Does this happen to most owners?

I had my front bumper sanded down to remove all of the many rock chips over the years, then resprayed. Before I put the bumper back on, I installed some skid plates. Now, although there are many scrapes on the horseshoes, there are no scratches whatsoever on the bumper. Highly recommended.

 

Ditto...I scraped 3 times in as many weeks...was fed up with it. Ordered skid plates from ricambiamerica.com, sanded and resprayed under the front bumper...attached plates using 3M intensive outdoor 2 sided tape and have had no issues whatsoever no. Best 200 bucks spent on my 430.

I still am very cautious near curbs and parking near them as I don't want to scratch the rims or ding the bumpers.

/jim

 

Newsflash!!!! Ferraris are cars! They are operated in the real world, on roads, at speed. There are always things on the road that get kicked up and onto the surface of all cars. Pebbles, nails, bird poop, tree sap, moving sidewalk curbs, slow pedestrians. Most of the time, none of these things will permanently damage to car so as to make it undriveable.

Don't even begin to think about the sun and the UV rays that pour into your car and degrade everything form the color of your paint to the quality of your dashboard leather. These are mechanical objects and the temperatures under the hood are hot enough to set anything on fire. These are things that just are. Let them be.

Drive the car, enjoy it, don't fret about it and when you are ready to sell it take it to a competent body and get all the wrinkles smoothed out for a nominal sum.

You will sleep better and probably live longer if you cease worrying about minor cosmetic defects that just happen, no matter what you do.

 

I drive my F430 and M6 at the cottage, on ****ty roads,park outside, drive in the rain and generally beat the hell out of them at the track.

Why keep them perfect for the next guy? I love driving and your going to get scrapes, dents etc..who cares. Paint it or buff it whenever.

You've worked hard enough to acquire one of the finest machines built....enjoy it and relax.

 

Uh-oh !!!

Now you have a storied car

G

 

You are missing the point entirely IMVHO. The previous owner did tons of damage during his 3 years of ownership. Before he put the car for sale he did as 410SA mentioned, took it to a competent body shop and for a nominal sum had everything made perfect. YOU SHOULD DO THE SAME. Enjoy the car and don't worry about a thing - small money will make the next buyer feel like you do now!!!!!!!

 

I am in full agreement! Just drive the car and enjoy it - chips and scrapes will happen, and when it is bad enough that it really bothers you, take it and get it resprayed.

Much better to have chips and scrapes and enjoy the car than have a perfect car that only drives a few miles per year

 

How much did repainting the bumper cost? FoSV quoted $4000!

 

if you want a perfect car leave it in your garage. consider it a 1:1 model.

buy another one to drive and get "all banged up"

 

I've always been partial to the phrase:

"There are two kinds of sports car owners: those with scraped front lips, and those who lie about it."

 

A grand. But... I had to remove and replace myself. Super easy.

 

I just got a quote for my rear bumper $1500. $4000 seems very high.

 

Reviewing this thread it occurs to me there are two different groups.

1. Low mileage -weekend drivers - pristine car - good resale

2. Hi mileage, drive it like you stole it - who cares about resale

Is there something I am missing?

Best

 

YES, this happens to everyone.....

Everyone elses car seems perfect, pristine and flawless....and yet you find yourself stressing over a few chips, that one scratch, a couple knicks on the wheels, that small area on the upholstery, the rub-mark on the door, the glitch in the fabric, etc, etc, etc.

YES, your car goes from great to good to fair condition as you own it....it's in a constant state of downward decomposition with things only going from good to worse. Every now and then you'll fix something, repaint a bumper or get some of the flaws taken care of....but in no time the list of issues starts to grow again. And still, everyone else seems to have perfect cars. You'll even start to consider selling your car to just start fresh with a new car....but to your utter dismay that car will also suddenly have it's issues.

Dude...in the end, no matter what you do....YOU end up dead, decomposing and probably rotting in the ground: why do these cars deserve better then us? It's just a material thing and it's inevitable future, much like ourselves, is metal to rust, glass to sand and everything returning to the state from which it came. Well, not the front bumper.....you can respray that.

It's a matter of perception...is the car 1% flawed or 99% perfect? Don't chase rainbows....do what you can to keep it in good shape, drive that thang and don't keep a perfect car for the next guy. You only live once, yada yada yada....

Now go eat some chocolate, bang some chicks and drive that Ferrari....

 

Steve, you kill me... excellent advice, but I'm sure you weren't implying that we should eat chocolate while *in* the car

Frank

 

1) If you can't handle eating chocolate while driving your car....you don't have what it takes to drive a Ferrari.

2) "Steve, you kill me".......NO, that would be our wives jobs!

3) I'm living in a material world and I am a material girl

 

there's a learning curve

been there, done all that

i.e.
repair front spoiler - then - get another stone chip on the way home

get wheels refinished - scrape again first week

get hood refinished - following trash truck - nice size stone chip within second week

back out car - pull trickle charger out of wall along with some other sheeeet

here's a good one - install 3m protective clear bra - then watch how somehow you'll get a tiny little rock chip in the area where they just couldn't seem to apply the entire clear bra ............%$%$^# frustrating !

it almost seems like a conspiracy !

can't win - at first at least

you'll get the hang of it

 

Well, I know we all think that our cars will aprreciate in value because WE owned them...we loved them more, we took better care of it, appreciated it more. Yeah, right.

 

Waaakkakakakakakkaka ... .. that's the part I like the most from your writing ...