Stone chips :(

[leeson660]

Hi guys

When I had a look over the M3 at the weekend I noticed I have picked up quite a few stone chips When I bought the car (6 weeks ago) it was absolutely mint with not a mark on the front end but even with the limited miles I have done, the Cornish A / B roads along with those f*!%ing gritters have taken its toll and to be honest I'm gutted.

Just a few questions as I'm new to this 'mint car' game!

Is there anyway to protect against stone chips?

Is there anyway to fix the stone chips already there?

I was looking at http://www.paintshield.co.uk

Quite happy to spend the money to keep the car in top notch condition just would like some advice or recommendations if poss.

Or does everyone get stone chips and just not bother about it!

Car is an e46 M3cs.

Cheers

James

[ady702]

Hi mate,

your always going to get stone chips no matter how hard you try, you can drive carefully but you also have to watch other numpties, gritters on the road!

I had my ZMCoupe fully resprayed and was going to get Paintshield to put a custom film it to protect it, heard great things about them from the Detailing guys and would fully recommend it if you want to protect the front end/side sills.

[leeson660]

Hi mate

Thanks for the info.

I just have no idea how the car literally didn't have a mark on it then after what I think was around 70 miles last weekend its taken a beating. So frustrating!

I'm tempted to find a professional body repair place to get them repaired then go for the Paint Shield on the front.

I take it that once the paint is chipped the bodywork on that area isn't fully protected. My car had 'Seal and Protect' done at the main dealer about 8 months ago so it has buggered that as well.

Sorry for the rant over something as inconsequential as a few tiny chips in the paint but I was very proud of the fact the car didn't have a mark on it and am just pretty gutted that it's now not.

Anyway any further advice / help would be great.

Cheers

[davey68]

With you totally i bought a 2008 S2000 a few weeks ago, less than 10k miles it was close to mint. It's now picked up a number of stone chips and i'm always careful not to sit up the backside of cars in front. Modern car paint is so soft it's hard to avoid...still gutting though as every time you look at your previously mint clean car to see more and more marks grrr..

[kds keltec]

quick reply ,

once car is painted you will need to let the paint settle out gas for a while before the fitment of films.

Tom from paintshield is on PH , in fact i am swapping posts with him right now.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

HTH Kelly

[ecain63]

I had my mint RS6 Avant heavily battered by a gritter in Scotland in December 2008. The grit used in scotland is a heavy duty combo of salt and rock, more heavy duty than the stuff they use down here. I approached the council the day after the incident and they said i should get the car repaired and then have my insurance company send them the bill. £3250 and a full front end respray, new windscreen, new wing mirrors later the council refused to pay out. Still, the car was immaculate after the work had been done so the outlay could be justified to an extent.

Eddie

[KP]

E46 very vulnerable to stone chipping.

I try to sit well behind vehicles on the motorway.

Spotted a gritter up ahead on the M2 last week and slowed right down to 40 mph just to avoid those nasty bits of salt flying towards my newly finished front end!

Extra 10 mins on my journey well worth the preservation of paintwork!

Cheers,

KP

[jaedba2604]

as others have said i think stone chips are an unfortunate and unavoidable consequence of driving your car...

i did look at the cost of paintshield (if it's the one who advertises in evo) and from recollection, even the front end only was the price of a couple of resprays, so i wasn't convinced it was worth it.

one thing i'm not sure about, and i made be talking balls here, is whether, if you buy a car from the trade if they have some sort of clever st that they fill stone chips in with, as i too, noticed a significant amount appear in the first few weeks of ownership, and it occurs to me that they may always have been there, just waxed over at purchase...don't wish to cast aspersions though..

i got a reasonably priced touch up paint from halfords of all places and some cheap fine artist's brushes from wilko and spent a morning, with a few decent cds on, methodically touching them up.

those gritters are a menace tho...

[KP]

jaedba2604 said:

as others have said i think stone chips are an unfortunate and unavoidable consequence of driving your car...

i did look at the cost of paintshield (if it's the one who advertises in evo) and from recollection, even the front end only was the price of a couple of resprays, so i wasn't convinced it was worth it.

one thing i'm not sure about, and i made be talking balls here, is whether, if you buy a car from the trade if they have some sort of clever st that they fill stone chips in with, as i too, noticed a significant amount appear in the first few weeks of ownership, and it occurs to me that they may always have been there, just waxed over at purchase...don't wish to cast aspersions though..

i got a reasonably priced touch up paint from halfords of all places and some cheap fine artist's brushes from wilko and spent a morning, with a few decent cds on, methodically touching them up.

those gritters are a menace tho...

I think you're spot on there mate...

Mine was an AUC car and I'm convinced they 'dress' the car with something prior to handover.

Cheers,

KP

[mmm-five]

Dealers probably pay a local chipsaway guy to come round for a day to do all their chips/scrapes/scratches en-masse - unless they've got their own/empty body-shop.

Or they might just use a chipex kit like this, which is simple to apply.

[TEKNOPUG]

TBH I think that it unavoidable and therefore I will only consider having the front resprayed prior to selling it.

Or you could try a nose-bra...

[OperationAlfa]

I used a Chipex kit and was chuffed with the results!

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[jontysafe]

If it`s that bad after 70 miles I`d bet your bottom dollar it has just been resprayed and that wasn`t a factory finish. BMW paint is actually very hard.

Resprays are never quite the same as factory job I`m afraid. A lot of Pros will give you a better finish and come close on the hardness but if it was a normal pre-sale blow over then you may not have got the best job possible.

[gaz1234]

the m sport and m power bumpers fking eat gravel, respray.

[Pig Skill]

Ive got paint film on my e46 M3. Keeps it minty mint mint mint mint minty

[Mermaid]

Pig Skill said:

Ive got paint film on my e46 M3. Keeps it minty mint mint mint mint minty

But does it look as shiny, shiny?

[gaz1234]

Mermaid said:

But does it look as shiny, shiny?

tacky?!

[Pig Skill]

gaz1234 said:

Mermaid said:

But does it look as shiny, shiny?

tacky?!

How can it look tacky? Its virtually invisible you knob

[M3John]

I had Paintshield fitted to the Cerbera and when the M3 goes in to have fresh paint at some point (hopefully this year) i'll have it done again. It isn't cheep but it does work for sure !

[gaz1234]

Pig Skill said:

How can it look tacky? Its virtually invisible you knob

pics?