down to metal or primer

[asm505]

This is probably a stupid question but how can you tell if a stone chip is down to the metal or down to the primer? The reason I ask is because someone told me if it was down to metal it would have shown significant signs of rust in just a few months but my husband (who does not take care of his car) has some major marks that I swear were down to metal and they have not rusted dispite the fact that they have been there for a few years. So this makes me wonder if I am just too dumb to tell or what. :nixweiss

[GearHead_1]

Many of the current models have aluminum hoods. Obviously they don`t rust. I`m not sure if that`s where the chips you are referring to are located or not.

[blackrex]

The metal on my car is galvanized no rust from rock chips.

[Accumulator]

It *can* be hard to tell!



I have some spots on the MPV that I`m certain are down to metal- they sure don`t look like primer to me and I know primer when I see it. Yet they haven`t rusted even after an Ohio winter :nixweiss Must be some kind of metal treatment like the galvanizing blackrex mentioned.



If in doubt, put some primer/rust converter on the spots before applying touchup paint. Or just seal/wax right over them (as I did on the MPV) and keep an eye on them. As long as you don`t neglect them and let them absorb moisture they might not be any big deal. IMO it`s when people let their (unprotected) bare metal chips harbor dirt, which retains moisture, that things get nasty in a hurry.