weeks old it shouldn’t have any issue going on and shouldn’t need major work (cut and polish, claybar etc). They may still want to clay it so as not to trap any contaminants in the paint. But that would be your best option. A body shop isn’t going to do anything different than your factory paint.

yeah I realize darker colors show more and high traffic areas also show wear. But I can tell you there is already more wear on this than my 06 TJ in ‘wear’ areas. I dont drive it much currently and have less than 2000 miles. considering how I treat my TJ (and it is black by the way), i would expect the new gladiator to hold ip significantly better. Based on what I see already, if I treated the gladiator anywhere close to the places I have taken my TJ or old F350 I dont know that there would be any paint at all. It seems a lot softer and easier to scratch and damage than it should be. I will try and get a few pics up this weekend. I did look into PPF the first week I got it and nobody near me will do anything other than the hood area. Even then they charge upwards of 6K. Too much for my wallet for the amount of coverage offered.

 

[jac04]

I did look into PPF the first week I got it and nobody near me will do anything other than the hood area. Even then they charge upwards of 6K. Too much for my wallet for the amount of coverage offered.

Buy it from XPel, cut to size and install it yourself. There is a little learning curve to install it nicely, but you can do it. I did my door sill areas and continued down the rocker area to behind my side steps.

https://www.xpel.com/ULTIMATE-PLUS-Paint-Protection-Film-Custom-Length?quantity=1

 

[Maccam26]

I’ll tell you the paint on mine sting grey is freakin bullet proof compared to my three previous Toyotas. If you want soft paint check those out.
That being said any high traffic areas are going to get more wear then others. The best thing to do is like mentioned above get some ppf installed in those areas. Being relatively new at two weeks old it shouldn’t have any issue going on and shouldn’t need major work (cut and polish, claybar etc). They may still want to clay it so as not to trap any contaminants in the paint. But that would be your best option. A body shop isn’t going to do anything different than your factory paint.

Toyota and Subaru have really shitty paint.

 

[chorky]

Here is a photo. Drivers side. This is where my pants rub as I get in/out. Barely have had this thing a month. I cant recall any other vehicle scratching this easy. Deep enough to feel with your finger nail.

this really doesnt seem normal to me.

 

[WetWilly]

New vehicle new paint, takes paint time to cure and harden to maximum hardness. Just a thought.

 

[john#21]

From that photo, it has clear coat. Typically the interiors are manually sprayed by a person so they can get all of the nooks and crannies, jeep may use robots though. If it was manually sprayed, the TM could have applied the CC very light but you would see a lot more orange peel to it. It will look "dry".

Some colors are better than others, I have not had any issues with Hydro blue.

 

[chorky]

From that photo, it has clear coat. Typically the interiors are manually sprayed by a person so they can get all of the nooks and crannies, jeep may use robots though. If it was manually sprayed, the TM could have applied the CC very light but you would see a lot more orange peel to it. It will look "dry".

Some colors are better than others, I have not had any issues with Hydro blue.

im not entirely sure what orange peel looks like but Ill look into itthis weekend. Didnt realize parts of them were hand sprayed. Thought they were dipped….

i did stop by a body shop just out of curosity if I had a problem or not. The paint guys there said that comparing this paint with my older jeep and even older truck that I sold is not really a good way to go because new paints are not as robust as older ones. According to them. It sorta makes sense. Then again one would figure otherwise. But i guess with removal of led and other chemicals I can see how that statement might hod true. They did say they see this sort of wear all the time with newer vehicles though. And advised to get some type of protection sooner than later. But all the stuff I pointed out to them would buff out if I wanted to spend the cash doing that. But knowing its just the clear that is damaged and not actual paint (right now anyway) is good.


I was also able to finally find a place in town that does ceramic coating and another place that would actually do clear bra wherever I wanted. Even the door hinges. So theres some options to consider.

 

[john#21]

I work in a manufacturing paint shop, painting pick ups. I cant speak for Jeep but I can say in our shop the only dipping is in the E-Coat layer. All other paints ( primer, topcoat and clear coat) are sprayed by half robot and half manual.

There are tools to measure the total thickness but at this point it is just the clearcoat layer that you are seeing issues with. Newer paints could be waterborne or Solvent, again I can't speak for jeep.

Based on that photo, you could clean it up fairly easily. Wash it off real good and get all of the dust and dirt off of it. Get either polish or wax and go to town with a microfibre towel. Hand polishing is not easy but it prevents from burning through the CC if it is thin or on edges.

 

[chorky]

So I stopped by a place that installs PPF (not sure which brand or thickness) but they said for the following

• hood, fenders, grill - $575
• Sills and B Pillar - $325
• Doors (below windows) - $675
• Box side - $500
• cab corners - $325

So - for $2400 I could have the PPF.

That seems steep. The guy also said that he sees sticks going right through PPF all the time - the brush here is, rough stuff. I am still honestly surprised how many scratches I see on the Gladiator compared to my black TJ that I have not been super nice to.

Anyway, so a bit of a crossroads and options - just curious about some input to maybe help me decide.

• get it - hope it lasts and protects as much as folks say it does (I honestly have some doubts)
• deal with it - its a Jeep.... embrace the enevitable, while being careful as possible
• wait till its too obnoxious and damaged, and get a wrap

I was hoping to get a RTT this summer so I can get out camping again. but at 2500, it would set me back until next year for the RTT.

 

[NC_Overland]

I’ve been pretty impressed with the Sting Gray paint on mine. It has a lot of hwy miles on it and very few chips. It has zero scratches on it. The ones it had, I did and they buffed out pretty easily. Every newer vehicle I’ve had chipped up really easily. This one hasn’t at all. It has a lot more orange peel than I initially realized, but I only see it when I polish it up good and most people would never notice.

 

[kgc]

Here is a photo. Drivers side. This is where my pants rub as I get in/out. Barely have had this thing a month. I cant recall any other vehicle scratching this easy. Deep enough to feel with your finger nail.

this really doesnt seem normal to me.

My Sting Gray Gladiator has the same problem your experiencing. Everything that touches it scratches it. Here in AZ, we expect anything that goes offroad to get "desert pinstriping" pretty quickly, but I feel like my Gladiator's paint is way softer than some of my friends' trucks. I put some 3M paint protection film on/underneath the door sills to protect the sills. It has held up good for over a year, although the film does collect black marks from shoes pretty quickly. Better the film than the paint.

I keep wondering if XPEL or ceramic coat or something else would be worth it, but at this point I've pretty much given up. My truck also has a ton of 'orange peel' and there are enough scratches now that I imagine paint correction labor would be $$$. If I paid $3k+ to correct and protect the paint, I'd feel obligated to stay on the road. And I like going off road.

 

[Commodus]

im not entirely sure what orange peel looks like but Ill look into itthis weekend. Didnt realize parts of them were hand sprayed. Thought they were dipped….

i did stop by a body shop just out of curosity if I had a problem or not. The paint guys there said that comparing this paint with my older jeep and even older truck that I sold is not really a good way to go because new paints are not as robust as older ones. According to them. It sorta makes sense. Then again one would figure otherwise. But i guess with removal of led and other chemicals I can see how that statement might hod true. They did say they see this sort of wear all the time with newer vehicles though. And advised to get some type of protection sooner than later. But all the stuff I pointed out to them would buff out if I wanted to spend the cash doing that. But knowing its just the clear that is damaged and not actual paint (right now anyway) is good.


I was also able to finally find a place in town that does ceramic coating and another place that would actually do clear bra wherever I wanted. Even the door hinges. So theres some options to consider.

If you are considering both you need to have the clear bra done before the ceramic coat

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