Rock chips - what do you do?

Nero here too. Drive it and enjoy it.

Repaint as needed.

 

Really not understanding your dilemma. It's apparent you do care so just have the clear bra applied and be done with it. Isn't that the reason for applying it in the first place?

 

Never bothers me

 

Nice and simple. I like simple.

 

prevention is the best. Choice d.

 

rather have a touch up than a clear bra.

 

Never had to touch up or repaint a clear bra. Having one makes sense to me. Just one less thing to worry about and spend future dollars repairing.

 

I like the clear bra, no frequent cleaning after love bugs or other insects and after a while you don't even notice it.

 

Since you've already got rock chips, might as well drive your car harder or bring it to the track, after all, the respray costs are still gonna be the same.

 

Get a can of matching touch up paint and touch it up yourself as needed. EASY to do. Then every other year, get a respray.

 

I use speedarmor on my car, its a spray on application. It works great and you cannot tell its there.
http://www.speedarmor.com/

 

Has anyone tried this?

http://drcolorchip.com/

 

I just repainted my front bumper and added a clear bra when I bought it

dont really care about small rockchips, can´t see them anyway when I´m driving my car

 

I used Drcolorchip last month while detailing for the Houston Classy Chassis concours event.

1994 Red TR512.

It work very well, I got third place in class.

It is easy to use. If you look very very closely you can see where you did it. Nobody else could ever find them

John

 

I think the 3M film looks worse than a few rock chips, and once you get a few chips outside (or through) the film you get the worst of both worlds.

If your car is black, and a 360, it is easy to respray the front periodically. I had my front valance resprayed in 2006 (328, black metallic), and I know from previous owners that the front of mine had been resprayed twice before I bought it. It really is just paint and metal.

When driving, I follow a few rules:

1. Never follow trucks
2. Try to keep a clear lane in front
3. No wet roads (of course I'm in San Diego so this isn't much of a challenge...)
4. No construction zones
5. Keep a longer distance when following another vehicle
6. Minimize interstate driving

Hope this helps. Someday they'll have nanotech paint that is self-healing, and I'll be first in queue for it.

 

BTW, I posted on this awhile back. I am very anal and the rock chips were driving me crazy, to say nothing of jeopardizing my irreplaceable fog lights. In the end, I had a clear bra put on, including fog light protection. Best money I ever spent. It does not offer 100% protection--nothing can. But it has made my life A LOT less stressful.

Nobody can tell I have 3m film on, unless I take them right up to the car and point it out. With the mondial, its easy though, because the hood grates offer a natural break line for the film, rather than splitting it halfway up the hood.

 

+1

 

Had Venture shield now owned by 3M applied to my 360 and it is great. Guaranteed for as long as you own your car for discoloration and peeling. Clarity is great. Supposedly new bonding agent of late. Before applying on the Ferrari have had it on my MB for 2 yrs as a daily driver with no issues and it looks as good as did day one. Co. driving for me is 100 miles per day, cold, heat, ice , snow ,trucks and tumble weed. If you live in an area like I do going without is like going to combat without body armour!
Docf

 

Embrace the patina. You earned it. Be proud!

 

1988 TR, Rosso Corsa.

Mine traveled from Arizona to Seattle and down to Pebble Beach two years in a row. It was peppered with chips, including the side intakes.
Some of the chips were as big as pencil erasers. This wasn't going to be a simple respray of the front bumper and bonnet.
I used the corner of a razor knife to pop loose any old paint then I used www.Paintscratch.com Rosso Corsa 300 with a #002 pin brush to paint the bottom and inside edges of the chips with the paint, lightly thinned so it wouldn't glob. I applied a couple of coats but did NOT bring it up to flush.
I applied the clear the same way up to flush or above and then after drying I sanded with 1000 grit wet-or-dry and buffed with #83 Meguiers Dual action polish then #7 Swirl Free. Topped with #26 Yellow Tech Carbuba and good a new.

There were 100's of chips and took 2 months in my spare time last winter to fix but the results were good enough to win 3rd place out of hundreds of cars in the 70's/80's cars class at the Historic Road Races this weekend in Seattle. Everybody complimented on how beautiful the paint was. If they only knew.
It helps that it is a solid color.

If a I get a chip while driving I don't freak out, I know how to fix it so it disappears.

I also applied 40 mil thick Lamin-X to my fog lights. That's one thing I don't want to replace.

 

2nd on the Clearbra/film observation.
I'm with Bulfighter and ND, pretty much following rules 1-4 pretty well, but still enjoy my cars for what they were made to do (which kills # 5 & #6, rather than worth worrying about them too much). Only the really glaring ones bug me, and they just get more immediately touched-up for corrosion protection than the others.
As part of the "patina", you could say I'm a proud "Chip Collector"....It's just more fun that way.

And this is coming from a notoriously anal guy.

I should probably do my fog lights like Spasso, though....been meaning to.

 

Fix them every once in a while and speed some more. Don't draft on high speed runs!

 

paint every few years...