Something new I've learned while preparing for a detailing of my black 4runner... Black T4Rs do not have a clear coat finish on a paint. It's a 'single stage' or 'flat' paint. Single stage black is generally on the soft side.

Here's an email from Toyota:

We appreciate the opportunity to address your inquiry on the clear coat finish on your 2011 4Runner.

We have checked your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), xxxxxxxxxxxxx, and determined that your 2011 4Runner does not have a clear coat finish on the vehicle. Only metallic and pearl colors come with a clear coat, and the black paint on your vehicle is flat.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx
Toyota Customer Experience Center

By metallic and pearl colors they mean colors like silver? Grey?
What are the implications of this for a black 4R?

Really none. Just something to keep in mind when you are removing scratches/swirls, polishing, etc - you do not have a clear coat to work on. You are working on a paint so you should not be very aggressive unless there is a reason for that.

Here 'official' T4R color names from Toyota website:
Black
Blizzard Pearl
Classic Silver Metallic
Magnetic Gray Metallic
Salsa Red Pearl
Shoreline Blue Pearl

Looks like Black is the only one without a clear coat.

Hmmm, maybe that's why the wife actually chipped the paint yesterday when my lift gate hit the garage door. I bet if I had a clear coat, the paint wouldn't have chipped so easily.

Possible conflicting school of thought: With black, you can use more aggressive polishing products to restore the lustre of the paint, because you don't have a clear coat. The paint layer thickness is the same either way, which means you also have a great deal of "depth" to work with.

Clearcoats are very thin, so using anything too much will eventually get through the surface and allow the elements at the pigment layer. Remember that most automotive waxes were abrasive until the 80's, and lot of people ruined their clearcoats using those products. You have no such worry.

Oddly enough, my bright white 04 Matrix had a clear coat.

This is intresting as I just did a correction on my black 2011. I used a Porter Cable and polishing compounds with outstanding results. However, there was no black residue on the polishing pads as if I were polishing a single stage paint.

Indeed it's interesting. I'm not a pro detailer and based on research I did black residue should be left on a polishing pads if it's a single stage. And it's the best method to test if you have a single stage paint.

1. Clean a car paint using Finish Kare Paint Decontamination System Finish Kare Paint Decontamination System, auto paint cleaning system, de-contamination solution
   --or --
   just by using Finish Kare Soil & Coating Remover/ Wax & Detail Pre-Cleaner (Step 1) and Finish Kare 118 Super Concentrated Shampoo 31 (Step 3)
   --or --
   use a fine clay bar to avoid marring.
2. Correct some scratches by hand (ScratchX 2.0 or whatever will work).
3. Collinite 845 wax for the base layer.
4. Layer of collinite 476S for durability.

It's a plan. Hopefully I'll be working on it in next couple weeks so experience/results to follow.

Thanks for the recipe above goes to Accumulator from autopia - http://www.autopia.org/forum/members/accumulator.html

I too have removed a scratch (was a bodyman in another life) using 3M Mirror Glaze Heavy Cut Compound. It was a small scratch so I did it by hand. I used a bright green rag and also did not get any black residue. Hmmmm. I followed it up using 3M Swirl remover and then a little wax.

I asked Mr. Googlea' (a.k.a. I googled it) and found a thread from a few years back that said all american cars from toyota except white have clear coat. The guy worked for the company that supplied Toyota with the stuff.

I don't know. All I know is I have a chip missing on my lift gate. LOL

I've got like 5 small chips too. They are probably the size of a couple pin drops(couldn't think of anything else) Maybe a little bigger. Either way pretty small.

I was spraying some of that yellow foam stuff and the excess flew out the window(i was working on the outside of the house) anyway, some very small specs flew out and around the house and landed on top of my 1 week old black SR5.

When pulling the small specs of yellow foam off my car, it pulled the paint too. That was a bad week to be around me.

WOw, that pulled the paint off?? WTF?? 30-40K and some foam pulls off the paint?? Geeze. Next year they'll be using shoe polish to paint the cars. LOL

Next thing you know brake fluid will take paint off. Oh wait ...

Wow, I would be extremely pissed. Why would foam pull paint off?? That must have been some sticky sh*t or something. Note to self, no foam near truck.

Does it look like a stone chip on a hood (e.g. you can see a bare metal)? I hope it's just a paint damage which can be corrected.