2006 Tundra paint No Clear coat

Did Toyota not put clear coat on white color trucks in 2006? My Tundra does not have a clear coat finish. I got it a few months ago so not sure how the paint was when new. I have used New Finish, Cajun Shine, and Armour All Paint Protector trying to get a slick finish water will bead up on. Whats the best product to use to get good protection and a slick finish?

 

Welcome! I know my white 2002 has a single stage paint job with no clear coat. I wouldn't be surprised if they continued that through 06. I have a thread about restoring the paint but yours doesn't look too bad. Anything that looks off is likely just oxidation which can by removed.

Here is that thread.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/single-stage-paint-correction.42291/

 

I have been told that all 1st gen Tundra's and Sequoias have single stage paint.

 

I'm 99% certain that is not accurate, unless you are just speaking about all white ones?

We have plenty of members here with clear coat that is peeling.

 

Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure white is the only single stage. I've seen peeling on every color but white so far. Red, green, blue, gray, tan, black, all peeling.

 

Lots of incorrect answers here*. All non-metallic paint jobs almost straight through to current date are single-stage paint. They only bothered clearcoating metallics.

To the OP: You *must* polish the truck before waxing to clear up the oxidation, then seal the paint, then wax. It's really the only way. I'll post some pics in a sec to show you how I know.

 

Ok, pics and more.

Here is before/after washing, claybar, then using a 6" DA rotary buffer and Orange Griot's correction pad and about 2 doz hours of work with the double-wax after: https://www.tundras.com/threads/lets-see-your-first-gen-photo-thread.21/page-66#post-1821749

Want to see how bad the oxidation was? Check this out: https://www.tundras.com/threads/wha...t-gen-tundra-today.2558/page-673#post-1814972

Or this: https://www.tundras.com/threads/wha...t-gen-tundra-today.2558/page-674#post-1816789

Exhaustive details on how I did it and what I used? See here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/wha...t-gen-tundra-today.2558/page-673#post-1815560

It's till not quite perfect, but I'll fix the few minorly hazy spots as I got.

The most important part? KEEP IT SEALED AND WAXED. Paint sealant and wax aren't necessarily the same thing, from what I gather. Wax twice a year. re-seal at least once every other year, or yearly if you can manage.

 

What are the other incorrect answers? The only one I saw was the claim that all 1st gen tundra's were single stage paint.

I've seen black ones peel that are not metallic. What do you make of that?

What sealer did you use?

 

First, your thread is awesome. I read it the day after I got my '06 and it helped a lot with deciding on what direction to go on paint correction. Thanks for that. Your thread was literally the inspiration behind my work.

Everyone has their own perspective, but the incorrect bits, from my perspective:

Single stage continued past 2006, onto the 2nd gen, possibly into 3rd gen, and its use spanned multiple vehicle models. It's common across manufacturers to use single-stage on solid colors.

Not all 1st gen Tundras and Sequoias came with single stage paint, pearls/metallics had clear, this M.O. preceded Gen1 Tundras.

White is not the only single stage. 056 (Natural White), 202 (Black) are both single stage painted. I swear I've seen a solid-red non-pearl/non-metallic 1st Gen, but maybe it was a repaint?

Haven't seen it, but would like to see pics, enough to show it can't possibly be repaints*.

I've seen plenty black trucks oxidized, and the guy at a buff/polish shop north of me who's a fellow Toyota fanatic shared what he's seen roll through his shop since it opened in '98. He does most of the single-stage paint jobs that come through the shop and leaves everything else for his younger guys.

It's entirely possible he's wrong. If so, then I'm wrong also. I guess we won't know know for sure unless someone from Toyota steps up. I figure we can trust the 22-year paint-and-body guy.

Wanted a fraction less than $1k to correct my paint!

Still haven't sealed. Didn't have the time to properly seal, hence the double-wax after. With how little I'm driving the truck during the pandemic, and it staying in a garage 99% of the time, I figured I could get away with it until things cool off with COVID and the summer heat.

 

Legend has it that there was a race to the clear coating booth and the white trucks came in last.


I'm pretty sure my black truck has a clear coat, could be wrong. The roof no longer shines and if I rub it with a buffer the buffer turns black. I'm not much of a paint guy, as long as its black I'm happy.

 

If it has a clearcoat, it often will chip and bubble, then proceed to fail and peel, looking look like this, this is definitely clearcoated: https://www.tundras.com/threads/spot-fix-old-paint.69508/

If it doesn't show clearcoat fail, and you rub it and it leaves chalky powder on your hands, it's probably, but not definitively single stage. Clearcoat can haze, but you typically won't get the base color bleeding through and chalking out until the clear is perforated or peeled entirely.

A quick test you can do: Take any polishing or buffing compound. Apply a dot to your finger. Gently rub it around in a dime-sized circle for for 10 seconds if buffing compound and 20 seconds if polishing compound. Wipe with a clean terrycloth towel. Is it shiny now? If yes, chances are it's single stage and you need to take a basic polish and wheel to it. Buffing compound is (my opinion only!) more for smoothing out paint defects than it is shining it up.

 

I was going to tag you in this post as you were the person I had in mind with your roof. You're gonna have to go out and test polish a small section for us. Can't take more than 5 minutes.

