Stone chipping on GT3's

[GarageQueen]

Hi all,

I've been looking at some GT3's recently at OPC's, but the one thing I've been surprised at is the amount of stone chips to the cars even with less 15K miles.

The lower front valance, front wheel arch, rear wheel arch and headlights were all substantially peppered, my other cars like Focus RS / M3 with > 35K miles are far less damaged.

Can anyone comment?

[GarageQueen]

IREvans said:

GarageQueen said:

Hi all,

I've been looking at some GT3's recently at OPC's, but the one thing I've been surprised at is the amount of stone chips to the cars even with less 15K miles.

The lower front valance, front wheel arch, rear wheel arch and headlights were all substantially peppered, my other cars like Focus RS / M3 with > 35K miles are far less damaged.

Can anyone comment?

Any low car driven quickly will attract stone chips. The bonnet line of an M3 or Focus RS is much higher than a GT3, so don't tend to get as badly chipped.

I wasn't sure if the propensity to attract stone chips was more dependent on the shape of the front of car (i.e more upright vs low angle) or height

[GarageQueen]

S1MMA said:

My GT3 is original panel and original paint, 20 something thousand miles - has fair amount of stone chips on front bumper, some on bonnet, and few on wings.

I believe being original panel and paint is actually a selling point on these cars. Anyone can repaint if they want a mint "looking" car. If I was to paint it in future for cosmetic reasons if fully document the job to show no damage occurred.

I would actually prefer an original car so I know what I'm looking at/getting. All cars get chips.

agreed original paint is desirable to have, but is it realistic given that its very easy for a car to get scraped and need remedial paint? Also most paint jobs these days are undetectable with the exception of mask lines under trim.