Question about "paint protection film option"

Most of the cars I've owned end up with annoying chips on the hood eventually. I tend to keep a car 5-7 years so it probably doesn't impact resale much as much as it is just aggravating.

I will be ordering a 2010 IS 250 soon, or perhaps finding one in inventory and would like to know more about the paint option. I'm sure the dealer will be happy to educate me but I would like some unbiased feedback.

Specifically:

  1. Is this a worthwhile option for preventing "highway hood dings"? It's the long interstate drives where the average speed seems to be about 75 to 80, and I hear the rock crunch the front of my car that really drives me nuts. The economic downturn has meant less dumptrucks with rocks falling out of them for the past few years but I'm already seeing signs of that changing.

  1. Does it dull the sheen of metallic painted surfaces at all once applied? For example, if I put it only on the hood, would I be able to see a difference in shine between the hood and front fenders?

Thanks to anyone who has hands-on experience with this product, if you've only read about it you're no more knowledgeable on the subject than me (with regard to the above questions at least) so in that case I'll be happy to trade notes :)

Reply to
Michael Walken
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The paint protection film that the factory uses is effective but it has a pebbled appearance so when the factory applies the film, it is used in inconspicuous areas like rocker panels and wheel wells.

Front end masks or bras are not always effective because if they become loose, they will flap and damage the paint underneath.

Increasing the distance between vehicles at higher speeds reduces the chance that rocks kicked up from tires will hit your car. When I encounter a stretch or road with lots of debris, I just hang back until there is less debris on the road and then work on getting past traffic.

Reply to
Ray O

Thanks for the info, sounds like I should pass on using this stuff to protect the front from rock dings. It seems odd to put film in inconspicuous areas, I'm not sure I care as much about rock dings in inconspicuous areas (unless they are major dings, which have never really been a problem for me and I doubt the film would handle rocks after a certain size).

Reply to
Michael Walken

Toyota had problems with the paint being abraded at the leading edge of pickup truck beds and at the front lower edge of rear wheel arch openings, and on the rocker panels of some cars. The cure was the application of the film. I was skeptical at first, but the film was effective.

Reply to
Ray O

You seem knowledgable about the brand, do you work for Toyota/Lexus?

Sorry if I'm insulting a regular or missing something in a FAQ or otherwise opening myself up to noob insults. Many years back I used to frequent auto newsgroups often once upon a time but I am completely new to this one.

Looking forward to my IS 250 though, I have finalized paperwork on it and will be driving it before the end of the month (just waiting for it to arrive).

Reply to
Michael Walken

I spent 15 years working for Toyota but have been out of the car business for 17 years now.

Enjoy your new IS!

Reply to
Ray O

Excellent, and thanks. I'm looking forward to the car. It will have somewhat less horsepower than I'm used to, but I realized that I didn't use about half of the horsepower I had in my previous cars 80% of the time... on the rare occasions that I did, I ended up with speeding tickets :) Unfortunately the smiley does not indicate a joke, I really did get them a lot and I hated getting them and hated paying my lawyer to get them dismissed (still cheaper than the insurance hit though).

In my 40s now, I am more than willing to give up a little "feel the road" with this car, especially when the roads often consist of potholes in my area. Looking for a little softer ride, and also better gas mileage. Could not stand the thought of a four-cylinder anything (I just cannot stand the hi-RPM noise on the interstate), so I'll take a six with a quiet ride and a little less 0-60 time. I've always kind of enjoyed a soft, luxurious ride and I hope and expect this is what I will get with this car, with a little bit of sports sedan spunk thrown in. My last car had sports suspension and several wheel bearing / hub assembly replacements which got expensive. This seems like a pretty well balanced little car.

Reply to
Michael Walken

I'm assuming that you have driven the model car you are buying. The Lexus dealer gave me an IS 250 AWD to drive, and after driving my LS. the ride seemed a lot stiffer than the LS to me. It was fun to drive, it handled much better than my LS, and was very quiet but not as quiet as the LS. I now do commercial real estate sales, so the extra leg and elbow room in the LS is nice for my clients but I would consider an IS if I didn't have to worry about more than 1 passenger most of the time.

