Lots of rock chips on the front hood

[74 thing]

What do you do when you have a client who has a very nice daily driver and after the detail is done there is no swirl marks left and the paint looks like a mirror, but the problem is that there is a serious amount of small dings on the front hood from rocks etc. I advised him there were things like a clear bra from 3M but that is only good before the dmg occurred, and I feel a material type bra does more dmg then good. I could fill them, but it would take forever and then the paint is metallic so I would be hesitant to wet sand. I told him he could always have the front end re-painted but I am not sure he wants to with 140k on the odometer. He was very happy with the detail, but maybe I was a little disappointed with how the front end turned out. ANy suggestions-thanks in advance.

[imported_Picus]

Your only options are the two you mentioned - fill them/wetsand/polish, have it repainted, or live with it. I filled all mine in, wetsanded, and re-painted. It took me 3 days working 3-4 hours a day and the paint isn`t metallic, so yes it is a huge pain in the butt (but it sure looks nice :) )

[PadawanPrime]

Try Langka Paint Chip Kit or Mothers Paint Chip Kit.



Langka has special instruction on their website for metallic paint. :)



Peace.

[tguil]

I had a LeBra on a 1990 full size Bronco. If you are careful with a material bra it does not cause damage -- darn careful.



Tom :cool:

[imported_Neothin]

not exactly... I bought the Scion front end bra for my tC two weeks ago for an extended highway trip I was taking. I being obsessive about my paints condition took probably twice the amount of time normally necessary to put the thing on. even with my precautions I ended up getting some marring on the bumper from where something got caught between the bra and the paint. Granted the scion bra probably isnt the highest quality bra out on the market, but I won`t be using it or any other removable bra again. But those clear bra`s are nice :D

[lbls1]

Unless you are going to repaint it, it will be better to just live with them. If there are a lot of chips, then touch up paint will end up looking spotty, and IMO will even look worse than not filling them in. Keeping the car well waxed (or with a sealant) will help reduce further accumulation of rock chips. I wouldn`t personally want to wetsand a good paint surface.



I wouldn`t worry about mileage either when it comes to repainting. If the owner feels that the car can last longer (any car can go the distance.....its all depends on how much you want to spend on it), and if it is a sore issue, then a repaint may be a good remedy. My first impulse would be to live with them, however.