meaning to many!!!!!!!! this car seems to have awful soft paint.........i am going to attempt to have a repaint done on the front of the car..........if not...never will buy a mazda again...........30k for a car with this is silly. never had this problem from infiniti or acura........2 cars i still own...took about 40k miles before i noticed even one chip........on this car.....with 5k...i have at least 4 with several small ones......

 

ummm with a low slung sports car why are you driving behind trucks and various other rock throwers.

 

My 95 accord (60k) had lots of paint chips. The paint was also developing a spider web of small cracks over the front of the hood. Maybe your expecting too much. I've never had a car that did not have some chips over time.

 

don't sweat it. you can wait a few years and then get a body kit

 

i dont drive behind trucks....thats my entire point........i expect more for only 5k miles......i dont drive.....the car that much.....have own for 9mths or so......

 

I've noticed that my 8 seems to get hit by a lot more little rocks than my Jeep Grand Cherokee. I'm guessing the height has something to do with that. In fact, I can actually hear all the little rocks hitting the car when I'm driving. Because of that, I'm careful not to get too close to ANY car, not just trucks.

-djb

 

i feel for you, that sucks. but just look at how much of the front is exposed and it is no wonder you get chips. it would happen on any car that is that low slung.

do you have the clear coat on your car?

it also depends on where most of your driving is done. Driving in cities which use sand/salt on the roads is a killer, especially on highway driving behind other vehicles.

 

When I had the factory nose, rock chips weren't that big of an issue. You could see where a rock would hit, as it would make a pinhead sized mark...not too noticeable at all.

I'm currently fighting the shop that did the paint on my MS nose. A couple weeks ago, I took the car for it's first highway excursion with the MS nose on. What a 'freakin distaster!

I'm very cautious when it comes to traveling behind trucks, etc., and I realized that chips are inevitable but when I got back from my trip, the nose was really in bad shape.

Rather than the typical small little marks that the rocks made on the factory nose, the MS nose was riddled with "chunks" of paint taken out 2-3mm in size. I've never experienced any such damage on any vehicle I've owned.

The body shop is saying "too bad."

I've taken it to two other shops, and they really don't know what to think....one guy said that the paint probably didn't cure long enough, the other guy said that "this really 'shouldn't' happen, but sometimes it does."

Maybe someone with some paint experience could chime in with their thoughts?

 

What I'm finding is that so far I'm not getting hit with rocks on the nose of my car...you can see the rocks follow the air-flow up and into my windshield. I've had about 8 hits for car. Two of them I had to get fixed.

 

I don't have any issues with chips on the nose, but I have three on the windshield. They aren't bad enough to have them filled or repaired, they are more like scratches and are really annoying. What am going to do, not drive?? I realize stuff happens and get over it. . .

 

Me too. Seems the windshield is a magnet for tiny gravel. I think its kicked up from cars and trucks tires we are following. I think the chances of getting dinged and chipped up front has to do with highways vs side streets.

 

I haven't had any chips on the noise. On the hood I have like 8. These are bad. I had to have them fixed. The paint is very soft. I have painted many cars. Many of which were lower than the 8. The Dupont paint that ford uses sucks ***. I will be repainting the from of my car. Fenders, hood, and noise. I will use ICI or PPG paint. I will also use a hardner in the clear to solve the problem.

 

If it worries you so much ... get the 3M clear bra on the front end. I own the car and plan to keep it for awhile (till it dies or when I die ... that's like 65years ... ha ha) so for me it's a worthwhile investment.

 

I agree with the previous post, get a 3m clear bra put on...about $500 to cover the front and the side view mirrors but NO ROCK CHIPS! so far. It must be professionally installed as it is one of the most difficult to install. Shops that specialize in it can cover just about anything on the car with it (except the windshield of course :p ) I had it installed when I had about 1,400 miles on the car - now at 7,500 miles and no problems.

 

Another vote for the 3M treatment. Had mine put on (Stongard) as soon as I bought the car since I'd had a 94 Prelude that suffered from the rock chips so prevalent here in the Pacific Northwest. After getting two scrapes on the rear bumper in the first month of ownership, I've now made an appointment to have the shop install a custom fitted "bra" for the rear bumper, as well. Eventually, the entire car may be covered in plastic. (Shades of Twin Peaks)

BTW, the 3M treatment is almost invisible, even on a dark car (Mine is Nordic Green) and almost completely undetectable on a lighter colored vehicle (e.g. titanium or silver.)

P.S. I agree, by the way, that the RX-8's paint is EXTREMELY "soft." It ranks as my greatest disappointment I've had with the car.

 

Another vote for 3M rock guard- I got mine done by an xpel dealer.

the whole nose, lower hood/fenders and an thicker grade on the rear bumper.

I had it done when the car was 2 or 3 days old. The only tiny scratch I have is on the hood above where the 3M is.

 

Clear bra is definitely a good idea if you drive in an area where flying pebbles and road debris is a problem. I don't think the factory paint is "soft" though... I've got almost 8000 miles on my '8 and nary a chip (knock on wood!).

Now THIS sounds like soft paint, or poor primer under the paint. I'd definitely take this up with you body shop that painted your MS nose.

 

Clear bra is the way to go, it will significantly minimize rock, bug and other damage from flying debris.

 

wrap the car in bubble wrap- works like a charm!

 

Only 8000 miles? You must have a second car? I honestly hate putting miles on my RX-8.

I must have over 30 rock chips on my front bumper from highways - its a new bumpe for me in the near future.

Wayne

 

Over 4,000 miles so far and I haven't noticed a chip yet (and I do look for them). I find it hard to believe that paint alone is the culprit for lots of rock chips, but maybe the tech types here know more than I do.

 

2 others, actually. But I drive my RX-8 whenever the roads are not too icy, which works out here being about 90% of the time during the winter and 99.5% of the time during the summer. We have a Grand Cherokee for cruddy roads and hauling duty, and a Mazda 6S sedan for family outings.

The main reason my mileage is so low and I have no problems with stone chips, is that I live relatively closely to work (about 12 miles each way) and I make the drive via paved back roads.

 

The Miata seemed to have soft paint too; The first few months I figured it would end up looking like swiss cheese eventually. But I guess Mazda paint gets tougher with age; chips seemed to come less frequently after awhile. Leaving lots of room helps, but of course you can't avoid everything.

 

I have noticed a significant number of chips and dents on the hood and nose of the car right from the beginning, more so than any of my other cars. I unfortunately was parked under some very tall tree's with acorns once and have about 5 good dings on top from where they landed. So I would say the car definitely seems more susceptible to dings/chips than other cars.

 

Yeah, I have had a few problems with rock chips. Very small ones though, nothing you cant fix with a little touch-up paint. I mainly saw it when I did a few back-to-back high-speed runs with a friend in the car. After that I stopped for a while....