Soft paint? Rock chips after 400 miles

[stick]

painted in my garage a 1985 jetta. Orange peeled a little, but looked good. used a home vacuum to push filtered air into the plastic drapped area to create a pressurized clean room. 3 coats of paint. 3 months later, son hits a tree and bends front fender. No paint popped off - at all. Paint remained perfect for 7 years until I sold it. So paint is not rocket science, just need to follow proper prep and paint procedure/cure. My paint was $85 gal in 2008.

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[MaverickHybrid]

painted in my garage a 1985 jetta. Orange peeled a little, but looked good. used a home vacuum to push filtered air into the plastic drapped area to create a pressurized clean room. 3 coats of paint. 3 months later, son hits a tree and bends front fender. No paint popped off - at all. Paint remained perfect for 7 years until I sold it. So paint is not rocket science, just need to follow proper prep and paint procedure/cure. My paint was $85 gal in 2008.

Keyword is 2008

 

[Fordguyw]

I have 126,000 miles on my Chevy Colorado and I have one chip from a rock. I can’t even remember the last time a rock hit my truck. Where are you guys driving that there are rocks flying all over? Don’t you pull over when there are dump trucks with stuff in them? Do you live near a quarry? I just don’t know how this is much of an issue for too many?

Definitely don't have to live near a quarry. The reason I have chips already is because the idiots at the Pennsylvania DOT use gravel (from cat litter size up to the diameter of a nickel) mixed with salt to treat the roads during snow or ice. I hope this isn't common all over the country and have no idea why they do it here but I've gotten really good at touch-up repairs because of it. I went out to where my lane meets the road today and swept some of it up to show the size (see pics- 1st one shows swept & unswept area of the asphalt together).

The Maverick is my wife's daily driver and she works at a hospital so she has to go to work no matter the weather conditions. She stays 20+ car lengths back from the car in front of her and we still got chips during the last storm we had (1st time she had to drive through freshly spread gravel/salt since we got the Maverick). I drive my F-150 the same way and it gets chips. The chips come from our own tires, traffic going the opposite direction, and traffic passing by when we're stopped at intersections. Not much you can do about it around here but get PPF on all painted surfaces. Unfortunately, I've had bad luck with the quality of installation of PPF in the past (tried multiple installers and it always has horrible stretch marks and lifts on the edges over time). Not saying this is the case with all PPF but definitely in my area.

Regarding color, ours is Carbonized Gray. Luckily the chips we've got so far are small and did not chip down to the primer. Also, I'm not happy with the design of the bottom of the doors (from the body line down), the lower bedsides in front of the rear tires, and the plastic under that entire area. I love the way it looks but the design is a chip magnet. This isn't noticeable unless you get very close (I noticed it while drying after hand washing), but there are tiny chips all over those areas. I even have the Ford "Splash Guards" (plastic mud flaps) and the front ones only protect about 6 inches behind them on the low areas. The rear ones seem to do better because they are longer.

 

[LIL’ Buddy]

newest, latest, worst paint chip to-date!! This is a bad picture… but while cleaning the mav this nice day, sure enough that isn’t dirt!! It’s down to the metal or alloy? No clear, no paint, no rust protection. It is very bad. How that one occurred I am not sure. Honestly, this may have been there before I took ownership? Anyways, This one I can get a paint stick for, carefully fill the paint, then the clear, shouldn’t be too bad… decent spot for this to be at compared to face of it or paint on the body!

 

[tomahawk72]

Only had my mav for a little over 2 months and already have two rock chips in the Windshield. Had the worst one sealed professionally last week and was told the other one is too small to repair. Owned my CRV for three years and never had an issue with the windshield.

 

[DavidLs]

Oxford white XL. 3 Chips on the front edge of the hood. 1876 Miles. Buying a touch up pen and a deflector asap.

 

[ValenciaOrange]

Maverick truck, today noticed 2 small rock chips on the right passenger door. Fixed them in about 5 minutes with a touch up paint pen.

My previous car was a 2003 Toyota 4Runner. In all the years I had this car there was not one rock chip on the doors. Yes there were a few on the hood.

 

[Doug Wildman]

I’ve got 2700 miles on my Area 51 that included a road trip to Louisiana. Not one chip. Knock on wood.

 

[Bwinter1701]

Would having a Ceramic coating applied help to avoid this issue?

 

[Eagle11]

Would having a Ceramic coating applied help to avoid this issue?

No

 

[OleFordGuy]

Would having a Ceramic coating applied help to avoid this issue?

Not an expert, but i think PPF or more multiple layers of clear coat is the only defense from rock chips and maybe on interior panels that scratch easy also. Just my 2 cents

 

[Eagle11]

Not an expert, but i think PPF or more multiple layers of clear coat is the only defense from rock chips and maybe on interior panels that scratch easy also. Just my 2 cents

And Papa Smurf is never wrong

 

[MaineMav]

I’ve got 2700 miles on my Area 51 that included a road trip to Louisiana. Not one chip. Knock on wood.

Different people have different driving habits and not all driving environments are the same. Louisiana is not getting regular snowfall which requires sanding the roads, that sand inevitable also includes rocks and plows going by in the opposite direction are also flinging rocks and stones in the opposite lanes. I would probably guess that the majority of stone chips that happen for people in colder climates happen during the winter. Also, some people are notorious tailgaters so they are being subjected to so much more road debris being flung at their vehicles than someone who is a safe driver and typically leaves the appropriate number of car lengths between their vehicle and the vehicle in front of them.

All this being said, I have PPF on my maverick because it's almost a requirement up here. I've got chips in the paint of my maverick in areas that the PPF doesn't cover unfortunately. My F150 also has PPF and doesn't have a single chip in the paint anywhere. The paint on the Maverick is absolutely inferior to that of my F150.

 

[B_kiz]

Having this issue.. 29k miles and paint chips EVERYWHERE.. I bought touch up paint and can't even keep up with it.

This is very disappointing almost seems like they cut corners to keep the cost down.

Has anyone found a resolution for this?

 

[2cafn8d]

Having this issue.. 29k miles and paint chips EVERYWHERE.. I bought touch up paint and can't even keep up with it.

This is very disappointing almost seems like they cut corners to keep the cost down.

Has anyone found a resolution for this?

to be honest, I haven't had a new car in the last 12 years that didn't have thin paint and paint chips everywhere. It sucks. Paint film or ceramic coating? I'm not sure.

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