Stone chip concerns

[ChrisM75]

I love my Cupra, but being a lease car im having concerns about the level of stone chipping already present. The car is only 8 months old and it already has about 15 clearly noticeable chips after just 4500miles.

Im keeping on top of them with a touch up kit, but still its going to take a bit of work in the summer to actually make them invisible. Anyone else got this issue. Being Magnetic Grey probably doesnt help.

 

[BigJase88]

Must be softer paint on the grey im at 12.5k and got no noticeable ones on mystery blue

 

[Steve J]

Just have to keep your distance. I'm on 17k and have about 4 chips on the front. I'm usually quite far away and cruise on the motorway.

 

[ChrisM75]

I live in Devon so some are to be expected, its very rural. Having said that its worse than my last new car by some margin, and that had paint like cheese, very very soft.. The only saving grace being that the chips are more like pinholes than large chips

 

[SRGTD]

Unfortunately, stone chips are an inevitable consequence of owning and driving a modern water based paint. Darker coloured cars will show the stone chips more when the car manufacturer uses a light coloured primer coat - as VAG does.

The hardness of the paint used by a vehicle manufacturer to paint their cars shouldn’t really differ from one colour to the next, as the painting process is the same for each colour, and the final coat (the clear coat) which provides the durability should be the same, irrespective of the base coat colour. An exception might be certain pearlescent colours like VW’s (very expensive - £995 option on the Golf) Oryx White pearlescent colour, where there is an extra stage in the painting process (primer, solid white base coat, separate pearl coat and then clear coat) compared to other VW colours (primer, base coat and clear coat). Whether this makes VW’s in this colour any less susceptible to stone chips, I don’t know (probably not!).

Three will be other factors that have a bearing on the number of stone chips a driver might get on their car - e.g.

• The types of road surfaces driven on most frequently. Anyone who regularly drive on roads that are resurfaced using a cheap loose clippings type of surface dressing stands a greater chance of picking up stone chips compared to someone who drives predominantly on a roads that are surfaced with a thick layer of asphalt.
  
• Salt and grit spreading on roads during icy weather, and meeting a gritting lorry that uses a ‘spinner’ to spread the grit won’t be kind to a car’s paintwork!
• The distance maintained between your own car and the vehicle in front - especially in fast moving traffic - can also be a factor in how likely your car may become peppered with stone chips.

@ChrisM75 - it might be worth having a look in your leasing agreement to see what the position is regarding stone chips. I dare say they are considered to be normal wear and tear; if so, you shouldn’t be penalised for them. I think most car leasing companies use BVRLA guideline when it comes to inspecting a car at end of lease, so it’d be worth checking out what is considered acceptable and what would be chargeable.

 

[ChrisM75]

The problem with the BVRLA guidelines is that they aren't applied very consistently. Based on the wording of the ALD automotive wear and tear guide my car already fails. It says acceptable chips are 3mm or less. No more than 4 per panel and 8 per forward facing panel. The bonnet already has about 6, the bumper at least 6, although they are all less than 3mm.

 

[BigJase88]

I’ve noticed BMW’s paint is extremely hard wearing had cars with 80/90k on them and very minimal chipping.

softest paint i have seen was on my old Honda. Absolutely shocking looked like the front end had been sandblasted

 

[KXL]

I just usually try to avoid following lorries with mutiple wheels at highway speeds or overtaking them on dual carriage or wait for 3 lanes, and overtake on the fast lane. Saying that, I've seen some places do a stone chip protection film (self healing) for front bumpers. Not sure if anyone used them before... When I returned my Leon, I had about 6-7 stone chips (Monsant Red), touch up paint, actually made it more visible (or perhaps it was more my incompetence in apply it). When I returned my Ibiza (Alor Blue), there wasn't any stone chips in front at all. Current car has 1 whopper of a stone chip (size of USB C port) and another smaller one. Suprisingly, I might have gotten better at applying touch up paint + lacquer as the results were quite good, takes awhile to find it...

 

[ChrisM75]

Looked into PPF, it was as expensive or more than just getting a respray, and there are too many stories of it damaging the paint when its removed. It bonds much stronger than regular wrap and has different properties because its designed to be protective and transparent.

 

[GordonMcC]

I have Magnetic Grey and at 14 months old and 11k on the clock I only have 1 chip and its on a front wing. nothing at all on the front. I find the paint to be very good