Stone chips

[yupp danners]

I recently took part in a rally from London to Barcelona and my black R8 V10 has a lot of tiny stone chips on the front grill, bonnet and roof as a consequence.

I don't know whether to leave it and have them repaired before I eventually sell, or, have the work done.

If I have the work done, whether to apply a clear car bra film or just keep repairing or just leave it.

I would be interested to hear what other members do about stone chips.

[desperado]

Audi primer is white, so stone chips on black cars are particularly horrid. Had that problem with my Midnight Black TT, finally ended up replacing the front bumper with a newly painted one and had the front, hood and roof covered in film.

When I bought the R8, film was the very first mod I did!

Plenty of other threads on film and its pros and cons, should be easy to find.

[yupp danners]

Thanks Desperado.
Can I apply the film after a respray, or , is it too late?

[R8APED]

i am paranoid when it comes to stone chips...after every drive i would check for them.....and i would find new ones...even if they were not new...so i had to get a clear bra....
in Australia these are not cheap and its not easy to find a top notch fitter to apply the film.... i ended up with a film cover over the complete front end: bonnet / front bumper / lights and mirrors...
The clear bra is almost invisible but when you look real close you can see the outline at the end of the bumpers...the bonnet is completely covered and wrapped around....the finish is not OEM but i know when i take the film off the paintwork will be OEM and not damaged with chips so i can live with it...
the film can be applied to resprayed vehicles no problem...

i am much happier with the film on the car..and i only got it done today...and when i come to sell it i think the buyer would appreciate the oem paintwork as well

[jh001ace]

You reckon you have problems, look at Harrison's latest posting

[yupp danners]

R8APED
Thanks for the info. Did you have the bonnet etc sanded back to bare metal or did the body shop just sand and fill the affected areas?

[M3R8]

yup danners, I'd ask for an opinion at a chipsaway.co.uk shop

[R8APED]

i did not get the paintwork sanded. I just had the ppf applied to the car as it was.
there were only a couple of stone chips in the paintwork..not enough to need a respray...all small.
i had the car polished / detailed so there were no holograms or swirls on the paintwork then the film applied directly....i figured i could live with the small amount of chips....it sounds like you have a few more chips than i had though..

[M3R8]

I don't see the need to ever respray a whole part due to a cosmetic problem that is less than 1 square millimetre in size, a chip... just get the chip itself filled with the same paint, and then maybe clear coat it to perfection if that's even needed.

[achan]

IF it's not too many stone chips a good detailer could touch it up and apply clear film. However with a good number of stone chips it would be quicker, more economical, and cleaner if you got it resprayed. Clear bra can be applied after a respray, but you just need to make sure the shop does a good job and give it enough time to cure before apply the film. Crappy paint jobs will lift when the clear bra is removed. As a side note, I've actually heard from a few detailers that ferrari paint is sometimes so thin that they have problems with lifting...