Stone chips and carpark dings - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Hocky · #1 08-31-2002, 08:36 PM

I seem to have quite a few stone chips on my front bumper and bonnet plus 4 slight golf ball sized dents on the bonnet. Also 6 stone chips gone into crow's feet of 1cm diameter on the roof between sunroof and windscreen. What should I do? At 3meters away or more, its like a new car, a 1994 C180 Euro version. Come closer and you'll notice these nuisance defects. Quote is A$1000 to $1200 for frontal respray and LH side moulding respray included. About A$4000 to $6000 for complete job. If I wear my sunglasses, all these defects cannot be seen at all!! Maybe its cheaper that way, any comments? Also need a new LH rearview mirror shell replaced due to carpark damage. If I can get this, how to remove the old one and put in the new? The shell costs about A$200 to replace at a workshop, but the whole assembly will cost 3 to 4 times more!

#2 09-01-2002, 05:30 AM

Trade it in for a another benz I did

Traded my 97 C200 Elegance for a 1994 E280, had to hand over only 4 grand.

I mean its a suggestion, albeit a dumb one but its what i did!

Christian

1989 300TE
1994 E280

BoostnBenz · #3 09-01-2002, 05:53 PM

If the stone chips are holding white wax you can always try colored wax (red, blue, black are the most common but I belive most all colors are avaiable). It really covers a lot of that stuff up, well depending on your color. Stone chips plague me too.

~jm

#4 09-02-2002, 11:37 PM

you can repair stone chips. depending on how much and how bad, there are "kits" you can buy. check out griotsgarage.com. basically you wash the area very well, remove any wax (dawn dishwashing detergant will work), then you let it dry. use LAYERS of original paint, let dry, apply another thing layer, let dry, apply another thin layer, let dry. (minimum 1 day between layers)

after this, use very fine sand paper to level it, then using a rubbing compound go over the area, then use swirl remover, polish and wax and it will be hard to tell there was a chip there.

if you have a few of them, then its worth it, if you have lets say for example 30 of them, then do a repaint and use a invisible protective shield to protect it in the future.

BoostnBenz · #5 09-04-2002, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Johnson Chan
use a invisible protective shield to protect it in the future.

Have you tried this before? I'm thinking about it on both my cars, the rocks here really fly (gravel trains drop them; semis, trucks, suvs,... throw them). I see performance products sell a 20mil plastic for this purpose. Is it kinda like window tint with the shrinking? I know giving my mercedes a month or so on my daily commute (just got it) and it'll have a ruined windshield (like my other car) and a LOT of chips in the hood. :-/

~jm

#6 09-05-2002, 12:00 PM

NO i havnt, but i should have. i had a repaint done and the car looked great, no rock chips at all, then now a year been by and i do have rock chips, kind of late to install it now, lol

BoostnBenz · #7 09-05-2002, 01:02 PM

My other car, when I bought it (92k miles), it's factory paint was like brand new still. Now after 7k miles, the windshield has two "fatal" chips in it, and the hood has DOZENS. To top it all off, my car has almost never had the bra off of it. Yet rock chips STILL come through it!!

At one time I thought I'd take some of those packaging bubbles and stick it underneath.

Really I should find something kinda like that, yet it'll still have to allow the paint to breathe and not hold water.... Actually I just found someone locally who sells StonGard (one of those invisible shield products) so I might give it a shot....

~jm

Hocky · #8 09-13-2002, 07:08 AM

I am now respraying my C180 1994 model doing the whole bonnet, whole front bumper and 2 side panels. How do I keep it as new? I know that in a few months time, the damage will appear again with new stonechips and scratches from flying UFOs on the highways. I have considered the carbra, but they will cost me about A$395 and look awful on a car with light blue metallic paint. I saw a black car today and it didn't look too bad as the backfround colour matches the carbra's black colour. There are no other colours for carbras. What will happen to my new paint coat if I stuck the Stonguard 3M film on it? Will it affect the new paint adversely? Will it bubble? Will it be torn off if I tried to pull off the film? Its such a pity if the new paint goes back to the original condition in less than 1 year. Maybe I should only use the car on weekends and only on town roads not highways with 100-110kmh speeds or stay about 50 meters away from all front vehicles while in motion??? Maybe more???

BoostnBenz · #9 09-13-2002, 01:38 PM

First of all I shall state that I'm by no means a paint specialtist so.... Well to keep it like new I'd imagine something like stoneguard would help immensly, however I don't think you can put it on really fresh paint. I know with cars that have been repainted or even factory paint sometimes, you are supposed to wait three months from the time it was painted before you wax it. (on a similiar note, this is the same time you shouldn't take your car to an automatic car wash, sometimes it isn't a problem, but other times....) Now I can't imagine the paint or stoneguard bubbling or even peeling off but the paint will not be given the chance to harden properly.

From my experience distance doesn't really matter, I've been around 75meters from the closest car adn yet I still caught a "fatal" rock chip in the windshield. Truck tires can REALLY throw those rocks, but driving on slower streets would surely help this.

~jm

BoostnBenz · #10 09-13-2002, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hocky
There are no other colours for carbras.

I'm almost positive that they come in many different colors but it seems like the colored ones cost significantly more (~$150 US). Also for your first 3-5 months you really shouldn't have a bra on the new paint either. It'd "sand" right through the new clearcoat while driving down the road.

~jm