Well, today I have discovered 3 stone chips on my hood that werent' there a week ago. The car is 1 1/2 months old, Shinka. This sucks, especially when you spend all this time detailing your car and now this.

My previous car I have owned for five years and maybe I had one or two stone chips on it. I always keep my distance when driving, so I'm not sure what happened. One of them is pretty deep. SUUUUCKS, feeling a bit discouraged.

Will have to hit the dealership tomorrow and get some touch up paint.

 

two words:

clear bra

I'm in the process of trying to find someone who can do the install without charging over $400.

 

^Yeah tell me about it. I was quoted around $550 here locally. I'm still on the fence about it though.

 

Yeah, I now, clear bra is the solution. I'm not too crazy about them as I don't like the look. Second, is the cost, I think I'm done modying this car (alum fuel door, spoiler, clear corners, AF shifter).

This is a lease and at this point I'm not sure what I will do in two years. If I like the vehicle after a year, will buy it. Otherwise return it and get something else.

I just get pissed after putting all this time and hard work into detailing and I get this. On all my previous cars, I hardly had any chips. As I mentioned, I keep my distance, I drive on fairly good roads.

 

you can get the plastic protection film but make sure you go get the high end brands like 3M because cheapo stuff will start to yellow and fade. they work fairly well. if youre using a car bra... make sure you take it off when you dont need it or else the covered area will have a different shade of color from the exposed area. and i suggest taking it off often and washing and sealing the area so it doesnt trap dirt and start to mold.

 

Falcon - not sure about this but you may not have a good idea of what the 'clear bra' is. The clear bra being referenced is a paint protection film applied directly to the car....it is virtually invisible and you really can't tell its there (especially on lighter colors).
I had one installed last year. Mine is called VentureShield and I have been very pleased with it. I know that 3m also makes paint protection film as well.
The trick is to find an experienced installer as the 8 is one of the harder cars to install this on....the front end is very tricky (it took my guy 3 tries).
The drawback is the cost. A good job can run upwards of $700 for the full front end (inlcuding mirrors).

 

I've seen them before. You can't see them, except the line at the top. But, for some reason I'm not sold on them. Eventually, I would think you might get scratches on the film and I would think they would be more visible than on paint. The fact that I can't clean underneath is putting me off as well - I know, no dirt will get underneath.

Not sure why, but I haven't embraced the technology yet. That and the cost. As I mentioned before, don't want to put any more money into the vehicle. I think the people that installed my tint mentioned that they do clear bras/paint protection as well.

Of course, if I had the foresight and had a choice between the stone chips I have now and installing the clear bra, I probably would've installed the bra. I have never expected that I would get any and certainly not that early on. Now it's sort of too late; three stone chips, couple of pinhead - the damage is there and can't be undone.

 

Sorry to hear this. I had a bad day when a gravel truck boxed me in running about 80 mph one day. He hit a bump and the next sound I hear sounds like a shot gun. I got about 5 chunks taken out of my front bumper and a nice one on the passenger mirror.

Be careful with that touch up paint. It is easy to make it look worse. Check out the "sticky" thread at the top of this forum before proceeding.

 

I just got back from washing my car. Found several very tiny chips on the lower end of my hood, and I felt like crying. I also spend a lot of time detailing my car, and now I randomly find half a dozen little chips. I have no idea how they got there, and I just noticed them, considering I wash my car at least once a week. They're not too noticeable, but they're driving my crazy. My bumper has many chips as well, but these are the first chips on my HOOD.

As for the clear bra...what's the point if there's way too many chips anyway. I'd probably get one if I get a new bumper with a bodykit or something.

I guess I'll be trying out Mazda's touch up paint as well.

 

I would try something like the Lanka system or Dr. Color Chip. They are not expensive. I'm not happy with my application of touch up paint and am in the process of trying to correct it.

 

I've heard a lot of complaining about the touch-up paint too....so maybe not. How are you trying to apply it?

 

daym, i need a clear bra.... i'm hoping that some shop here can hook it up..

 

I'm going to get one of those when I finally decide on a body kit... it's too late for my stock bumper, it's already dead.