Good and Bad Rant

[1engineer]

It has alot to do with the epa VOC paint regulations that went into affect in 09' or 10'. Auto manufactures were forced into using water based paints that were health and ozone friendly.Water based paints chip much easier and complaints are many for all vehicles. They use to use reducers and better hardeners in the solvent based paints.Toyota completes water-based car paint rollout

My 06 4Runner had much more durable paint then my 10 4Runner as I had as many chips on the hood in the first year as I had in almost 5 years of owning the 06.
Toyota, Ford, Mazda, GM: Using Water-Borne Car Paint : TreeHugger
I read somewhere that the Tahara Lexus plant where our 4runners were built changed over in 07 too.

What year is your Subaru Engineer and when did they switch over?

2007. Legacy and Forester switched over to WB paint in late 2007, Impreza in 2008. I don't know for certain Harper but I think that while OEM's are using water based paint the primer and clear coat are still solvent based, although Bayer has developed a quasi-water-solvent based clearcoat. One other thing I have noticed about Subaru vs. Toyota: Headlamp and Taillamp lenses and housings seem to be of a much higher quality on the Subaru. They are more substantial regarding thickness and haze resistance. Honda, compared to both Toyota and Subaru, seems to be the poorest quality when it comes to paint though. If I only had a Nissan in the driveway I could compare Japan!