The paint and plastic/rubber upkeep is work and combined with the wheels that is has been biggest maintenance item of all things by far. The rims too can get corrosion from brake dust so I clean the tires and rims more often, sometimes after every trip and its never been a waste of time. I might try buffing the paint in the bad spots it but it seems pretty hopeless. Maybe I need to polish everywhere more to keep the clear coat haze from spreading?
Thanks
@powershift and you are most correct:
plastic/rubber upkeep is work and combined with the wheels...never been a waste of time.
I have just repainted a number of things on my 2010 LR4 HSE including the hood, lower and upper tailgates, and rear driver side door. That doesn't include the massive amount of (rust converter and black satin or gloss) paint spilled on all the steel parts like frame, bumpers, etc. It is far "easier" (i.e. cheaper) to just maintain that stuff than have to strip everything after 5+ years and repaint. That said, these trucks are now showing their age and mine had quite a bit of damage to the paint (basically my fault - a lot of top coat has gotten worn from sun or love bites from off road driving...or my occasional screw up with a Hi-Lift Jack [Hi Lift will win in a contest with paint if you were wondering - and scratch everything off]). Plus, the tailgate got a lot paint damage as well - I am not sure why that is. Finally, parking lots are simply the death of paint on doors (and boon to the body shop industry). People just jam into your doors without any concerns. I even had some Italian dude purposely (there is no other explanation and I was in the car but he didn't see me) violently slam his door into my truck at a highway rest stop one night for absolutely no reason; when I jumped out and confronted him he started yelling at me (in Italian obviously) and became physically violent - not worth it at that point. I now try to park as far away as possible from other parking lot perpetrators.
So that is all a long way of saying that the paint takes a real beating...not including stuff like salt, sun, and fun. In my case, since I was doing so much work to the truck...I ultimately felt it was a shame not to give her a bit of paint and polish as well as some upgrades (such as decals and PPL). I did use PPL [Paint Protective Film - 3M] a little bit previously, to include on the headlights, and it really did make a huge difference. As advertised, however, after 5+ years (mine was almost 15 years old...) the stuff turns into rock and yellows making it rather not-pretty and really a pain to strip off. I used it on the headlights and while yellowish and once hard also scratchy...it definitely saved the headlights (plastic) and I couldn't recommend the stuff more for persnickety folks like myself who really don't want to have to clean headlights or such. I haven't used decals before although I am really impressed with the black hood decal (that stuff really does reduce glare, especially at night - my aeronautical engineer friend who works on fighter jets acted like everyone knew that as a matter-of-course...since apparently they use it on fighter plans; who knew that?).
But save all that body work for the end...best for last. There were a number of dents, scratches, and lines put into the paint from all the work over the last 9 months. You can't blame the folks working on the trucks too much...it is just a ton of work and people make mistakes; in the end, it is just paint (and it didn't matter much to me because I knew we were going to do a bunch of paint and body work in the end anyway).
As an aside, but related, I am going to go heavy on my PPL applications now and so will be putting on as much as possible to see how things go (always a bit of an experiment). I think they do really help protect the paint (as designed)...but the wide criticisms of PPL are valid: they are not cheap, they really don't age well, they are rather difficult to apply, they are hard to clean or polish, and they only protect stuff that is covered (which is not the whole truck). In other words, PPL is simply not paint (but plastic).
All in all, I am really happy with the paint jobs and while expensive, I feel that if you want to baby your truck and it has paint damage like that mentioned above (the top coat, which was designed to be sacrificial, will bear brunt of the sun / wind / rain / fun damage) then one ought to consider it for the panels that will need it while under body coating and body cavity wax are worth it over time. And if you were wondering: You can instantly see the difference with the new paint. I had mine color matched to the rest of the body (which has darkened just a shade over time I think) but new paint and the new gloss top coat gives it the depth and shine it once had.
That doesn't even get into the plastic upkeep or wheel / tire cleaning...which is also worth it. I had to replace my cowling because it was well past its prime (warped, didn't seal anymore and made a bit of whistling after 45 mph) and even though I took pretty good care of it...extreme temperatures and sun will simply cook / freeze the plastic and it will deform / crack sooner-or-later (same with the gaskets like door gaskets, which I am also looking at replacing).
In conclusion, as Master Miyagi said: "Wax on, Wax Off. Wax on, Wax off...". Happy washing and waxing everyone!
