Transparent Stone Chip Spray - Such a thing?

[25th QV]

I've got a few small areas I would like to protect from rock chips - sill ends, wheel arch lips etc - all low down and all tolerable of a traditional mottled or textured finish.

Some are complex compound radius and do not lend themselves to PPF film.

Is there such a thing as spray on stone chip protection of the type you see along the sill of cars from factory that is transparent that can be applied over the top of the paint finish?

Or anything similar that will do the trick? (that works).

In my head, I just want to mask off a few specific areas, spray something flexible and rubbery on and then un-mask and walk away. I know I'll see a mak line and I know I'll see the texture - no issue with this, just needs to be transparent.

Any suggestions?

[gt40steve]

I have only ever experienced 'anti stone chip' as an undercoat. It's typically grey so the top colour coat covers easily. It's under the colour coat. Any texted coating, even if transparent, wouldn't reflect the light in the same way as the uncoated paint.

I think an experienced PPF installer is probably the answer.

[KennyN]

I remember seeing sprayable PPF at a show in the NEC. I don't remember the brand, but it would appear there are options:

https://www.litchfieldmotors.com/paint-protection-...

https://www.p1coatings.com/peelablepaint

[gt40steve]

KennyN said:

I remember seeing sprayable PPF at a show in the NEC. I don't remember the brand, but it would appear there are options:

https://www.litchfieldmotors.com/paint-protection-...

https://www.p1coatings.com/peelablepaint

Interesting, so these are a smooth finish.

[DaveF-SkinnysAutos]

25th QV said:

Is there such a thing as spray on stone chip protection of the type you see along the sill of cars from factory that is transparent that can be applied over the top of the paint finish?

No, anything you see is 'Emporers New Clothes'.

The 'stonechip' is painted on the sills before the base colour and clear coat.

Your clear coat is designed to protect paint, thats why we paint your car with it, its not bullet proof hence you get some stone chips, but its a rock hard acrylic that sets and protects your paint from everything the road throws at it. The lacquer is on top of the stone chip protection on your sills and in general does its job.

There are loads of products that companies want to sell you promising you things, these spray on PPF's are a version of 'Plastidip' which has been around for a long time, its your money and you take your choice, but generally accepting the occasional stone chip and maybe having to get a panel resprayed once every ten years is better value than the upsell that the detailing world is constantly pushing. Clearcoat lacquer is the best product to protect your car and its already covered in it when you buy it.

But I'm a painter so I am biased!

[Belle427]

Plasti dip do a clear in aerosol form, may be worth a look.

[25th QV]

DaveF-SkinnysAutos said:

No, anything you see is 'Emporers New Clothes'.

The 'stonechip' is painted on the sills before the base colour and clear coat.

Your clear coat is designed to protect paint, thats why we paint your car with it, its not bullet proof hence you get some stone chips, but its a rock hard acrylic that sets and protects your paint from everything the road throws at it. The lacquer is on top of the stone chip protection on your sills and in general does its job.

There are loads of products that companies want to sell you promising you things, these spray on PPF's are a version of 'Plastidip' which has been around for a long time, its your money and you take your choice, but generally accepting the occasional stone chip and maybe having to get a panel resprayed once every ten years is better value than the upsell that the detailing world is constantly pushing. Clearcoat lacquer is the best product to protect your car and its already covered in it when you buy it.

But I'm a painter so I am biased!

I'm not a painter, far from it, but have painted cars if that makes sense.
The background is that I've just done the road rash on the front face of the side skirts on my 996 which were peppered back to the gel coat.
I'm happy with the results and would just like to prevent it happening so quickly again, as I'll be putting it back on the road in a few weeks and don't want to pepper them again as the car is pretty much concourse top to bottom, inside out.



I tried to put some PPF on and bought the decent 3M stuff on recommendation, but the compound corner radius is just too much for it (and my patience). I tried doing it in two and then three strips, but it looked crap so back to square one.

Will ponder.

[DaveF-SkinnysAutos]

Hopefully it wont with new lacquer if its had plenty of time to cure?

You could scuff it back and apply further coats of lacquer to really build it up over that area?

You probably wouldnt want to go back this far or have the textured finish, but you could have applied a stone chip protector like Gravitex on the sill before you got to the coloured base?

The Bilt Hamber UC is just an anti-corrosion wax and wouldnt help with stone chips.

The Plastidip clear would give you a matte finish, it might stay on for a year or two, but I dont think its really designed for this, and I personally dont like the finish it looks very DIY in my opinion.

Looks a fantastic finish that you’ve achieved, and if you’ve used a good clearcoat it should give you protection against daily use unless you are track racing it. Professional PPF should manipulate enough to fit around that sort of edge but I’ve go no experience of applying it to really comment.

[25th QV]

DaveF-SkinnysAutos said:

Looks a fantastic finish that you ve achieved, and if you ve used a good clearcoat it should give you protection against daily use unless you are track racing it. Professional PPF should manipulate enough to fit around that sort of edge but I ve go no experience of applying it to really comment.

I used Mipa 2K, but as I say, I'm no painter, but know just enough to lay it on sufficiently well to enable a thorough cut back and polish, which as you'll know can achieve a wet mirror glass finnish if you're willing to put the time in. I just went back all the way to 5,000 then hit it with the various Scholl grades and pads, then ceramic coated it. A good painter would've done it in a tenth of the time it took me.