Reply to
Ray O

Even though I've given the courtesy deposit, if for some reason I hate the car after it comes in I can still work something out (I doubt that would happen though).

I drove an IS when it first came out, but not recently..I understand it's been refined slightly since then. I'm buying it using the same basic strategy as I did previous cars: there may be something I don't like about it but I'm probably not going to identify it in a last minute test drive, the small irritations are usually getting over whatever I was used to before and go away in a couple of days if that makes sense. I'm one of those creature of habit types and if there is something I don't like I will get over it pretty quickly, just a matter of giving myself time to adapt to the new. The sort of stuff that would give me long-term buyers remorse is something like total back discomfort on long drives (aside from body pains I'm pretty easy going), and Japanese cars have never disappointed me over the long-term.

With regard to passenger load you just described my lifestyle and why this is the right car for I think....naturally that was part of my research and I realized the cramped back seats of the IS were not an issue in my case. Some of the other cars on my menu were actually

2-door coupes with less in the back believe it or not. In my line of work, having no room for others often means the discount of being able to catch a ride with someone else and foregoing ever-rediculous fuel costs :) (that's not really my primary motive as much as a side benefit of small back seats).
Reply to
Michael Walken

It sounds like you have thought this through, so.... Enjoy your new ride!

Reply to
Ray O

I would never buy a car without driving it first. I agree that some disappointments may not surface on a test drive. Nonetheless, I cannot see myself ever buying a car without test driving it first.

Reply to
David Z

I understand how most folks feel that way. Many years ago my dad used to buy & sell a lot of used cars as sort of a freelance job / interest, and because of that I got to drive a wide assortment of autos, not just for a day or two, but long enough to get quite familiar with them (sometimes I drove a particular vehicle for many weeks).

There were of course some cars I liked more than others, and the reasons varied, but the one thing that noticed is that almost any of them would grow on me as I drove it. In other words, the car I like best is the one I'm most familiar with (for the most part). I will find design elements that will make me think I wish it did this or that differently, but ultimately I'll get used to it.

I have a bad ankle from a running injury, that likes me to position it a certain way when I'm sitting. When I bought my last car, I did test drive one before I ordered, but I did not notice that the design of the driver compartment near the floor was shaped such that I would not be able to position my left foot the way I was used to, because the ankle won't start hurting if the positioning isn't right on shorter drives. Well I did get a bit of buyers remorse about 2 hours after driving my car off the lot, wondered how I was going to get myself out of that one. With a little experimentation I found that if I just modified the angle of my heal slightly, all was good and my foot played nicely with the car. And, all these years later and it hasn't been an issue at all on long drives.

I suspect there will be some teething pains between me and this car as well, but on the whole I know exactly what I'm purchasing.

Reply to
Michael Walken

Why would you pass up the opportunity to test drive? Putting the due diligence issue aside (which IMO is more than reason enough to do it), I would think that it would be a fun thing to do for anyone considering a car purchase.

Does it come with an ashtray?

Reply to
David Z

I have driven an IS 250 before. These cars got a small amount of refinement in 2009, but aside from that there aren't sweeping changes since I drove. I have not driven the exact one I am purchasing, I will "test drive" the actual car I am buying once it arrives.

Also, I got the deal I did because I called up the dealership's manager and gave a no BS bottom line bid, for what I know to be the lowest price possible for this car. He said yes over the phone then gave it to a sales manager to close everything up, but I think a lot of that was because I called up and made an offer without wasting anyone's time. If I had wandered into the dealership for a test drive, I doubt I would have gotten this deal.

It might be fun if I've never driven one before, but I have so based on my previous test drives I did not think it was really the best use of time.

I couldn't care less about ashtrays, I only pay attention to the features that matter to me. But since ashtrays are not on the spec sheet with the VIN# they gave me when I dropped by to validate the deal, I would not expect to see one in the car.

For the record I'm not disagreeing with your strategy of test drving first or saying you can't still get a deal that way, it probably is a good approach for many folks.

Reply to
Michael Walken

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