 

Glad to hear it helped. I basically just stole those tips from other websites. I still have a few places that I couldn't remove all the oxidation no matter what I tried. I now remember you were the one that did such a good job restoring your paint and I commented on it at the time.

 

Two coats of wax minimum a year have done her well. Not a garage princess either. 1D6.

 

Yep. I basically just swapped your Iron-X step with a wash, then TAKAVU claybar treatment on the panel using sudsy water and I used Meguair's products. Their buffing Ultimate Compound was overkill if for using a DA buffer, I found their Ultimate Polish did the job, but took 2x as many passes as a light compound would've. It didn't take 2x as long, just more left-right/up-down passes

I still have a little oxidation in spots too. Specifically the body seams on this truck were a damn BEAR, weren't they? The places I lined in red still have a little haze, and so do the concave body lines on the hood. There's one body line above or below the tailgate handle that was a pain in the ass too.

Tip you may want to try: I bought this

$25 Chemical Guys BUFX_204 Hex-logic Hand Applicator Pad Kit

Chemical Guys hand applicator kit. Once I finished and noticed they small spots and seams that were hazy, I squired some of my polish onto the smooth side of the more aggressive orange foam, then firmly rubbed that hazy spot until it was shiny. Worked like a champ. Knowing how much I was saving on doing it myself, I went ahead and bought a

$22 FIXSMITH Microfiber Cleaning Cloth - Pack of 50, Microfiber Towels for Cars 16 x 12 in, Highly Absorbent Cleaning Rags, Lint-Free, Streak-Free Cleaning Cloths for Car Kitchen Home Office

FIXIT towel pack and these

$14 Microfiber Wax Applicator, AutoCare Ultra-Soft Microfiber Wax Applicator Pads with Finger Pocket Wax Applicator for Cars Wax Applicator Foam Sponge (Blue, 5" Diameter, Pack of 10)

wax applicators for waxing and I was really happy with how they performed. Towels needed a wash first.

Edit: I also used the orange foam in the Chemical Guys applicator kit to do the areas that were too textured or tight for a wheel - worst of which was under the rear window. I learned to pre-hit the body seams with it on the driver's side and roof after learning on the passenger side.

 

That iron x thing reminds me, @Outbound has white and has done a ton to bring it back to life.

 

Yep. My big paint restoration process was Iron X, Nanoskin mitt, polish, and wax. It made the truck look almost new again. Now I IronX and wax in spring and again in fall. I used Chemical Guy Butter Wet Wax the first time and it was pretty good.

On @War Machine's recommendation, I tried Hydro 2 this spring and while I really liked the look and LOVED how easy it is to apply, I do end up with "leopard spots". Especially when I used it on The Woman's black car. Where we live, we get rain showers not prolonged rain. Things dry out quickly and there's wind and dust on a regular basis. The water beads trap the dust and when they dry it leaves spots. They're not super visible on my white truck, but on The Woman's car they're very noticeable.

 

I had to go look this one up and found this video which left me scratching my head. When I think about how much work goes into laying down a coat of wax, it makes it seem almost like there's something we're missing, or it's a gimmick, like spraying your paint with silicone spray. How can it be this easy and still be that effective? The product doesn't even sit on the paint for more than a few seconds. Head is about to explode!

I went out and picked up a spray bottle of the Chemical Guys hybrid spray wax. It's also really easy to use and has similar results to the Hydro 2 but the hybrid spray still requires wiping.

 

I have no idea of the science behind it but it works and people with more knowledge than me seem to love it. I smile, nod and spray it on my truck. Lol

 

I can literally hear my clear coat peeling from inside my house as you guys are just talking about how your cars look new again....time to start drinking. figures, my first non black car....

 

I hafta imagine black cars here in GA suuuuuucks though. I've typically always had dark grey or silver cars. Even the dark grey ones are brutal with regard to becoming hotboxes.

I had one of the super dark blue 'cosmic micah' Camry up until a year or two ago and, man, that thing was brutal in the summer if you left it in a parking lot longer than 15-20 minutes.

 

The super white on 07+up didn't have clear coat either. And some of the 08+ Sequoia with the pearl white has clear coat but I have seen people complain that it peels especially on the roof. I don't know why Toyota can't get the white color paint right?

 

It's just clearcoat issues, it has nothing to do with the base color. White and pearl white are two different things. Pearlescent colors have an additive in the paint to give it the pearlescent shine. It's not a solid color. Pretty sure super white is a solid color.

Modern pearl and metallic paints usually require a clearcoat over them. They lay down the color coat, sometimes add in a secondary flake if the metallic flake/pearl flake wasn't added into the color coat, then top off with clear to protect all that. Clearcoats require care, and often fail in certain conditions or if not cared for.

Solid colors, there's nothing to add in that would add volume to the paint, so manufacturers like to go single stage. Single stage paints have additives to strengthen and protect the paint in the same way clearcoat protects base coats on pearls and metallics. Single stage paint requires care too, and often gets chalky if not cared for.

tl;dr - Metallic paints and pearl paints typically use a different process than solid colors. A painted clearcoat is required to protect the base color and its additives.

 

White, phantom grey typically do not have clear. (White never did, higher trim phantom might of)