How to avoid Stone Chips?
Discussion
Stone chips annoy me. I am normally a very calm person, but since I tend to keep cars for years I know it is going to be there staring back at me when I wash the car.
I normally leave quite a large gap between myself and the vehicle in front to minimise stone chipping (2 stone chips in 25K miles - both caused by stones flicked by people diving into the gap).
So how can I minimise stone ships?
I have seen bonnet bras, but I can't help but thinking if some grit gets under the material, it will scratch the bonnet so defeat the point.
So how to you minimise stone chips please?
I normally leave quite a large gap between myself and the vehicle in front to minimise stone chipping (2 stone chips in 25K miles - both caused by stones flicked by people diving into the gap).
So how can I minimise stone ships?
I have seen bonnet bras, but I can't help but thinking if some grit gets under the material, it will scratch the bonnet so defeat the point.
So how to you minimise stone chips please?
You can't realistically avoid stone chips, as there will always be factors outside your control (for instance, debris flicked up some distance away can still cause damage).
If you want to almost guarantee you don't get chips then invest getting your front end covered with paint protection film. But then this has other downsides like the fact that, despite being almost invisible, it's not totally invisible so you will always be able to tell it's on the car. But at least your paint won't get damaged,
If you want to almost guarantee you don't get chips then invest getting your front end covered with paint protection film. But then this has other downsides like the fact that, despite being almost invisible, it's not totally invisible so you will always be able to tell it's on the car. But at least your paint won't get damaged,
on an Integrale but 
on a golf...mark.c said:
Two options really, don't drive the car or have some kind of film applied. I have film on the front of my CSL and no chips so far. However, you can see its fitted and it's nearly as expensive as a repaint.
Haha What will be will be it is just a car at the end of the day even if it's a DB4 or whatever.
GrizzlyBear said:
Stone chips annoy me. I am normally a very calm person, but since I tend to keep cars for years I know it is going to be there staring back at me when I wash the car.
I normally leave quite a large gap between myself and the vehicle in front to minimise stone chipping (2 stone chips in 25K miles - both caused by stones flicked by people diving into the gap).
So how can I minimise stone ships?
I have seen bonnet bras, but I can't help but thinking if some grit gets under the material, it will scratch the bonnet so defeat the point.
So how to you minimise stone chips please?
The closer you drive to the car in front, the more chance you have of getting stone chips (other than the stray one if you're overtaking). That's why Audis & BMWs tend to fair worst with them I normally leave quite a large gap between myself and the vehicle in front to minimise stone chipping (2 stone chips in 25K miles - both caused by stones flicked by people diving into the gap).
So how can I minimise stone ships?
I have seen bonnet bras, but I can't help but thinking if some grit gets under the material, it will scratch the bonnet so defeat the point.
So how to you minimise stone chips please?
fatboy b said:
The closer you drive to the car in front, the more chance you have of getting stone chips (other than the stray one if you're overtaking). That's why Audis & BMWs tend to fair worst with them
Yes but if your close enough, the stones fly right over and hit the car behind you 
I am the most obsessively boring anally retentive person in the world when it comes to keeping my car clean, and protecting it from the cretins that dilute our gene pool when out and about. I'll happily spend an hour waxing my wheels or restoring the tiny little bits of barely-noticeable black plastic trim or Autosol'ing my exhaust tips, or something equally pointless.
And yet strangely enough stone chips don't bother me. I know they cannot be helped if you actually drive your car, and they aren't really noticeable once you stand back. So I don't worry about them.
Any kind of "bra" just looks silly.
And yet strangely enough stone chips don't bother me. I know they cannot be helped if you actually drive your car, and they aren't really noticeable once you stand back. So I don't worry about them.
Any kind of "bra" just looks silly.
I think it's just one of nature's unwritten laws - the more unblemished your paint is, the more stone chips will be attracted towards it by strange forces.
I think you have to resign to the fact that they will happen no matter what - they're a fact of driving and you can only minimise the chances but you still might suffer them. Budget in for a front respray / chips-away type service every couple of years and that should keep your car looking fresh without having to resort to anything as downright bizarre as a bonnet-bra.
It's road-chip season around here at the moment, where the council put a layer of very sharp small stones over all the roads and let cars travelling on them do the required work of either pressing them in or cleaning the road of excess stones by having them scatter everywhere...
I think you have to resign to the fact that they will happen no matter what - they're a fact of driving and you can only minimise the chances but you still might suffer them. Budget in for a front respray / chips-away type service every couple of years and that should keep your car looking fresh without having to resort to anything as downright bizarre as a bonnet-bra.
It's road-chip season around here at the moment, where the council put a layer of very sharp small stones over all the roads and let cars travelling on them do the required work of either pressing them in or cleaning the road of excess stones by having them scatter everywhere...
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